Watermelon

Watermelon in a hot sauce is a proper Australian move — native lemon myrtle and small-batch Ballarat fermenting rather than the usual vinegar-and-sugar base, built to bring genuine fruit-forward sweetness to a real chilli hit instead of masking it with sugar.

It's at its best over grilled seafood, oysters, prawns and fish tacos, splashed through a salad dressing, or stirred into a marinade where you want fruity heat without drowning everything in vinegar the way a lot of commercial hot sauces do.

This is a tight, curated pair rather than a wide range — start with Nomad Chilli Co's Watermelon & Lemon Myrtle Fermented Hot Sauce, a genuine medium-heat, gold medal winner made in small batches in Ballarat using habanero and native lemon myrtle rather than on any industrial line, or Fancy Hanks' Cayenne & Watermelon, a milder, bronze medal-winning, cayenne-led version made in Melbourne instead.

Two bottles, both genuinely award-winning, different takes on the same fruit — one native and fermented, one classic and cayenne-led. Aussie native heat, straight off the vine.

Explore more: our lime and sweet collections.