FANCY HANKS: Pineapple Reaper Hot Sauce – 100ml

Sixty per cent pineapple. Then the ambush.

The top of the Fancy Hank's scale, and the cleverest bottle they make. Pineapple carries it, white miso deepens it, lime keeps it sharp — and the Carolina Reaper sits underneath doing absolutely nothing at all until about four seconds after you've swallowed. Then it arrives at the back of the throat and stays for a while.

The flavour

Pineapple first and unmistakably — 60% of the bottle, tropical and bright. White miso does the quiet work, adding a savoury, fermented depth that turns it from a fruit sauce into a proper condiment. Lime juice and turmeric sharpen and colour it. The Reaper is invisible on the front palate and then blooms late, right at the back, long after the flavour's gone.

How to cook with it

• Toss wings in it after they come off the grill, not before — you want the fruit intact, not cooked out.
• A few drops through fried rice at the end, stirred once. The miso makes more sense here than you'd think.
• Thin it with lime and fish sauce and use it as a dressing over cold noodles.
• Spoon a little over pork tacos with raw onion and coriander and let the pineapple do its Al Pastor impression.
• One drop in a marinade for a whole chicken. One. It'll carry the entire bird.

In the bottle

Golden-yellow from the pineapple and turmeric, medium bodied and glossy. The 100ml bottle isn't the brand being stingy — it's the right amount for how little you'll use at a time.

Ingredients & Dietary

Ingredients: Pineapple (60%), Water, White Vinegar, Sugar, White Miso [Water, Soybeans, Rice, Salt, Alcohol, Colour (101)], Lime Juice, Carolina Reaper Chilli, acid (260), Salt, Turmeric, Xanthum Gum (415).

Dietary: Vegan. Preservative free. No gluten. Contains soy. Always check the physical label.

The Rub Smuggler's Verdict

Miso in a Reaper sauce is the move nobody expects — it gives the fruit somewhere savoury to land so the whole thing isn't just fire and jam. Season the wings with Four Monkeys BBQ Chicken Rub, grill them hard, then toss and finish with Falksalt Hickory Smoked Sea Salt Flakes. Sauce goes on off the heat. Reaper cooked into a grill is heat with no flavour attached.

Questions answered

How hot is it?
4 out of 4 — the hottest thing Fancy Hank's make. The Carolina Reaper heat is delayed, arriving at the back of the throat after the flavour has gone. On Hub Heat it rates 9/11.

Can I still taste the pineapple?
Absolutely. Pineapple is 60% of the bottle and it leads. The heat is a separate event that turns up later.

What's the miso doing in there?
Adding savoury, fermented depth. It's what stops a fruit-and-chilli sauce tasting like jam with a problem.

Does it contain allergens?
Yes — it contains soy, from the white miso. The brand lists it as vegan, preservative free and no gluten. Always check the physical label.

Why only 100ml?
Because you use it a few drops at a time. It'll last.

Is it gluten free?
It's labelled no gluten. Always check the physical label if you're coeliac.