Dec 18, 2015 02:30 PM EST
Gochujang: This Korean Condiment Could Be The 'Hottest' Sauce Right Now

If you like mixing siracha with ketchup, then this condiment is perfect for you.

The Huffington Post reports the website called Bibigo created an infographic on what looks like to be Siracha's biggest rival. The over a thousand-year-old Korean condiment, Gochujang, is "quickly becoming the 'hottest' sauce" in town.

Gochujang is a "fermented hot pepper paste" that gives the right blend of sweet and spicy. The word "gochu" is Korean for capsicum - the type of pepper used to make this appetizing hot sauce.

To create this blend, fermented soy beans are dried and made into "bricks" called "meju." Meju is then combined with red chili peppers, glutinous rice and salt. For the final process, the mixture is ripened under the sun for years inside a container called Jangdok.

This ethnic hot sauce is a little spicier than Franks Redhot Original, Original Louisiana and Texas Pete's, although it's just nicer to the taste buds than Siracha, Tabasco Original, Tapatio and Cholula.

In Korea, Gochujang is paired with meats, vegetables, soups, rice and scallion pancakes. Those who love Korean cuisine have probably tried this condiment without even knowing it.

Gochujang is also recommended on top of burgers or to be poured all over hot wings. You can spice up mac and cheese, tacos, friend chicken and bloody marys with it, too.

The peppers used to make hot sauce provide health benefits for everybody who loves everything spicy.

According to David Popovich of Massey University, New Zealand, the active ingredient in peppers called capsaicin could help prevent cancer.

Popovich, who studies bioactive compounds in plants, explains that capsaicin reduces growth of cancer cells through a process called apoptosis --- a sort of cell "suicide" which eventually recycles them into new cells with the help of some mutations.

"Hot peppers are really beneficial for you," Popovich said, "if you can take the spice."

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