Spotlight: HotZeg
For some people, hot sauce is all about making a dish as spicy as possible. But for HotZeg, a hot sauce producer from Brussels, the story starts somewhere else entirely: with flavour, family and a love for bold ingredients.
From an Italian-Serbian family tradition and a visit to Hot Ones in New York, to tasting hundreds of sauces, home-grown peppers and sauces that take at least a year and a half to develop. HotZeg proves that heat only gets really interesting when it’s balanced with fruit, vegetables and carefully chosen spices.
Founder Vladan shares how HotZeg came to life, why fresh ingredients matter so much and how a sauce earns the seal of approval from the whole family.
When did you know: now is the time to make my own sauces?
Spicy food and bold flavours have always been part of our Italian-Serbian culture and family traditions. I grew up in a family that ran several restaurants. My grandmother and my mother, who is a chef, taught me all kinds of culinary tricks from a young age.
A few weeks before COVID, I was in New York for work. That’s where I rediscovered the incredible world of hot sauces — partly thanks to my visit to Hot Ones. Starting a project around hot sauces just felt like the natural next step.
Dit bericht op Instagram bekijken
HotZeg isn’t just about heat — it’s about flavour with character. When did you discover that a hot sauce can be so much more than something that just burns?
After spending a few years tasting hundreds of different hot sauces (partly thanks to Heatsupply), I started to understand what it’s really all about: the right balance between flavour and heat. A good sauce needs to be spicy, of course, but the heat should never overpower everything else. That’s why we combine our favourite fruits, vegetables and spices with carefully selected peppers. The goal is that you discover the flavour first — and feel the heat after.
What was the first sauce you ever made?
ADIX(X)ION was our very first creation. It’s still being made today and has become one of our bestsellers. Even now, it serves as an important reference point for several other hot sauces in our range.
We heard that every sauce needs at least a year and a half to develop. What does that process actually look like in practice?
Every HotZeg sauce starts with identifying the key ingredients. We look for the perfect combination of fresh fruit, flavourful vegetables, our own blend of freshly ground spices and, of course, the right peppers.
Once we’ve found a solid base, we start refining. We work on the texture, colour, heat and seasoning — through countless cooking sessions and tasting rounds with family and friends. We also do blind tastings. Those help us figure out whether a sauce still needs one final tweak.
How does the development process begin? Do you start with a pepper, a dish, a flavour combination — or does inspiration sometimes just strike in the middle of the night?
We usually start with a fruity, generous and flavourful base. We often draw inspiration from fruits and desserts from our childhood. From those familiar flavours, we look for ingredients that pair well with our spices and peppers.
When do you officially declare a sauce finished? Is that an objective decision, or does the whole family need to give the green light first?
Every sauce is tested multiple times, retested and compared to other versions across different aspects. Only when we have a clear, finished version that the whole family loves do we give it the thumbs up. So yes — the family definitely has a say.
Which sauce do you think best represents HotZeg?
MAZOSHISTA is our flagship sauce. It’s made with our own personal and unique combination of ingredients, inspired by our Italian-Balkan culinary background. That sauce really brings together everything HotZeg stands for: character, tradition, bold flavours and a solid kick of heat.
Why are fresh vegetables and fruit so important in your recipes? What do they add that dried or more industrial ingredients simply can’t?
Fresh ingredients are what give our sauces that unique, high-quality flavour. We don’t want to take shortcuts. Consistency is our number one priority — and that applies not just to the fruit and vegetables, but to the peppers and every other ingredient too. We even grind our own spices. That way, we keep as much control over the flavour as possible and make sure every batch has the same quality and character.
You also grow a large portion of your own peppers. Which varieties do you grow, and is that enough to produce all your sauces?
We started doing that a few years ago. By now, we’re growing Habaneros, Madame Jeanettes, Carolina Reapers and Ghost Peppers on our city rooftop. At the moment, we mainly use our own peppers. We also work with a local grower and towards the end of winter, we source additional peppers from Westland Peppers in the Netherlands.
How do combinations like mango-ginger, cherry-apple and lychee-miso come about?
Those combinations come from a mix of childhood memories, culinary knowledge from our different cultures, travel and our own creative interpretation. We often look for flavours that are familiar on their own but create something unexpected together. That contrast is exactly what makes a sauce interesting.
Dit bericht op Instagram bekijken
Do local producers also influence the recipes themselves? Has a sauce ever come about because a producer brought in a special ingredient?
In principle, all our sauces are made with local produce — like local garlic, onions and apples. We’re also planning to develop a new sauce using fruit varieties we haven’t worked with before. That idea came about thanks to a tip from our local fruit grower and supplier. Sometimes a great producer literally opens the door to a whole new flavour combination.
You have the ambition to eventually produce everything fully in-house. What still needs to happen before that becomes realistic?
To produce everything fully in-house, we want to invest in a piece of land. That would allow us to grow more of our own ingredients and take a bigger part of the production process into our own hands.
Which sauce would you recommend to someone trying HotZeg for the first time?
I’d recommend ADIX(X)ION. It’s our first creation and still, to this day, our vision of the perfect hot sauce. It really shows what HotZeg is all about: a clear flavour, character and a great balance between taste and heat.
What exciting new flavours or developments can we look forward to in the future?
There are several exciting creations on the way. The next one up is a Belgian barbecue sauce made with our homemade mustard and a hint of local Belgian beer. It builds on local ingredients, recognisable flavours and our own twist — exactly the kind of combination HotZeg is all about.
You can find all HotZeg sauces that we carry in our range right here.
