A win for Mooresville's Race City Sauce Works

My colleague, Raleigh food writer Debbie Moose, is an annual judge for the N.C. Hot Sauce Contest in Oxford, N.C. Tough duty, but good news for a local saucer: The winner of Critics' Choice this year is El Verde Sucio -- The Dirty Green, from Race City Sauce Works in Charlotte.

Winner of hottest sauce was Bhut Jolokia, made by Bailey Farms, while Most Unusual went to Smoking J's Jamaican Ginger.

Read about the contest and the painful duty of Hot Sauce Judge at Debbie's blog.

Race City Sauce Works brings the heat

Charlotte-based Race City Sauce Works won the title as the hottest hot sauce at the N.C. Hot Sauce Contest, held Saturday in Oxford. The reason: Their '98 Octane Ghost Pepper Reserve, which contains bhut jolokia chile, also called Ghost Chile. They also won for Most Unusual Sauce, for their Victory Lane Jalapeno-Sour Apple Pepper Sauce.

Debbie Moose was in the hot seat as a judge for the hot sauce category (the contest also looked at barbecue sauces). Read about it this morning on her blog, http://debbiemoose.com/wordpress/.