Many of my friends are hot-sauce fanatics. The ones who seem to add it to everything, whose pizza slices are always almost completely red from way more than a dash of the stuff, who are happiest when their eyes are watering from the fire in their mouths. I’ve never been one of them.

But. Tonight the husband made a batch of homemade hot sauce. He used the freshest, most gorgeous chili peppers- at least 3 different varieties- and lots of plump garlic, and a bunch of other things (I had to leave the kitchen, my eyes were stinging too much). The point is, because he used all fresh, all beautiful ingredients, the hot sauce was like none I’d ever had before. It was delicious.

For the true test, of course, we ordered a plain cheese pizza for dinner. I compared the homemade hot sauce with three of my usual pizza hot sauce toppings: a jalapeño sauce, a green pepper sauce, and a sriracha. And there was no question: the homemade sauce beat all of them by a mile. Fruitier, sweeter, hotter, bolder, rounder… everything about it was “-er”.

So if you’re even thinking of making your own hot sauce, I’m here to say: do it. Start with the freshest chilies you can find, plug your blender in, and go to town. Here, some links to making your own hot sauce at home:

• Emeril’s Red Hot Sauce Recipe
• EHow to make homemade hot sauce (never mind that the photo looks more like salsa!)
• Pepperfool’s List of Recipes