Frank's RedHot is a
hot sauce
Hot sauce is a type of condiment, seasoning, or salsa made from chili peppers and other ingredients. Many commercial varieties of mass-produced hot sauce exist.
History
Humans have used chili peppers and other hot spices for thousands of years ...
made from a variety of
cayenne peppers, produced by
McCormick & Company. The Original blend ranks low on the
Scoville scale, with 450 SHUs, but the XTRA Hot variety measures 2,000 SHUs.
History
The Frank Tea and Spice Company was founded in 1896 in
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
. In 1917, owner Jacob Frank contracted for the Estilette Pepper Farm in
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
where Adam Estilette and Frank became business partners. They mixed spices,
vinegar
Vinegar is an aqueous solution of acetic acid and trace compounds that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains 5–8% acetic acid by volume. Usually, the acetic acid is produced by a double fermentation, converting simple sugars to et ...
,
garlic
Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus ''Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Allium fistulosum, Welsh onion and Allium chinense, Chinese onion. It is native to South A ...
and
cayenne peppers and aged them, creating the original blend of Frank's RedHot, which entered the market in 1920.
Frank's RedHot is the primary ingredient in many
Buffalo wing recipes, but was probably not used in the original 1964
Anchor Bar
The Anchor Bar is a bar and restaurant in Buffalo, New York, located north of Downtown Buffalo at the intersection of Main and North Streets. recipe.
In 1977, Frank's RedHot was sold to Durkee Famous Foods.
Following the purchase of the Durkee brand in 1995, it was owned by
Reckitt Benckiser
Reckitt Benckiser Group plc, trading as Reckitt, is a British multinational consumer goods company headquartered in Slough, England. It is a producer of health, hygiene and nutrition products. The company was formed in March 1999 by the merg ...
until 2017. Frank's is produced in
Springfield, Missouri
Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an estimat ...
. In 2007,
Thanasi Foods
Thanasi Foods is a manufacturer and distributor of packaged snack foods. Products distributed by Thanasi Foods are available in approximately 45,000 supermarkets, convenience stores, grocery stores, and drug stores in the United States and Canada ...
began marketing licensed Frank's RedHot flavored
beef jerky and
meat snacks. In August 2017, spice maker
McCormick & Company closed a $4.2billion deal that included
French's
French's is an American brand of prepared mustard, condiments, fried onions, and other food items that was created by Robert Timothy French. French's "Cream Salad Brand" mustard debuted to the world at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. By 1921, F ...
mustard and Frank's RedHot sauce.
Advertisements
Frank's RedHot is known for its national television ad campaign depicting an irreverent elderly woman named Ethel explaining her recipes for various foods. Usually in front of a prestigious figure (e.g., the
Queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
), she will quip "I put that s*** on everything", much to the disdain of those around her. The expletive is always censored with a
bleep
Bleep may refer to:
* Bleep sound, a noise, generally of a single tone, often generated by a machine
** Bleep censor, the replacement of offensive language (swear words) or personal details with a beep sound
** Bleep techno, a Yorkshire-born subg ...
, and Ethel's mouth is covered with a censoring "splat".
See also
*
Condiment
*
List of hot sauces
*
Scoville heat scale
References
External links
Frank's RedHot— Official Home Page
Frank's RedHot on the ChilliWorld Scoville ScaleFranks RedHot Canada
{{Hot sauces
Hot sauces
Culture of Buffalo, New York
Brand name condiments
Reckitt brands
Products introduced in 1920
McCormick & Company brands