When we were building Liquid Sunshine and Summertime Blues, we needed a way to thicken the sauce without messing with the flavor. Many hot sauces on the market use xanthan gum or some kind of modified starch. We don't really love the way that Xanthan Gum 'feels', and we wanted a more unique, on-brand ingredient.
We landed on kudzu.
You’ve seen kudzu before. It’s all over the South, creeping up trees and telephone poles, swallowing everything in sight. But the part we care about is underground. Kudzu root, when dried and ground into powder, turns out to be a clean, natural thickener that’s been used in Japanese and Korean cooking for generations. It shows up in soups and sauces. Sometimes even desserts. It’s odorless, flavorless, and gives you a silky texture.
That’s exactly what we needed.
Kudzu powder lets us dial in the consistency without touching the flavor. It blends in clean and holds the sauce together.
We like that it comes from here, too. It feels right, using a Southern plant that’s also been used in kitchens on the other side of the world. That’s the kind of thinking we like to build our sauces around.
You’ll find kudzu in Liquid Sunshine and Summertime Blues. Not because it adds flavor, but because it doesn’t.