What element makes hot sauce?

Answer 1

The most basic formula I know comes from soaking capsicum peppers for at least a month (and up to a year) in white vinegar. Commercial hot-sauce recipes are extremely varied, and also typically highly secret. Most, however, contain at least one type of pepper at least as hot as jalapeños (note that, if you include the internal ribs and seeds of the pepper, that will make the sauce considerably hotter); an acid (typically vinegar); various spices (cayenne -- another pepper -- is common), and salt. As to the chemical formula, it's nearly impossible to break a single natural food down into its chemical components, much less a complex sauce. Flavenoids and other chemicals that give food its taste and scent (which we interpret together as flavor) are incredibly complex and often cannot be fully analyzed in the laboratory. So -- chemically, look to basic things like ascetic acid (vinegar), citric acid (from citrus), capsaicin (the chemical that makes most peppers hot), sodium chloride (salt) and H2O.

Answer 2

Hot sauce is made from various chili peppers (cayenne, jalapeño, and habanero).

Ingredients other than peppers can include sugar, salt, garlic, and vinegar.