When we went to visit Steve and Amy, John added a place he wanted to visit.  John is interested in growing his own peppers and making hot sauces.  So he is working to educate himself and try as many different kinds of sauces as possible.  He asked all of us if we could go to the Pepper Palace at the Cincinnati Premium Outlets just as short distance south of Dayton.  Of course we all said “Yes!”   So all six of us piled into John and Jackie’s car and headed south on I-75.

The Pepper Palace is a new place that just opened at the Outlet mall.  It is a fun and colorful little shop with hundreds of sauces, rubs, and extracts.  One of the nice things about the store is you can sample everything.  There were little crackers or chips so you sample the sauces.  I opted to stick to things marked mild or medium.  I don’t really like spicy hot flavors.  But Tom, John, Steve, and Amy tried a variety of flavors.

My favorite was a mild peach habenero hot sauce.  Mostly sweet with just a little hot.  That was certainly too tame for the hot sauce lovers among us.  Amy and Steve tried a bunch of sauces, but they didn’t buy any.  They said that John’s homemade sauces had spoiled them.  They only like his sauces now.  John had to try the hottest thing in the store – a capsaicin extract.  He took a few drops of it, his face turned red, then his eyes started to water, and then sweat started rolling down his forehead.  When he could speak, he admitted it was hot.  Capsaicin is the main ingredient in pepper sprays.

We didn’t end up buying much, but looking at all the bottles was fun.  The Pepper Palace has lots of ways to spice up your life!  There are 41 stores throughout the US, so you should be able to find one close to you.