Mama Africa - Pili Pili Hot Sauce

Cathy Tshilombo-Lokemba, affectionately known as Mama Africa, produces intensely spicy, yet disarmingly tasty pili pili sauce. A refugee, former clothing designer, and restaurateur, Mama Africa creates the best authentic African hot sauce we've tried. Utah-based and beloved by local folks, her family recipe is as hot as they come.

Once poured from the bottle into a spoon, the garlic is perhaps the predominant smell that's identifiable. Smelling it and you might not think it's a hot sauce, instead, perhaps a serious salad dressing from a jar.

To the tongue you get confirmation of the garlic, just a minutia of a second before the heat jumps through your mouth, skipping over every part, from the top of the tongue to the sides of the cheeks, straight to the back of the throat in an explosion of tiny little needles pulsating away.