One of the most common ways to induce fiery breath, Blazing Inferno Hellfire Sauce is one of the most dangerous substances known to man. This stuff is so ferocious it gives off heat, and may even set inflammable materials alight when applied directly to them. In extreme cases, such materials might go up just by being next to the bottle, which may or may not be radiating a fiery red or orange glow.
As a rule, it's usually made from a special pepper that only grows in one obscure (and probably nonexistent) location in the jungles of wherever.note It can only be safely harvested wearing full hazmat gear and a tank of compressed oxygen connected to a breathing mask. Often, other ingredients used in the making of the sauce include lava, uranium, and pure unadulterated anger. The sauce will typically either be specially requested, since no restaurant is just going to leave something like that out in the open, or used as part of a challenge to customers by the restaurant. It may actually be illegal in some countries.
Naturally, the Big Eater can't get enough of the stuff. He puts it on everything he eats, and probably carries a bottle (or bottles) with him in case there's no other source. Any other character who dares taste a drop of the stuff will soon be making a beeline for the nearest large body of water (or outhouse) to dunk their head into, but there's always one character Unaffected by Spice, who considers it a necessary condiment for every meal, and may even occasionally drink it straight.
The spiciness of food, especially of chili peppers and Scotch bonnets, is measured on the Scoville scale. The number of Scoville Heat Units a food has is equal to as many grams of sugar syrup one gram of that food needs to be mixed with, evenly, before its "hotness" is undetectable by a taster. Basically, the more capsaicin a food item has, the hotter it tastes. Extracted pure capsaicin sits near the top of the scale (behind two chemicals, resiniferatoxin and tinyatoxin) with a Scoville rating of up to 16,000,000. While the scale is generally considered scientifically inaccurate, it still remains a pretty good (if imprecise) way to comparatively judge just how hot a certain pepper actually is.
For the sake of comparison, at the bottom of the scale is the bell pepper, with a Scoville rating of 0; the jalapeño pepper has a Scoville rating of 2500-8000; the tabasco pepper is rated at 30,000 to 50,000, and the habanero pepper has a rating of 100,000 to 350,000. The crown for "hottest chili pepper" has, in recent years, been in a state of flux. Up to February of 2011, it was the Ghost Chili. The Ghost Chili claim was usurped by the Naga Viper Chili, which, at 1,359,000 is more than 1/4 the hotness of police-grade pepper spray (5,000,000). In March of that year, the the Trinidad Scorpion Butch T chili, which clocks in at 1,463,700 SHU unseated the Naga Viper. In 2012, the the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, which hits a blistering 2,009,231 SHU, unseated the Butch T. Then, in 2013, The Scorpion was trounced by the Carolina Reaper, which can peak over 2,200,000 SHU.
Compare Gargle Blaster and Klatchian Coffee for alcoholic and caffeinated drinks respectively. Woe betide us if they are ever combined, though this is often an essential ingredient in a Hideous Hangover Cure (or it might simply be used as one by itself).note Sometimes shares the corrosive effects of Hollywood Acid, generally indicated by its dissolving a teaspoon or similar. A very common form of Masochist's Meal. Will likely result in a Fire-Breathing Diner. As you may have guessed by now, in both real life and in fiction peppers and sauces of this class tend to have Names to Run Away from Really Fast.
