It was a hot day today and the last day of summer holidays in Austin, Texas.  To add to the heat, we decided to taste more heat at the worlds largest hot sauce festival right here in Austin. Texas.

The Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival, began in 1990, and has become the world’s largest festival, drawing as many as 15,000 spectators and more than 350 entries every year. This year The Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival took  place today, Sunday, August 25 at Fiesta Gardens (2100 Jesse E. Segovia St.) in Austin, Texas.

The hot sauce contest has three levels of competition: Individuals (homemade), restaurants, and commercial bottlers, in categories of Red, Green and Special variety category. And the Hot Sauce Festival judges are some of the finest chefs in Texas!

Like many food enthusiasts, I too entered my ‘Fig Pepper hot sweet sauce’ in the special variety category.  And like outer food lovers who like hot and spicy food, we joined the large lines of people trying out all the salsa and hot sauces provided by vendors.  There was also a huge tent where crowds were lined up to vote for their favorite salsa or sauce in the competing sauces to select the people’s choice awards.    Only sauces and salsa’s made in the commercial kitchens are open for People choice selection, the home made sauce individuals are judged only by experts and don’t qualify in people  choice selection unless the sauce has been made in commercial kitchen.

It was one large, hot, Austin food event which also was fundraiser for Capital Area Food Bank of Texas. The event was open to public and instead of tickets the people had to get canned food donations for the food bank. It was a brilliant give and take of food to share.