Salsa macha is the Veracruz-born oil-based chili sauce of dry chilies, fried garlic and toasted sesame, the kitchen condiment Mexican cooks reach for when the table salsas won't do. Los Chilaquiles, a small-batch Mexican food kitchen in Berlin run by Rodrigo Rubio and Alejandro Jiménez, has earned recognition at the 2026 European Hot Sauce Awards (heatawards.eu), Europe’s leading hot sauce competition. Their family recipe, brought from Mexico, won silver in the Chili Oil category with La Macha.
La Macha is built on the salsa macha format that runs through Mexican kitchens: dry chilies for body, fried garlic for depth, toasted sesame for the finish, all carried in oil. Rodrigo and Alejandro run Los Chilaquiles out of a small Berlin kitchen in Prenzlauer Berg, working a family recipe carried across generations. The silver places a first-generation Mexican-Berlin maker in EHSA's largest category of 2026 by entry count.
Nathan Austin on La Macha:
"Salsa macha as a format is rarely seen in European hot-sauce competitions, and rarer still in faithful Veracruz-style form rather than reinterpreted to local palates. Los Chilaquiles´ bottle reads as the former, an unvarnished version of the Mexican original rather than a Berlin riff." – Nathan Austin, Tasting Editor, Republic of Heat
La Macha took silver in Chili Oil: a salsa macha built on carefully selected chilies for depth, fried garlic and toasted sesame seeds for the rounded oil-based finish that gives the format its name. Spoons over tacos, eggs, beans, grilled meat, or anywhere an oil-based salsa already belongs.
"We're beyond stoked that La Macha took home a silver medal. Inspired by a family recipe passed down through generations, our goal has always been simple: bring the Mexican flavor to Berlin, and now to the rest of Europe." – Rodrigo Rubio, Los Chilaquiles
The European Hot Sauce Awards 2026 ran over 200 sauces from across the continent through blind tasting this year, scored on five criteria by a deliberately mixed panel of chefs, sommeliers, critics and chilli specialists. Chili Oil drew the largest field of any single category in this year's edition.
"That's a family salsa carried from Mexico, taken silver in EHSA's largest field by a maker working out of a Berlin kitchen. EHSA exists to surface exactly that kind of result, and we're watching closely for what Los Chilaquiles brings next year." – Neil Numb, Founder, European Hot Sauce Awards
La Macha is available direct from Los Chilaquiles in Berlin. Full EHSA 2026 results across all 16 categories: heatawards.eu/results/2026?utm_source=press_release&utm_medium=press&utm_campaign=ehsa2026&utm_content=los-chilaquiles.
The European Hot Sauce Awards 2026 are announced ahead of the Berlin Chili Fest, 29–31 May 2026. Republic of Heat's EHSA 2026 Top 3 winner box is live at republicofheat.com/de-en/discovery-set/euhsa_top3, with further EHSA selection boxes at republicofheat.com/de-en/hot-sauce-sets.
PRESS RESOURCES Press kit (photos, logos, AI lifestyle composites credited Republic of Heat / European Hot Sauce Awards 2026): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Pi2OU0VqrFBjfvb8yIE_sBD2BkNxzc6a?usp=drive_link
ABOUT LOS CHILAQUILES Los Chilaquiles is a small-batch Mexican food kitchen in Berlin's Prenzlauer Berg, founded and run by Rodrigo Rubio and Alejandro Jiménez. The kitchen works on family recipes carried from Mexico, with La Macha its signature oil-based salsa. La Macha is sold direct in Berlin.
ABOUT THE EUROPEAN HOT SAUCE AWARDS The European Hot Sauce Awards (EHSA) is the professional competition for commercially produced hot sauces in Europe, run annually since 2024 from heatawards.eu. EHSA was born out of the Berlin Chili Festival, which has run since 2019 and returns 29–31 May 2026, and became an independent competition in 2024. Over 200 sauces from producers across the continent were entered in 2026. Entries are judged blind across five criteria: aroma, heat profile, flavour, creativity and finish. The 2026 edition covers 16 categories, with Gold, Silver and Bronze medals awarded across multiple positions in each. Each category also names a Best in Category, the top Gold. EHSA is run independently of any single producer or retailer.
ABOUT REPUBLIC OF HEAT Republic of Heat is a European hot sauce subscription designed to show off the flavours coming out of Europe and help solve the distribution problem independent makers face. Founded June 2025 in Berlin by Nathan "Naga" Austin and Simon "Scoville" Gardner. The Discovery subscription delivers three handpicked craft sauces plus a spicy extra to subscribers across the EU each month. Press partner of the European Hot Sauce Awards 2026. republicofheat.com.
PRESS CONTACT Press: Republic of Heat, on behalf of European Hot Sauce Awards contact@republicofheat.com +49 176 41601284
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