Nuremberg's kitchen culture runs on Nürnberger Rostbratwurst at the kiosk, Schäufele under crackling crust, and the long-winter sweetness of Lebkuchen. ME AND MY HOT SAUCE, an independent hot sauce brand run by Steffi and Maik producing in The Culinary Collective in Nuremberg, has taken Best in Category in Sweet with Hot Goddess at the European Hot Sauce Awards 2026 (heatawards.eu), Europe's flagship hot sauce competition, with the sauce also ranking as the #2 hot sauce in Europe across all categories.
ME AND MY HOT SAUCE is run by Steffi and Maik, a couple who turned a long-running Covid-era hobby into a brand in November 2024, producing everything by hand together in The Culinary Collective in Nuremberg. Maik develops recipes , Steffi handles design and creative work, both of them in the kitchen. The medal card spans Sweet, Asian Style, Medium, BBQ and Freestyle, with Hot Goddess scoring in both Sweet and Medium and Sweet Hell hot sauce scoring in both Asian Style and Sweet, which says the recipe-work transfers across categories rather than fitting one slot.
Nathan Austin on Hot Goddess:
"Hot Goddess builds on pineapple juice rather than the usual fruit puree, with habanero plus scorpion pepper carrying the heat, an unusual pairing at this sweetness level. It reads tropical first, then the scorpion finds you, then the habanero stays. A bottle you can use daily without it dominating the plate." – Nathan Austin, Tasting Editor, Republic of Heat
Hot Goddess (Gold, Best in Category, Sweet, also Bronze in Medium Chili Sauce): cooked with pineapple juice, mangos, habaneros, scorpion peppers and a spice blend. Built to feel like a Caribbean vacation in a bottle and designed as a tropical, fruity, flavour-forward everyday sauce rather than a heat play.
Across the remaining categories ME AND MY HOT SAUCE picked up Silver in Asian Style Chili Sauce with Sweet Hell (also Bronze in Sweet), Bronze in BBQ Chili Sauce with BBQ Beast, and two Bronzes in Freestyle with Sun Eater and Green Witch.
"Honestly we are still speechless. For us, Steffi and Maik, making hot sauces was a hobby for years. During Covid it became more and more. We officially started ME AND MY HOT SAUCE in November 2024 in Nuremberg. We make everything by hand, in small batches, and taking 1st in Sweet and 2nd in Overall in a blind European panel is hard to take in. Massive thanks to everyone who's been with us on this." – Maik, ME AND MY HOT SAUCE
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. The Top 20 of those 200-plus sauces is reserved for the hot sauces that score across the panel regardless of category. Placing inside the Top 20 puts the work in a different bracket from the category podium itself.
"Hot Goddess at number two across all categories is what stops the panel mid-tasting. Sweet is one of the most contested categories of the year and ME AND MY HOT SAUCE took the top of it from a producer that's been a brand for eighteen months. EHSA exists to surface exactly that kind of result." – Neil Numb, Founder, European Hot Sauce Awards
Hot Goddess and the rest of the ME AND MY HOT SAUCE range are available direct from the brand at meandmyhotsauce.com, meandmyhotsauce@gmail.com and via Instagram @meandmyhotsauce. Full EHSA 2026 results across all 16 categories: heatawards.eu/results/2026?utm_source=press_release&utm_medium=press&utm_campaign=ehsa2026&utm_content=me-and-my-hot-sauce.
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 Reveal videos on YouTube, embeddable: - Medium Chili Sauce: https://youtu.be/t6_GvbkBCM8 - BBQ Chili Sauce: https://youtu.be/L5IhjgVIE4M Press kit (photos, logos, AI lifestyle composites credited Republic of Heat / European Hot Sauce Awards 2026): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zkOHbOUIaJwGy9r_6PwHvPZphmF2eDlk?usp=drive_link
ABOUT ME AND MY HOT SAUCE ME AND MY HOT SAUCE is an independent hot sauce brand in Nuremberg, founded November 2024 by Steffi and Maik. The brand produces by hand in small batches in The Culinary Collective, a professional kitchen in Nuremberg. Maik develops recipes and runs the business, Steffi handles design and creative work, both produce together. The range covers Sweet, Medium, Asian Style, BBQ and Freestyle. Hot Goddess, Sweet Hell, BBQ Beast, Sun Eater and Green Witch all medalled at EHSA 2026. Contact at meandmyhotsauce@gmail.com.
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 first, second and third places awarded in each. 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
— End –
Press contact
Contact the Council