Zagorje's kitchen runs on Zagorski štrukli pulled fresh from the oven and purica s mlincima at Sunday tables. Volim Ljuto, a small-batch sauce-maker growing its own peppers in greenhouses in Igrišće and bottling in Bistra, has taken silver in Extract Based Chili Sauce with The Last Supper at the European Hot Sauce Awards 2026 (heatawards.eu), Europe's flagship hot sauce competition.
Volim Ljuto is ten years into building its range out of central Croatia, with peppers grown on-site under glass, recipes written in-house, and ferments measured in months rather than days. The Last Supper was built for the brand's tenth birthday and for the customers who kept asking what came after a previous release called The Resurrection. It is currently the hottest sauce produced in Croatia.
Nathan Austin on The Last Supper:
"The distinctive here is the patience. A year-long Trinidad Scorpion barrel ferment under a sauce-maker's roof is rare at any heat level, and rarer still when extract gets added at the end rather than substituted in place of fruit. The Last Supper finishes above 850,000 SHU but is built on actual fermented mash underneath, not on extract alone." – Nathan Austin, Tasting Editor, Republic of Heat
The Last Supper (silver, Extract Based Chili Sauce): Trinidad Scorpion mash fermented for a full year in a barrel before chili extract pushed the final bottle past 850,000 SHU. Built as an anniversary release and the answer to a recurring customer question, positioned by Volim Ljuto as currently the hottest sauce produced in Croatia.
"We've put Zagorje on the European chili map. Peppers grown in our greenhouses in Igrišće, recipes we wrote ourselves, fermentation measured in months. The Last Supper went up against producers from across the continent and came back with Silver in the Extract Based category. That's the result, and the team earned every bit of it." – Monika Boshkova, Volim Ljuto
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. Extract Based Chili Sauce is the category where producers stop pretending heat is a side-effect of flavour and put the SHU number at the centre of the brief, which makes the silver harder won.
"Extract Based is a category that punishes anyone who treats heat as a substitute for craft. Volim Ljuto landed silver because the build underneath the number actually works. That's exactly the kind of producer the European Hot Sauce Awards exists to find." – Neil Numb, Founder, European Hot Sauce Awards
The Last Supper is available through Volim Ljuto at volimljuto.com. Full EHSA 2026 results across all 16 categories: heatawards.eu/results/2026?utm_source=press_release&utm_medium=press&utm_campaign=ehsa2026&utm_content=volim-ljuto.
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/1ZrVNhoyGsxEaDjURQ9t_t28Qp5zaT6nA?usp=drive_link
ABOUT VOLIM LJUTO Volim Ljuto is a small-batch hot sauce producer based in Bistra, central Croatia, with its own greenhouses in Igrišće. Ten years in operation, the range is built on peppers grown on-site, in-house recipes, and long ferments. The current line includes The Last Supper, currently the hottest sauce produced in Croatia, available at volimljuto.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 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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