St. Paul company raises the hot honey heat with Ghost Honey

With just three ingredients — American made honey, ghost peppers and vinegar — Heart Soul Heat heats up the hot-honey scene.

November 29, 2023 at 12:00PM
Ghost Honey photographed in the Star Tribune studio in Minneapolis, Minn. for the Star Tribune Magazine's Holiday Gift Guide on Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023. ] LEILA NAVIDI • leila.navidi@startribune.com
Hot honey gets really hot with the addition of ghost peppers. (Leila Navidi, Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

For those thinking hot honey is ubiquitous, meet St. Paul's Heart Soul Heat, the new Mexican condiment brand from Raoul Benavides. The debut product, Ghost Honey, shows there's plenty of life left in this spicy-sweet trend.

American-made honey is infused with ghost peppers, once the world's hottest pepper. The result is spicy — really spicy — but the peppers' fruity and slightly sweet notes complement the honey, making it the perfect foil to everything from pepperoni pizza to ice cream. Add a kick to holiday cheese boards, drizzle it over cornbread, give salmon a new edge, fuel a fun cocktail or add another layer of complexity to the dish that started it all: fried chicken.

"I am not into heat that will hurt you, but I want to open up your taste buds to another level," Benavides says. Mission accomplished.

Ghost Honey is available at Rose & Loon in Rosedale and online at heartsoulheat.com ($14.99).

about the writer

about the writer

Nicole Hvidsten

Taste Editor

Nicole Ploumen Hvidsten is the Minnesota Star Tribune's senior Taste editor. In past journalistic lives she was a reporter, copy editor and designer — sometimes all at once — and has yet to find a cookbook she doesn't like.

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