This KC-made hot sauce made celebrities cry on ‘Hot Ones.’ We put it to the test
It’s often said that good things come in small packages. Sometimes, really hot things do too.
Like Da’ Bomb, a line of hot sauces that’s been prominently featured on the YouTube series “Hot Ones.” More often than not, the show’s celebrity guests end up shedding tears and gasping for air after ingesting even small amounts of them.
But here’s the cool thing.
Da’ Bomb (in its various forms) starts ticking right here—at Spicin Foods on Southwest Boulevard in KCK.
Beyond Insanity, Ground Zero, The Final Answer, Fire & Spice and dozens of other incendiary sauces roll off the line in a building that started as Original Juan’s.
Scott Morse, who’d previously processed peanut butter at a plant in Georgia, bought the company in 2018. Since then, he’s watched in amazement as “Hot Ones” helped make his peppery blend a national phenomenon.
“The Shaq episode is one of my favorites,” Morse says. “He asked before he tried the sauce where they make it. Sean Evans (the show’s host) said, “They make it in Kansas” and Shaq says ‘They don’t know nothing about hot sauce in Kansas.’ And then he took a bite of it. His eyes got real big. And he says, ‘I apologize, Kansas.’”
Morse points out that Spicin doesn’t pay to have its products used on “Hot Ones.” But the show’s success and the word-of-mouth it generates keeps a constant flow of heat-seekers (and pranksters) asking for more.
“It’s crazy,” he grins. “We sell it by the palettes, you know, not just the bottle or the case.”
For the record, the company produces lots of other sauces as well, including many for outlets that put their own name on the bottle. In fact, Morse says that’s actually the largest part of Spicin’s business.
It’s no surprise then that the facility is constantly humming. Running different sauces on different days. But when a product like Beyond Insanity goes on the line, Chief Operations Officer Arnandas Giles says things get a lot more intense.
“It’s insane. You can’t come into this room without coughing a lot. We have masks for everyone. It keeps the spices from reaching the mouth and nose. We have to put on additional protective equipment to make sure that it doesn’t get on your skin.”
Yow!
Hazmat suits aside, these are still food products, meaning that numerous tests have to be conducted. Both to ensure consumer safety, and to confirm that everything tastes the way it should.
Spicin’s Quality Control Chef Cianna Means monitors each batch’s viscosity, as well as sugar, salt and water levels to make sure microbes are held at bay. If something’s billed as gluten-free, she runs the numbers to make sure it really is.
“Once I give my approval, they can start bottling,” Means says.
There’s plenty of scientific gear sprinkled around the lab, most of which I’m unfamiliar with. But I do know that Scovilles are part of the lingo. The Scoville Heat Unit measures how much your mouth is on fire.
For example, Spicin’s Da’ Bomb Ghost Pepper Sauce is 5,800 SHUs, Beyond Insanity is 134,000 and the big daddy of them all, the Source, checks in at 7.1 million Scoville Heat Units.
Those numbers will be important, because in the interest of science, journalism or just plain foolishness I agreed to sample some of the company’s sauces and feel the effects.
Our taste buds in the hot seat
“I’ll say a prayer for you,” Giles laughs as Star Visual Journalist Dominick Williams and I head for the gift shop, where a tasting station has been set up and a small crowd has gathered.
Erica Boyce, a Spicin Account Manager, has agreed to match me wing for wing as we slather sauce, ascend the heat scale and see who blinks first.
“I grew up in a family that ate a lot of hot, hot things, so when I applied here I thought it felt like home,” is how Boyle describes her qualifications.
Me? Well, I once finished a plate of “Angry Beef” at a Thai restaurant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and got my picture on the wall.
I do know this much at least. Water will only fan the flames of something fiery, so I’ve brought milk products to assist me–a cup of yogurt and a strawberry shake, to be precise.
Things start easily with a green jalapeño sauce that’s pleasantly warm and very tasty. Nothing to open the floodgates. That’s followed by the serrano and mango sauce, whose Day of the Dead looking label is scarier than the contents. Pretty benign so far.
But the ghost pepper sauce (people use it on pizza and barbecue) is a whole lot livelier, hitting both of us in the back of our throats, and in my case, turning on the mucus train.
Off came the glasses, out came the Kleenex, but really, why stop there?
Long story short, Erica and I stepped up to Da’ Bomb — full name Da’ Bomb Beyond Insanity. Yes, even a small amount packs a punch. But we stomped our feet, wiped away our tears, I spooned yogurt, Erica chugged chocolate milk and after a long moment or two, we calmly asked for the Source.
Seven. Million. Scovilles.
Obviously, I survived it, or you wouldn’t be reading this. But for the full story, I recommend watching the video that Dominick and I made at Spicin. If nothing else, it proves how a little peer pressure can lead any of us to make questionable decisions.
Afterward, reflecting on my gastric prowess (I did earn a commemorative poster) I think Arnandas Giles may have said it best:
“There’s a whole culture around hot sauce and people wanting to burn themselves out. I don’t understand it, but I’m glad they do because they keep us in business, right?”
This story was originally published November 17, 2025 at 3:47 PM.
