I have found that most Hot Sauces, Chili products and hot spice mixtures tend to also be quite high in Sodium. Here are a few products that I have found that are not: Dynasty Thai Chili Garlic Paste. 40 MG of sodium per tsp. You might want to start at 1/2 tsp, it's pretty hot (and really good). (Sometimes I mix it with equal parts Sour Cream and Heinz No-Salt added Ketchup and use as a dip for curried chicken etc) Ty Ling Chinese Style Hot Mustard 50 MG sodium per tsp Silver Springs Extra hot Prepared Horesradish 10 MG Sodium per TSP Penzey's Spices: Hot, Mild or Sweet Curry powders. Also their Vindaloo Spice (you might want to double check me on this one since I am out and can't check the label),Adobe seasoning, Ground Cyanne Pepper and their Chili Powder. 0 MG per serving. (they also have a bunch of other no-salt added stuff, I like their Chinese 5 spice ( 0 mg sodium) as well, it's not hot but it's just good. Dynasty Sesame Flavored Chili Oil, 0 MG Sodium ( I cook with it, haven't tried it as a condiment) There are a few other products that I use that are not low sodium but you use very little of them. IE: Yucatan Sunshine Habanero Pepper Sauce 135mg per tsp but trust me, that's all you will need for an 8 oz (130mg sodium) pork chop. Still leaves plenty of room for sodium content of the bread and side dishes.
You are right about sauces. A look at the ni on the bottles you find on a typical restaurant table is a real eye opener.
I follow my father-in-law's lead. Take a scotch bonnet pepper (pretty much the same as a habanero). Cut it into tiny little slivers. Then when you're eating, take one sliver at a time and include it in a scoop full of whatever your main dish is. You get all the heat and flavor, but none of the additives.
I don't. I doubt there's enough sodium in a scotch bonnet pepper to make a great deal of difference to your overall intake. This is literally straight off the bush, so you're not adding anything to it. Sometimes you get lucky and get a very potent pepper. Other times it's more mild.
For those unfamiliar with Scotch Bonnet peppers, these are some of the hotest peppers on earth. Gloves, protection, you get the drift. Do NOT touch your eyes. "Most Scotch Bonnets have a heat rating of 100,000–350,000 Scoville Units. For comparison, most jalapeño peppers have a heat rating of 2,500 to 8,000 on the Scoville scale." I do NOT suggest that you try these. Quite the opposite.
