# Hot Honey History: Chili-Infused Honey From Mesoamerica to the 2026 Condiment Boom
The chili-infused honey that fused ancient sweet-heat traditions with Brooklyn beekeeping, pizza drizzle, and a 2026 condiment boom
Canonical URL: https://thefoodthatshapedus.com/food/hot-honey
Summary: Where did hot honey come from? Trace chili-infused honey from Mesoamerican sweet-heat traditions to Mike’s Hot Honey, pizza, and a 2026 condiment trend.
Category: ingredients
Primary topic: hot honey history
Published: 2026-07-02
Updated: 2026-07-03
Word count: 692
## Primary Image
- Name: Hot Honey primary image
- Image URL: https://thefoodthatshapedus.com/images/foods/history-and-origin-of-hot-honey.webp
- Dimensions: 1731x909
- Encoding: image/webp
- Alt text: Golden honey with flecks of red chili pepper in a glass jar
- Visual description: Golden honey with flecks of red chili pepper in a glass jar
- Caption: Hot honey combines honey with chili pepper heat, a sweet-heat pairing with old Mesoamerican roots and a modern condiment boom.
- Visible entities: Hot honey, Honey, Chili pepper, Food history
- Credit: The Foods That Shaped Us Research Desk
- Image terms: https://thefoodthatshapedus.com/image-rights#terms
- Permission information: https://thefoodthatshapedus.com/image-rights#request-permission
## Key Takeaways
- Hot honey is honey infused with chili pepper heat, a sweet-heat pairing with old roots in honey and Capsicum traditions of the Americas.
- The modern branded hot honey category is often traced to Mike’s Hot Honey, founded in New York in the early 2010s after a beekeeping encounter with Brazilian chili honey.
- Hot honey became a 2026 condiment trend because it pairs sweet, heat, and glaze functionality with pizza, fried chicken, cheese, and grain bowls.
## Historical Timeline
- Pre-Columbian Americas: Honey and chili peppers coexist in Mesoamerican and South American food systems, where sweet-heat pairings appear in drinks, sauces, and ritual foods
- Post-1492: Capsicum peppers and Old World apiculture meet through the Columbian Exchange, spreading chili plants and beekeeping across continents
- 2010: Mike Kurtz founds Mike’s Hot Honey in Brooklyn, inspired by chili honey encountered through Brazilian beekeeping
- 2010s: Hot honey spreads through pizza shops, fried chicken restaurants, cheese boards, and condiment aisles
- 2026: FoodNavigator and Tastewise report hot honey up roughly 52% year-over-year as sweet-heat condiments trend globally
## Historical Notes
- Hot honey is a condiment, not a single historical recipe; the sweet-heat idea is old but the branded jar is modern.
- Mike’s Hot Honey traces its origin to a beekeeping relationship and a Brazilian chili-honey tradition before becoming a Brooklyn pizza condiment.
- Hot honey works on pizza, fried chicken, biscuits, cheese boards, roasted vegetables, and grain bowls because sugar and heat trigger different taste receptors at once.
## Origin Story
Hot honey is honey infused with chili pepper heat. As a category it is modern, but the sweet-heat idea behind it is old. [Honey](/food/honey) is one of the oldest human sweeteners [3], and [chili peppers](/food/chili-pepper) originated in the Americas, where cooks combined fruit, honey, smoke, and Capsicum heat in drinks, sauces, and ritual foods [4][5][6]. The modern branded hot honey most often traces to Mike’s Hot Honey, founded by Mike Kurtz in Brooklyn in 2010 after he encountered chili honey through a Brazilian beekeeping connection [2]. The food-history value of hot honey is that it makes an ancient pairing portable. It concentrates sweet, heat, and glaze into one spoonable jar that can finish pizza, chicken, cheese, or vegetables.
## Sweet Heat Before the Jar
Sweet and spicy pairings are much older than the modern condiment aisle. In Mesoamerican and South American food cultures, chili, fruit, honey, and smoke appeared together in sauces, drinks, and fermented foods long before European contact [4][5]. After 1492, the Columbian Exchange carried Capsicum peppers into Old World kitchens and Old World bees and sugarcane into the Americas, so the ingredients that make hot honey possible moved across continents together [4][5]. The safer historical claim is not that one culture invented hot honey. It is that sweet-heat is a durable human preference, and the modern jar simply packages it for restaurants and home cooks.
## Mike’s Hot Honey and Brooklyn Condiment Culture
The modern hot honey category is usually dated to Mike Kurtz, who started Mike’s Hot Honey in 2010 in Brooklyn, New York. According to the company, the idea came from a chili-infused honey he encountered through a Brazilian beekeeper, which he then adapted for pizza and restaurant use [2]. That origin matters for food history because it shows how a condiment can travel through personal beekeeping networks, diaspora food knowledge, and restaurant kitchens before becoming a retail product. Hot honey’s rise was tied to independent pizza shops and chef-driven comfort food as much as to grocery distribution.
## The 2026 Condiment Boom
By 2026, hot honey had become a recognizable condiment trend. FoodNavigator, citing Tastewise data, reported hot honey popularity up about 52% year-over-year, part of a wider turn toward bold sweet-savory and sauce-forward flavors [1]. It sits alongside beef tallow, sazón, and matcha fusions as one of the 2026 flavors riding old food systems into new menus. A source-led food-history page should resist turning that growth into a health claim. The stronger story is functional: hot honey gives eaters sweet, heat, acidity, and glaze in one squeeze, which is why it moved from pizza to fried chicken, biscuits, cheese boards, roasted vegetables, and grain bowls.
## How Hot Honey Is Used Today
Today hot honey appears on pizza, fried chicken sandwiches, biscuits, waffles, cheese boards, roasted carrots, sweet potatoes, marinades, dressings, and cocktails. Home cooks make it by steeping chili flakes or fresh chilies in warm honey, while brands sell jarred versions with stabilized heat. For The Foods That Shaped Us, hot honey links [honey](/food/honey), [chili pepper](/food/chili-pepper), [maple syrup](/food/maple-syrup), [pizza](/food/pizza), and the wider story of how sweet-heat pairings keep returning to menus in new forms.
## Sources & References
1. “Flavour trends 2026.” FoodNavigator (2026) https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2026/04/09/flavour-trends-2026/
2. “Our Story.” Mike’s Hot Honey (2026) https://mikeshothoney.com/pages/our-story
3. “Honey.” Encyclopaedia Britannica (2026) https://www.britannica.com/topic/honey
4. “Capsicum.” Encyclopaedia Britannica (2026) https://www.britannica.com/plant/Capsicum
5. Harold McGee “On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen.” Scribner (2004)
6. Alan Davidson “The Oxford Companion to Food.” Oxford University Press (2014)
Related canonical pages: [Honey](https://thefoodthatshapedus.com/food/honey) | [Chili Pepper](https://thefoodthatshapedus.com/food/chili-pepper) | [Maple Syrup](https://thefoodthatshapedus.com/food/maple-syrup) | [Pizza](https://thefoodthatshapedus.com/food/pizza) | [Vinegar](https://thefoodthatshapedus.com/food/vinegar)