The Algarve runs along Portugal's southern coast on a food culture of grilled sardines off the Olhão quayside and the cataplana de marisco that defines its kitchens. Piri-Piri & Co, a 15-year piri-piri farm at Quinta do Piri-Piri in Albufeira run by Romeu Santos, has taken two Gold Medals at the European Hot Sauce Awards 2026 (heatawards.eu), Europe's flagship hot sauce competition: Gold in Extra Hot Chili Sauce with Asinhas Infernais, and Gold in Mild Chili Sauce with Manga e Mel.
Piri-Piri & Co's range is built on more than 180 chili varieties grown directly on the farm in Albufeira, with malagueta (Portuguese piri-piri) as the house chili. Romeu Santos has been growing, fermenting and bottling under the brand for fifteen years, with sauces, marinades and condiments produced in small batches. The two podiums sit at opposite ends of the range, one a sweet mild table sauce, the other a wing-marinade designed to test eaters' tolerance.
Nathan Austin on Asinhas Infernais:
"Asinhas Infernais lands at the extreme end of the range, and the colour says death before the bottle's open. Underneath the heat there's umami and a sweet-chili register you don't expect from a sauce at this end of the scale." – Nathan Austin, Tasting Editor, Republic of Heat
Manga e Mel (Gold, Mild Chili Sauce): a mango-and-honey build that opens with stone-fruit sweetness, lets the heat in gently behind it, and lands as the kind of mild hot sauce you can put on chicken, pork, vegetables or salad without overwhelming the dish.
Asinhas Infernais - Original Desafio / Infernal Wings (Gold, Extra Hot Chili Sauce): piri-piri, vinegar and salt at the base, built closer to a marinade than a pourable sauce. Sweet and sticky, built for the annual chili-wings contest Romeu runs at the farm, where friends coat a batch and see who's still standing.
"Participating in this fantastic competition is always a great honor. Winning isn't the most important thing, but it motivates us to do more and better. Without a doubt, after 15 years we have managed to put the Algarve on the international map when it comes to chili. A big thank you to everyone who believed in us and supported us, our customers of course. Stay spicy!" – Romeu Santos, Piri-Piri & Co
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. Mild Chili Sauce and Extra Hot Chili Sauce demand opposite things from a producer, and Piri-Piri & Co landed Gold in both.
"That's not a single lucky bottle, that's 15 years of farm work showing through. EHSA exists to surface exactly that kind of result, and we're watching closely for what Romeu brings next year." – Neil Numb, Founder, European Hot Sauce Awards
Manga e Mel and Asinhas Infernais are available through Piri-Piri & Co at piripiri.pt. Full EHSA 2026 results across all 16 categories: heatawards.eu/results/2026?utm_source=press_release&utm_medium=press&utm_campaign=ehsa2026&utm_content=piri-piri-co.
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 Reveal videos on YouTube, embeddable: - Mild Chili Sauce: https://youtu.be/nQsGH0tPhZ8 - Extra Hot Chili Sauce: https://youtu.be/WXVJ6Qcbjzw Press kit (photos, logos, AI lifestyle composites credited Republic of Heat / European Hot Sauce Awards 2026): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10vKq1OLMYE2a4dyw5czS5Q5kQJuDhC7v?usp=drive_link
ABOUT PIRI-PIRI & CO Piri-Piri & Co is a small-batch piri-piri farm at Quinta do Piri-Piri in Albufeira, in the Algarve, founded and run by Romeu Santos. The farm cultivates more than 180 chili varieties, with malagueta (Portuguese piri-piri) as the house chili, and produces sauces, marinades and condiments under the Piri-Piri & Co label. Fifteen years in operation. The range, including Manga e Mel and Asinhas Infernais, is available at piripiri.pt.
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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