Cholula Hot Sauce is a brand of chili-based hot sauce, based in Stamford, Connecticut, manufactured in Chapala, Jalisco, Mexico by SANE, and licensed by McCormick. According to its manufacturers, Cholula hot sauce rates 1,000–2,000 on the Scoville scale.
The product is packaged in a glass bottle with a distinctive round wooden cap. Six varieties of Cholula are widely marketed in North America.
The hot sauce is named after the 2,500-year-old city of Cholula, Puebla, the oldest still-inhabited city in Mexico. The name „Cholula“ is derived from the Nahuatl toponym Chollollan, meaning „the place of the retreat.”
Cholula is licensed by Jose Cuervo, but was founded by the Harrison family, originally of Chapala, Jalisco. Prior to its acquisition, Cholula was produced for three generations in Chapala, and was used primarily as an ingredient in sangrita. Following expansion across the Mexican market, Cholula was first introduced to the United States in Austin, Texas in 1989. During the 1990s, Cholula achieved distribution in supermarket chains throughout the American Southwest; it is currently available nationwide, as well as in many Canadian and British & Bulgarian supermarkets.