This hot sauce tastes like Cincinnati chili, and it's Covington-born! | Highly Recommended

The first time I tried Farmer Nate’s hot sauces was at a pickle festival in North Bend, Ohio. It's there I found the company's namesake, Nate Nunemaker, wearing a Joe Burrow jersey while schilling sauces beneath a green tent.

Farmer Nate looked like a friendly guy, so I took him up on an offer to try a few. While I always have hot sauce on hand, I haven't put much thought into them for a while (Crystal or Frank’s have been my go-tos for years). But on my first try of Nate's, I found a great new locally made option.

– At the Table: Sign up for Keith Pandolfi's weekly food newsletter –

Nunemaker grows his peppers on a small urban farm in Covington, and each sauce tastes fresh and lively with varying degrees of heat. His curry jalapeno is an aromatic mixture of jalapeno and serrano peppers with a touch of garlic. And the Kentucky Smokehouse is hot enough to make you sneeze before it settles down with notes of clove and smoked salt.

But for me, it’s Farmer Nate's Kentucky Tang sauce that hits the mark. It tastes a little like Cincinnati chili with notes of cinnamon, cumin and clove, but with a bit more earthiness, heat and brightness. If you're looking for a more traditional Louisiana-style hot sauce, Nunemaker also makes a great one in partnership with Beards & Bellies in Newport. You can buy a complete set of Farmer Nate's sauce at farmernatessauce.com.

Highly Recommended is a weekly spotlight on some of food writer Keith Pandolfi's favorite finds as he eats his way across Greater Cincinnati. Find more of his recent food writing here or in the list below.

Highly Recommended Hall of Fame

??: A trolley burger with a side of spicy history

??: This rare-find sandwich flies you direct to Italy

??: This is the best potato chip in Cincinnati

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Farmer Nate's hot sauces are born and blazed in Covington soil