When you shop for a bottle or two of hot sauce, you'll likely be doing so based on a couple of factors — flavor and degree of hotness. Hot sauce is available in a wide range of flavors, thanks to the many different ingredients that manufacturers use. Of course, hot sauces can also range from mild to extremely hot, so you'll want to choose a product that suits your palate. As you browse the bottles at your local hot sauce store, you may notice specific terms on the labels that catch your eye. Here are three important terms that you'll frequently encounter when you shop for hot sauce.

Small Batch

As you look at different bottles of hot sauce, it's common to find some that have "Small Batch" written on their labels. While the exact definition of this term can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, it means that the hot sauce in your hands isn't mass-produced. Many different companies, including those that manufacture alcohol and chocolate, also use the small-batch approach and advertise this fact. As a customer, seeing this term can give you the feeling that the company was highly attentive in making the product in front of you.

Organic

A trip through your local supermarket should expose you to plenty of organic products, but you shouldn't be surprised to find this term when you're shopping at a hot sauce store, too. Generally, this means that the ingredients that make up the hot sauce — namely the hot peppers that give the hot sauce its flavor and color —  haven't been exposed to pesticides and similar products during the growing process. If you're someone who seeks out organic food whenever possible, you might wish to take this approach when you shop for hot sauce, too.

Gluten-Free

If you know about gluten, you're probably aware that you can find it in products with wheat — including breads, crackers, cakes, cookies, and more. What you might not realize is that gluten is an ingredient in many products that you wouldn't necessarily associate with wheat. As you look at different types of hot sauces, you'll almost certainly see that some advertise being devoid of gluten. This can be a good thing if you're trying to limit your intake of gluten for health or dietary reasons. Some hot sauce stores will even have specific sections of their retail spaces dedicated to gluten-free products.