Search This Blog

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Hot Sauce Review

It would seem, I am not alone in liking hot sauce. I know people that cannot handle it, but I love the burn. Ever since I was young when I took a dare to bite into a pepper, I've liked the experience. It's eye opening, brings out a sensation that awakens, nerve pinching, and just off sets your balance with tears and even some sweat. It's nice that I have a colleague/friend that shares this light interest. I myself am no expert but I follow and know the basics. The measurement of a hot sauce's heat (how hot it impacts the nerves and senses) is measured in the units of Scoville(s).


-----The overly popular island aged fermented Tabasco pepper sauce I refer to as week vinegar sauce because it is made of peppers. Tabasco pepper sauce is not high on the Scoville scale. I don't favor it, it has too much of a vinegar taste.

Flavor: Vinegar
Heat: 1 Points
Affect: No linger, no impact on senses


-----The second and my favorite (though a bit of turn off due to it's bright redness) is the Vietnamese Sriracha hot sauce. It is also a light weight hot sauce, low on the Scoville scale. Sriracha is made of chili peppers also and has a lightly sweet and garlic taste to it.

Flavor: Sweet garlic with the pepper
Heat: 2 Points
Affect: No linger except that garlic after taste, no impact on senses


This is where I am going to draw some points on judging hot sauce and notate that flavor is an important aspect of hot sauce in addition to heat. Whenever I rate hot sauce in the aspect of why I like it, the above two counts most importantly. There is a third and it is how longer it lingers. I will add a fourth but is also should be included as part of how hot it is and that is: which senses it affects, does it clear up the sinuses, bring out tears, give sweat, make you run to the kitchen for milk or water (my favorite reaction from my homemade).

The following are not pepper as the main ingredient but the lines of habanero pepper, which the pepper rates higher on the Scoville scale than chili peppers. Again, I am no expert and I am not going to go as far as adding viscosity, how liquidity, smooth, etc, etc, as part  of my judging. Just those three or four.

(Photo and sampling courtesy of my buddy S.S.)


-----My friend likes Baron West Indian Hot Sauce, I do not favor it either because it has no taste, he says it does. I let it sit around my mouth for 20 seconds before swallowing. Yes, it does but a hint of the pepper note and then it gets heated for a minute or two then that's that. I did feel chucks of the seeds with the half teaspoon that I sampled for two rounds.

Flavor: Habanero
Heat: 3 Points
Affect: 2 Minute linger of heat, no impact on senses except for heat


-----My friend also has a bottle of Gray's Authentic Jamaican Habanero Pepper Sauce. This is the second time I heard of this hot sauce. When I asked a West Indian friend of mine what's his favorite hot sauce he mentioned this brand. It had less of a kick, little bit of a hotter note and I detected spices in the mix. Less of the pepper taste than in Baron brand hot sauce. Could freshness also be a factor?

Flavor: Equal ratio of Spices and Habanero
Heat: 2 Points
Affect: 2 Minute linger of heat, no impact on senses except for heat


-----El Yucateco is a Mexican founded habanero pepper based hot sauce. Now I am describing it from a few years back (remembering I liked it), it's not so fresh in my head, I mean I could go buy a bottle for $2 but I will leave it off for when I really need it. As of right now, I recall a kick, with a short/light taste in habanero and yes a lingering and tears in the eye and a light sweat/blush. Now, this was a few years ago and my senses have become better acquainted with heat since then. Or as someone in my family says "you have no taste buds"; wrong! my taste buds are fine, they are just better evolved than yours and stronger too!

Flavor: Habanero, not much other flavor
Heat: 3.5 Points
Affect: 5 Minute linger of heat. Blushing with light tears and light sweat


-----I have never made hot sauce before and actually learned quite a bit from my first experience. My Homemade hot sauce was a suggestion from someone who brought in a little mason jar to use in the office. It was a hit and had heat and a kick. It didn't have much flavor except for a bit of a heavy habanero taste and a light sour taste. I asked if he put vinegar and he said no. This is where the previous reaction came from: the "make you run to the kitchen for milk or water". I wanted a very heated hot sauce without the bells. I bought a pound of Habanero from my local market they label Scotch Bonnet and made my own very simple mix. I kept it simple with no water and two other ingredients. It was a pure, puree.

Flavor: Habanero/Scotch Bonnet not much other flavor
Heat: 3.5 Points
Affect: 5 Minute linger of heat. Blushing with light tears and light sweat


You can research the ingredients for the commercial brands on your own.


Tags: Tabasco Hot Sauce Review, Sriracha Hot Sauce Review, Baron Hot Sauce Review, Gray's Hot Sauce Review, El Yucateco Hot Sauce Review.

No comments:

Post a Comment