Salsa Mina Hot Sauce Review

Salsa Mina Hot Sauce

Here we have a tale of two sauces and by that I don't mean, it was the best of sauces, it was the worst of sauces...although I suppose that, in some ways, isn't too far off. This is another Big Lots special and when I saw it and the $1.80 price tag, which is over what I will consider safe territory there -- $1 or under and as long as it has neither extract nor onions, I'll give it a whack -- I passed it by until I happened to look closer at the label on a subsequent trip and saw those glorious words: "fire-roasted." Make it fire-roasted damn near anything and I'm in, so I picked up a bottle.

I like the Salsa Mina story. It reminds me a lot of the Tapatio story and though I'm not especially fond of that sauce, I do like the backstory. In this case, we have yet another entry into the Mexican table sauce category, only this time with fire-roasted chilis, which adds a dimension to the sauce I don't hesitate to call tremendous. Rich, full and flavorful, the roasting covers an area that nearly every other sauce is missing. That is definitely the good news.

The bad news is that this wonderful, wonderful fire-roasted goodness is almost completely drowned out by the vinegar that makes up the base here. It very obviously is a strong cheap white vinegar they use and it's overpowering. Louisiana-style sauces are heavy-heavy on vinegar and in the case of Red Devil, can be made to make a zingy flavorful fine sauce, full of a great taste blend. Here, we have an unpleasant astringency that is dialed up way, way too high. If they cut the vinegar back by about 35 - 40% or so, this would be a strong contender for a brilliant, fantastic and unique sauce in a rather dull and placid market segment. As it is, I had to fight.

Some sauces, because I like part of them so much, I will try to find to make it work. I did that for a while here, even though the heat is maybe 5K SHU. Those fire-roasted chiles were nothing but love, but oh the waves of vinegar to fight through. When I was able to blunt, negate or otherwise dull those, it was a treat. When I couldn't, I looked at my 15 other bottles of unopened sauce, waiting patiently on the shelf and knew I had a hard decision coming. As it was, I managed to find a solution, but it requires another sauce (Salsa Mina's Roja -- review coming later), itself incomplete, to blend the two and make one pretty decent-tasting sauce...I suppose it is a testament to them that I would go through this trouble.

Bottom line: Had not that nasty overkill vinegar been there, taste would have been an easy 8. As it is, I can't ignore it and was going to deduct 3 from it. The last couple of days I struggled mightily with whether or not to toss it -- I hate wasting food -- and the save came from another sauce, so I think half is fair. I won't ever be buying this again, unless they dial down those wretched waves of vinegar. Too bad. Those fire-roasted chiles are nothing short of fantastic...when you can get to that taste.

Breakdown:

      Heat level: 2
      Flavor: 4
      Flexibility: 4
      Enjoyment to dollar factor: 3

Overall: 3