Arizona Pepper's Organic Chipotle Habanero Hot Sauce Review

Arizona Pepper's Organic Harvest Foods  Chipotle Habanero Pepper Sauce

UPDATE: Video support now available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCeSTHm7HPI

Right out of the gate, this one started with a bold assertion of flavor. With Chipotle, a little goes a very long way and while the label starts by leading with "Chipotle", the actual first ingredient is Habanero. It's a very difficult thing to try to mix those together, much more complicated than it might seem, as Habanero can be a fairly subtle flavor and Chipotle is about as dainty as a wrecking ball. There is also Jalapeno in the mix, apparently, but that one gets lost completely.

While Habanero is definitely not the dominant flavor here, edged out, but not lost entirely to Chipotle, as it is prone to do, it builds a noticeable back heat. It doesn't continue to build and build, however and caps off fairly readily. There is no real lasting heat here, but once it comes up to the level point, it maintains a nice, solid, steady, though low, burn. All in all, quite pleasant, but certainly not above 10K.

The flavor here is fantastic. This is a more complex sauce than expected, with fruity grace notes, probably courtesy of the Habaneros and just the right amount of astringency to it from the dual vinegars as part of the formulas. This is definitely one of the tastier sauces I've had this year and I fully anticipate it working well across a wide variety of foods.

Bottom line: With all the "organic" wordspace in the label, if you guessed this was from Whole Foods, you'd be on the money. This is yet another of their very worthy additions to the stable there and while it does seem more like primarily a Mexican style sauce, I wouldn't hesitate to use it nearly anywhere that could use a dash of smoke flavor with a touch of heat.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 3
            Flavor: 8
            Flexibility: 8
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 7

Overall: 6

Gringo Bandito (Green) Hot Sauce Review

Gringo Bandito (Green) Hot Sauce

I may as well just come out and say it. The comparisons here to El Yucateco are obvious. Like EY, the red sauce is the far more abrasive of the two and the green is somewhat hotter, though only slightly here. It is also on a very definite slow build and takes a considerable time to work up a lather. I suspect they are using very mild Habaneros as the taste there is very smooth and almost only in passing. Unlike EY, the red is probably the better tasting of the two here, though, in that I would consider buying it again whereas the green sauce of Mr. Holland is reminiscent, in several respects, including color, of more of a tomatillo sauce, though there are no tomatillos listed in the ingredients.

This one is much less flexible than the red sauce, perhaps predictably and it's best with one of the white meats, either chicken or pork. I suppose you could also use it on a white fish, but there are much better alternatives there. It's mild enough that it may not get noticed on other foods with stronger tastes unless and until you use quite a lot more of it, almost enough to then interfere with the flavor, if it's not one of those two meats. It also works better if you have a Mexican-based dish, of course.

When you do get enough to get a taste of it, there is a smoothness and a taste that reminds me most of a spiked tomatillo sauce, which isn't necessarily unpleasant, but once again, think of how many things you use tomatillo sauce on. If you wouldn't use it on a given food, basically don't use this as it will either clash or disappear. In point of fact, making tomatillo sauce with a hefty dose of this is probably the best use of it I can think of. I think I got this for a bit over a buck and at that price, certainly is a respectable, if not solid, deal, but I don't imagine I'll be repeating this one.

Bottom line: Again, we have a fairly well-crafted sauce, albeit one that is extremely limited in use. This one is several notches below the competition in this category, falling well short of either El Yucateco Green or the Serrano Salvation sauce, which are both runaway winners.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 4
            Flavor: 5
            Flexibility: 3
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 3

Overall: 4