Regular readers will know that long and hard, high and low have I been searching for one particular kind of sweet chili sauce that was one of the greatest sauces I'd had. It was sweet, yet had an excellent balance of garlic to offset that and just enough kick from the chili peppers to really set the others off nicely. I never found out the exact brand and so began the search some time ago. In that search, several have come somewhat close, but none have made it exactly...
...including this one, but it is not very far off, either, perhaps in sibling range rather than cousin, by this point. This particular sauce is exceeding well-done and has all those characteristics mentioned. One of the best attributes about that sauce was the ability to eat it solo, which can also be done here. I'm not a huge fan of it that way, as I wasn't the other, either, but slap that with some Asian food and a bit of soy sauce, maybe a touch of chili-garlic and you're in business.
Of course now that I discovered it on the shelves of a Big Lots, I'll never see it again, but at least now I have a name when I run out again. The main difference here is that there's precious little heat, despite the presence of the cayennes, so you'll have to add more yourself...a small price to pay, I'd say. While slightly less hot than the Maggi, this is overall a better-tasting sauce and now the current leader in this category.
Bottom line: I'm so tempted to cheer that I've found it, the vaunted holy grail of sweet chili sauces and maybe I have, as I have no idea if I'll ever come across that other or if they still make it yet, but this is truly an excellent sauce, the right consistency and all the flavor notes...just needs a touch of heat to really bring it up.
Breakdown:
Heat level: 0
Flavor: 8
Flexibility: 8
Enjoyment to dollar factor:9
Overall: 6
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