Novelty sauces can be a mixed bag. Most of them that have a themed label tend to be junk; abrasively harsh substances that have little to no flavor and what is there is usually bad. This is one I happened to buy along with some others, mostly on a whim and consequently didn't get to it for a while.Here we have orange Habaneros, which tend to be a bit on the fruity side to begin with, then spiked with orange concentrate, which does a nice job of really pushing that side of it. But make no mistake, despite being mostly orange Habaneros and orange concentrate. This is not particularly a sweet sauce and not anywhere near one of the fruit-based sauces out there.
It sort of reminds me of some of the El Yucateco sauces, particularly the Caribbean, but with a blast of orange. The citrusy nature of this makes it a very curious sauce but one more restricted to lighter meats, chicken, fish, pork, et. al. It's not by any means a bad flavor, but I wouldn't call it necessarily a great one, either. There is plenty of back-end heat here and it calls to mind that Habanero was, at one time, the world's hottest pepper in the record books. It also doesn't really dissipate much and builds a respectable level that I found both surprising and enjoyable. It's nowhere near the raging fury of a superhot or extract sauce, to be sure, but is a very large note in the sauce.
Bottom line: This one can serve a purpose as both a solidly charged novelty gift, one step above with pretty good flavor as well as a very solid sauce for the lighter meats. I don't know that I really have a place for it in my regular stable and so may not be getting it again, but I'm definitely enjoying its stay while it lasts.
Breakdown:
Heat level: 6
Flavor: 7
Flexibility: 6
Enjoyment to dollar factor: 7
Overall: 6
