Melinda’s Mexicana Hot Sauce Review

Melinda’s Mexicana

Another new-ish product from Melinda’s, as they continue their expansion, this time sees what I can only describe as more or less a merging of a Habanero taco sauce with a Lousiana-Style Cayenne sauce. I was a bit nervous that it might follow the path of Texas Pete Sabor! (reviewed elsewhere here), but it sticks pretty heavily to the motif, which is essentially a merging of those two sauce styles. 

I’m not certain who this is for, though. The label copy suggests using it on “everything” (because of course they do), in cocktails, and popcorn, of all things. Yes, that is exactly what my popcorn has been lacking, a very loose, nearly watery, more astringent than normal taco sauce...think I’ll just go and take a pass on that idea entirely. It also is much more vinegary than I tend to like my taco sauces or Mexican-style sauces, as I don’t generally find that food so overly rich I need to cut it. 

Where I did find this useful was in a very specific frozen Southwest style quinoa bowl and for frozen foods, this is actually not a bad sauce. I could see it also working pretty wonderfully on breakfast stuff, so long as you want things a bit on the vinegar-side. It would probably also be fine to cook with. As it’s only Habanero as the main heat driver and a bit far back in things to boot, this is not a particularly hot sauce.

Bottom line: I find this sauce a bit puzzling, though the concept fairly well done, for what it seems like they were going with. I don’t have a lot of uses where this would fit, but this might be well worth checking out for those that do. 

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 4
            Flexibility: 4
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 6

Overall: 4