Gindo's Blueberry Habanero Hot Sauce Review

Gindo’s Blueberry Habanero 

My very first thought, upon opening and trying this, was that if there was still magic in this world, and one wanted to find it, a really good place to start looking would be St. Charles, Illinois, in the kitchen of Gindo’s, as they have long been a source for sustained sauce sorcery. This is yet another in an increasingly long line and given the breadth, the sheer gamut of sauces, all of them flavorful and wonderful in their own right, yet also distinctly different, it’s nothing short of amazing. For someone like me, it seems like wizardry, but that would unfairly diminish the incredible skill.

This is yet another fantastic blend. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, as Gindo’s will often throw some flavor curveballs in things, and here, while I was thinking mostly blueberry forward sauce, that is definitely not the case. Instead, it is more amalgamation of the wonderful Bells, along with the blueberry, though that flavor is a tad softer and more subtle, and some nice soothing warm tones from the Habanero. Given that it is only Habanero and heat is definitely not the point here so much as the combination of flavors, it is a fairly tame sauce. There is also a slight umami element to this and I found it to have a rather immediate wow factor.

Gindo’s has been in my favorite hot sauce list for a while (in the SOTY page, link at right) and they really do everything pretty much right, from the level gap on the label, to how clean and slick, yet distinctive the label is, to one of my favorite parts, including pairings. For me, I really enjoy pairing berries with red meat, but there was a host of other items on the bottle as well, which hopefully I will have enough sauce to attempt. It is excellent, of course, on meats generally, but as with most fruit-based hot sauces, flexibility is a tad limited. I think this one might be a bit more extended than others, but it also nicely wanders into the realm of cheeses, which not all sauces can pull off. I’ve said before that the Gindo’s sauces all run the risk of being in Sauce Of The Year contention, and while that wasn’t quite the case here, this sauce is an absolute marvel.

Bottom line: Definite must if you like sauces that will defy expectations in a most tasty manner, particularly fruit-based hot sauces utilizing berries. 

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 10
            Flexibility: 6
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 10

Overall: 7