TRUFF Smoky Pineapple Hot Sauce Review

TRUFF Smoky Pineapple

It always strikes me as odd when there is a sauce with the word pineapple in the name that does not also reflect the accompanying flavor in the sauce profile. Pineapple is a fairly distinct, and sometimes polarizing, if certain parties are to be believed, flavor and it's not really something that one can use accidentally. It's not like spooning sugar into tea, "whoops I spilled some pineapple into my lemon tart." You generally have to go out of your way to include it, so it always puzzles me that if you're going to go to that trouble, why the flavor is not featured prominently. I've had other sauces where it is muted, but fairly few where it is absent entirely, but this is yet another in that ignoble list. 

I often find various trendy ingredients to be overrated. Truffle is absolutely one of them and it's another of those "rich cuisine" flavors and things I'm just as happy to be without. I find a little of it goes a long, long way and building a sauce line around the concentrated form of that, while featuring very slick and attractive packaging, is a curious proposition. Obviously, they are well national at this point, so they've managed to attract some backing capital, but the only person I've ever seen either buying or having it at all is me. I will say that the red sauces work better with Italian tomato-saucy foods and I think they floated a pasta sauce line at one point that was smarter, but I struggled to get through the only other flavor I've had from them (reviewed elsewhere here). I will also struggle to get through this one.

This is a much thinner sauce than the others seem to be and I'm not quite sure where they intended to position it. It's not quite as watery as a Louisiana-style, but is a bit closer to that, with the consistency somewhere between that looseness and maybe a medium thick. The flavor profile is heavily vinegar as well, with a sort of vague pepper flavor, maybe the Habanada puree, maybe the TRUFF chile blend, maybe both combined, and, of course, the actual truffle powder as well. Even with Habanada being a much milder variant of the Habanero, there should be a touch of punch, but this has next to no heat in it. What is absent from the flavors I mentioned, of course, is both the smokiness and the pineapple, which is especially curious for the latter of those two ingredients, given that it's the first ingredient in the list. 

This is definitely one that is helped immensely by agitation. When I first opened the bottle, I found it borderline ghastly and there it sat in the refrigerator door shelf while I pondered what could possibly be done with such a concoction. There are suggestions on the label, but I was a tad fearful of ruining those foods should I try to apply this to them. I will probably wind up using this as something to stir into other things, but that's just me trying to invent ways to use it up. Perhaps in that process I will discover somewhere that I like the combination of pungent vinegar with truffle, but this is not something I would ever want as a forward flavor profile nor is it a sauce I will ever get again. It was years between the first TRUFF sauce and this one and I don't know that there will ever be a third. 

Bottom line: If you like the idea of a vinegar-forward sauce, with truffle and a vague pepper flavor base, along with no heat to speak of, this might be up your alley. 

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 0
            Flavor: 2
            Flexibility: 2
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 0

Overall: 1  

Stacked Sweet Habanero Hot Sauce Review

Stacked Sweet Habanero

This will be a bit of an unusual review. So...here we have a mystery, but I don't mean the sauce itself. Skip ahead to the fourth paragraph if you're not interested in the mystery. I'm not making any claims here, but rather pointing out some...oddities, I guess, if you will, in the story behind the company. Stacked, as a hot sauce brand, started off life under a different name, which was Crippling Hot Sauce. The idea behind that was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the handicapped dynamic, with the owner having cerebral palsy. The marketing, and possibly the products, but for me, much more the marketing, was so successful that this very quickly grew into a multi-million dollar company and scaled up from a home kitchen to a commercial one...kind of. The sauce is produced by a company by the name of Supreme Cuisine, which is a co-packing company. The name change from Crippling to Stacked came about due to "customer confusion." Customers were allegedly fearful of the sauce crippling them by consuming it, which I cannot imagine as possibly true, for a variety of reasons. Stacked is probably a better trade name overall, whatever the rationale. A multi-million dollar company is a success by any measure, particularly in the hot sauce world, and the name change to "Stacked," while ostensibly meant to having odds stacked against one, also carries a lot of other connotations, a number of them in direct contravention to the previous name. Curious, but it gets curiouser...

The origin stories floating around are also inconsistent. I have seen it in the following context: In a high school business class, which is the part that is the same in all the versions, we have a teacher who told the company owner he could not do this hot sauce idea at all. We have the same teacher who told him the idea was great but his business plan was unrealistic. We have a business class where the class told him the idea was unrealistic after he pitched it to them, and the aforementioned business teacher helped him put together the structure to launch it. The implication seems to be that he received these comments because he was disabled and the negative feedback put a chip on his shoulder and pushed him to make the company a reality. The story is as front and center as the sauces and has been since I've been aware of the company, which I came across on Amazon a couple years ago. It took some digging but I was curious to see if, in all the news stories with the company owner, this teacher was ever asked about their side or had a formal response. This proved difficult. It was not particularly publicized, but in one of the interviews with the owner, I found a reference to the name of the teacher, yet when I tried to find this teacher, given that the teacher is used in the marketing extensively, i.e. "buy my sauce so my teacher can see they were wrong," etc., I was not able to verify this person exists, or existed, at all. 

When I first came across this company on Amazon, the first thing that struck me was the marketing and there is a lot of it. Both Crippling and now Stacked were very slick and dynamic in presentation, with a lot of emphasis on the presentation and the story. Observing this sort of thing always raises my suspicions. It is a facet of my personality that I am always leery if I get the impression that a company is trying to sell me on the story more than on their products. Further, if you take a look around at the hot sauce world and the companies, which I obviously spend a lot of time doing, you notice an immediate disparity. None of this means anything by itself, however, the idea of "buy my sauces to show my teacher they were wrong about this thing I'm saying they said this one time" is not a pitch that I will ever find resonant. I found the vibe to be very marketing heavy and information light overall. I may be in the minority on this, but for me, it ultimately comes down to the products, in this case, the sauces. Looking at the ingredient list of all of them, they struck me a lot like the various sauces that roll around every holiday season on the Wal-Mart shelves in sampler bottles, a number of which I've taken a look at here. This is not to say or even suggest that they are those things, but were reminiscent.

All that aside, with the rebranding, the usual 5 fl. oz. bottles were booted in favor of slightly larger flasks. That's fine, I like flasks generally. I think they add a nice vibe to things. The names of the sauces were altered, and possibly the formulations as well. As usual, I once again needed some monies so I could have the free shippings on Amazon and this was on sale, so it seemed a good time to try it out.

Up front, I will say that I was hoping it would be much sweeter than it was. This is, indeed, not at all a sweet sauce, so I find the name a touch confusing. Yes, chiles are a fruit and carrots can impart a degree of sweetness, and there may be a slight degree of that fruitiness here and there in grace notes, but overall, this is a very Habanero and vinegar-forward sauce. I liken this much more to a Louisiana-style or Cajun, though this is notably thicker. The carrots here appear to be included to give this sauce more body and the mouth feel is pretty good overall. This is perhaps its best characteristic to my mind. It is close to medium thick and very smooth, though I did find it additionally a touch abrasive and somewhat unrefined. The ingredient listing lists as red Habaneros backed by red Bells, but this struck me much more as other sauces using orange Habaneros, which could just come down to crop yield variations. 

I think ultimately this is going to come down to how much you like the flavor of Habaneros, since that, along with the vinegar, made up for me by far the majority of the flavor profile. While I do prefer red Habaneros, I didn't find this overly enjoyable, perhaps more in the "solid" range of things. Heat-wise, it is also fairly moderate, perhaps a bit more than most of the other sauces in the aforementioned styles, but nothing too many chileheads will find challenging and probably not a lot of normies, either. Because of the overall harsh nature of the sauce and me not particularly enjoying the flavor, I found this best used on things like dishes with creamy sauces, where it was fine. Where I might use those other sauces on perhaps fried chicken or breakfast foods or elsewhere, this is not one I would care to use in those applications, other than maybe in a pinch. At the end of the day, I've certainly had a lot worse, but I've definitely had a lot better as well and this one is just kind of middle-of-the-road for me, ultimately.

Bottom line: This is an acceptable sauce that I will finish out, but not one I am inclined to repeat.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 4
            Flexibility: 4
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 3

Overall: 3

Butterfly Bakery Ghost Verde Pickle Hot Sauce Review

Butterfly Bakery Ghost Verde Pickle

There are not a lot of pickle hot sauces on this blog, despite pickle being one of the "hottest" new trends out there right now and this is for the simple fact that most of them are pickle purees. I don't find myself needing pickle purees particularly, which seems to me a very expensive and inconvenient way of consuming pickles and something anyone can do directly themselves with a blender or Ninja. This is not to say that I don't like pickles, as I do, very much and have gone so far as to make them myself, with these two bare hands, on more than a few occasions and I guess I just never quite understood the point of that puree, unless it was for cocktails or something. But again, in that case, what is the need for a hot sauce? I didn't understand...until now.

This sauce has easily the best texture and mouth feel and body and consistency of any pickle hot sauce I've ever had. It is not liquidy and watery and runny, as most of them seem to be, not at all an extremely loose relish, but a very intentional concoction. It is both very dill forward, as well as having a heavy dose of cucumber. There are not, in fact, pickles in here, with them opting for the direction Gindo's also took, and using components to make pickles in fashioning a sauce. Here, we have jalapenos as a base, which is a very smart move, then some Ghosties in there to liven up the party, though this is a very tame sauce that anyone can enjoy without getting scorched out. There are some garlic scapes in there to round things out as well. It is all of those things at once, but very much its own thing. Making it dill forward also does the nice job of not restricting it solely to where one might use a pickle, though it mostly works there. There are also a lot of subtleties to this absolutely delicious concoction that will make one want to make it the star of whatever dish...and doing so will allow it to really shine. 

While I like dill and pickles, I tend to steer from them in sauces because pairing is always somewhat of an issue, particularly if the sauces are watery and runny, but here, with the lovely nature of this sauce, a lot of that is alleviated. You will still need to pair it judiciously though, but mostly so as you don't waste a drop of this delectable majesty. I tried it in deviled eggs and wished I hadn't, not because it was bad or anything, but it didn't read particularly well and because it is so much better elsewhere. It is something equally at home on cream cheese & lox on a bagel or on a burger or nice fried chicken sandwich. As long as it's somewhere you'd want either dill or pickle, this will probably be at least worth a shot there. 

Bottom line: If you like dill or pickles in your hot sauce, this is an absolute must. Even if you don't and are only curious, this is by far the best example of this type of sauce out there. 

 Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 10
            Flexibility: 4
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 10

Overall: 6

Char Man Pinya Hot Sauce Review

Char Man Pinya

Fatalii is probably a pod that's been around longer than it seems, but to me, it seems a relatively new pod on the scene, because it's only been in recent years that I've encountered it. I've tended to think of it as a superhot, but that may not be the case and perhaps indicative of my unfamiliarity. I tend to think this because it seems to have a bitterness to it relative to superhots and it also has a floral nature that I associated strongly with Scorpions, an aspect I care less and less for over the years. Yet, I do also fully admit that may be both a combination of my own ignorance and the setting I've had it in. I say this because in this sauce, which is both very fruit-forward and very sweet, there is a fruitiness that is distinctive to pods, right before the bitter and floral hammer come screaming in. Possibly I've undersold these, but also they are used so infrequently it seems, that it's small work to avoid them. 

As to this sauce, I will say directly that this is exactly the kind of pineapple flavor I always hope for in a hot sauce. It is absolutely delicious and I can't think of another sauce where the pineapple is done any better. Now, I will also say that I wish a different pod was used. I know that Scotch Bonnets and Habaneros are used a lot and are tired and all sauce makers want to differentiate themselves, but even though this sauce is perhaps my favorite application of Fataliis and puts them in perhaps the best possible light, I still wish a better-tasting pod was used. 

This has not prevented me from loving this sauce and using it happily, though. This is the kind of thing I want in my pineapple sweet-hots, for sure. This thing is a gem on pizza and on meats of all kinds, including and perhaps particularly on burgers, chicken, of course, and I finally got my long-sought dream of getting pina colada shrimp to work, by careful application of this on coconut shrimp. The flavor cancellation with several of those foods works to great effect and dramatically reduces both the bitter and floral parts, leaving the inherent fruitness of the pod working with the wonderful pineapple. But, it's a balancing act, of course. If the sauce is used a bit too heavily, those start to rear their heads again. Sauces are meant to work with foods and this one does, to great effect with judiciousness. 

Now those aspects may be more limited to me and my palate, but in a way, I guess it also could be a positive, as I definitely am cautious to try to avoid those other flavor notes and thus elevate whatever food I'm using this with. I don't think I've ever had a Fatalii sauce, again in my limited exposure, where it hasn't read as a superhot and I think the heat here can possibly take some users aback, particularly if non-chileheads. It does dissipate somewhat quickly, though, so I think it potentially makes a nice bridge or intermediate sauce.

Bottom line: This is not quite a tale of two sauces for me. It has the best pineapple, but a pod where I wished a different one were used. Still, if you are a fan of pineapple sweet-hots, I unreservedly recommend you give this one a shot.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 2
            Flavor: 9
            Flexibility: 8
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 9

Overall: 7 

Earthquake Spices Death By Garlic Hot Sauce Review

Earthquake Death By Garlic

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B22qNMflJUI 

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect when I picked this up. I glanced briefly at the ingredient list, noted the Fresnos and Worcestershire, along with the black garlic, but still paused. I hadn't exactly been bowled over by the previous sauces from this company and was considering putting them on a bit of a pause for a year or two, to try again at some later point. You can read the other two reviews on this blog. With makers I'm not familiar with, it works on a sort of sliding scale. Depending on how much I like whatever sauce(s) I'm introduced to them with, I might try to buy the entire lineup of other flavors as well. This works on the other side as well, where if I intensely dislike a sauce, I might write the company off entirely. But there is also the middle ground, the gray area in the center, which was kind of where Earthquake fell after the first two sauces. 

The sauce was, by no means, surefire. The Fresnos are always a strong ingredient for sauces, but adding Jalapeno and Habanero, while perhaps a touch pedestrian, is probably as close to automatic as one can get in hot sauces. Heat-wise, given those, this is also fairly nominal. I understand there are a couple of other heat level variations of this and I probably will also seek those out at some point. Garlic is something I like but also feel it can become overbearing fairly easily in hot sauces and depending on what type of garlic is used, might put it outside of the realm of positive returns. Naming something "death by [x]," usually means whatever the [x] is in the phrase will result in that being very forward, but here we have black garlic. Black garlic will carry a lovely umami load, but is not intensely garlic-y forward, and it was in the middle of the pack of ingredients, so the naming convention I found a tad confusing. Once I opened the bottle, however, which is what really matters, most of my doubts were dispelled. 

The earlier part of this had a fascinating sweetness that I didn't initially understand. That, combined with the Worcestershire, created a wonderful dynamic, while the mouth feel was largely that of pepper pulp, giving it a nice body, while still retaining a lovely consistency. As I got on in the bottle, it definitely started to predictably lean more towards the Worcestershire, but there was enough contrast that it wasn't restricted entirely to that. As I had initially kind of expected, this was definitely quite umami-heavy, but flexible enough to also work nicely on chicken and a few other cheesy dishes I tried it on. I think it would also do quite wonderfully on non-sweet breakfast foods, but generally, no matter where I put it, I found the experience at least interesting. I wouldn't care to repeat some of them, but none were outright bad. 

Bottom line: This is a delicious, very heavily umami sauce with a confusing name that it doesn't really live up to. If you need a good summer sauce for grilled meats, this is an excellent bet. 

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 9
            Flexibility: 6
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 9

Overall: 6   

Splintered Hummin' & Strummin' Hot Sauce Review

Splintered Hummin' & Strummin'

I don't generally have a lot of interest in strawberry sauces, as they take me generally a really long time to get through. I'm not a fan of the strawberry chicken combination, outside of say a summer strawberry salad, and as most of them are fairly sweet, there's only so much ice cream I consume, either with or without a nice strawberry hot sauce. So, it can take a bit to get through a bottle and space is always kind of at a premium in my fridge door.

But, they can be interesting on burgers and this was the last of the sauces from Splintered that used the base of Reapers and so on, described elsewhere here in other reviews, with replacing the main fruit and for the sake of completeness, I definitely wanted to have a crack at it. I had no idea when I got them how sweet or fruity they would actually be and I think at least some part of me had a high notion of making a July 4 sundae, potentially, with all of them, but alas. This, like the others, is not particularly sweet, but like the other berry flavors, is very forward in fresh fruit flavor. Strawberry, though, is a lot more subtle than I think the other two are and consequently, the superhot bitter of the Reapers reads a bit more here. It also feels ever so slightly hotter, but it is still not particularly blazing. 

The real issue I have with this one is the consistency. This sauce is not watery, but overall quite thin. I found this to be a bit of a dilemma, as it was too runny to work well on burgers and not quite sweet enough for desserts. Actually, I should take that back. It worked the best on ice cream, but the runniness again created an issue. There was some very nice favorable flavor cancellation there and I was debating hunting down some strawberry shortcake to try it there. 

It is not anywhere near as savory as the other two berry variants, so flexibility is somewhat of an issue. Fortunately, I had this during summer and during summer, when strawberries are more in season, it's always nice to have a summer strawberry salad or two and that's where this thing really shined, beyond the ice cream and possibly the desserts I mentioned. It brought the salad to life in a way that perfectly contrasted with the crispy bacon and chicken nuggets, and though I used cheddar cheese, I think some nice bleu would have really been the ticket. So, you may have to fish around a bit to pair this, but it definitely can be well worth it when you find the combination.

Bottom line: The last of the fruit-based Splintered sauces based on the same foundation, this one is definitely the equal to the others in flavor, but is marred considerably by the consistency.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 8
            Flexibility: 4
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 8

Overall: 5 

Splintered Dirty Blues Hot Sauce Review

Splintered Dirty Blues

Alright, a 1 and a 2 and 3 and let's get going. What we have here is the usual Splintered framework, at least as far as the fruit-based sauces that I've done (as well as the one on deck - check TOC at right for any you may have missed), which is vinegar, Reaper mash, Jalapeno mash, salt, and both onion and garlic powder. This is the base upon which the various fruits lay upon and it's very interesting, because it almost functions as a control group. I quite like the idea, though the results vary for me pretty widely. This one, however, I'm happy to say, is my favorite of the lot by a pretty wide margin...at least for now. 

This is because the blueberries have a fresh and lively vibrancy, a freshness to them, along with a wonderful concentration of flavor. In the background, we have the aromatics and the peppers, with the Reapers bringing a slight degree of heat. While I still feel the onion and garlic powders are unnecessary and all the sauces would be better without those things, I will note that their base with fruit combination works the best here and the sauce by itself is pretty nice. It is not sweet enough to use on pancakes and it failed pretty considerably on blueberry pie, but it works well on ice cream and I could see it doing well with other breakfast foods, like sausage. Indeed, it is on meats where this really shines. Chicken, pork, and beef all worked wonderfully with it. I have my doubts on pairing it with fish, but I was tempted to go track down some buffalo to pair it with...I still might. I think it also could come together well with something like cheeses. 

For me, my preference with fruit-based sauces will always be towards the sweeter side of things and that might be my preference generally...discounting the Louisiana-styles and Mexican-style sauces, of course. I do think if you like fruit-based sauces, particularly the ones with blueberry, this one is definitely worth a go, even though it presents a side I don't think I've seen many of the other ones necessarily come forward with. Reaper has definitely been used with blueberries before elsewhere, but the berry taking on and meshing with the other components so well was something I was pleasantly surprised to find. Even with the Reaper, like the other Splintered fruit sauces, the heat here is pretty tame. 

Bottom line: Easily my favorite of the Splintered fruit sauces thus far and to my mind, probably the best. If you're a fan of blueberry hot sauces, this one should be on your radar. 

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 8
            Flexibility: 7
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 8

Overall: 6

Lunar Ghost Smoke Hot Sauce Review

Lunar Ghost Smoke

I've mentioned this before about other sauces, but I can't get away from the idea that words matter, that they have to mean things, in order to have any value. The more specific the word, the less I feel like we should drift from its designation. Take, for instance, the word "decimate." This is a very specific Roman practice of reducing something, usually opposing armies of lands they'd captured or otherwise subjugated, by 10 percent. We are familiar with "deca" as in a unit of 10 and are familiar with such words as decade, but "deci" is on the other side of the zero and means 1/10, as "centi" means 1/100 of something, such as a meter, or cent as in 1/100 of a dollar.

Anyway, sriracha also means a very specific type of hot sauce. Sometimes companies will want to use this, but then make something that might otherwise be a very fine sauce, such as this one, but which will not register as the word it's using. Sriracha, in a lot of ways, could be considered a sort of liquefied chili-garlic sauce, and it has a characteristic of imparting a fairly specific flavor, but one general enough to be good solo or incorporated into various Asian dishes. It can be used as either dipping sauce or topping, as well as mixed in. This is another that does not really work this way, from a flavor perspective, and is not what I would call a sriracha. 

I really liked the idea of this, a sriracha with some nice Ghosties bringing heat and flavor, as well as the addition of smoke. It sounded quite interesting, but what's here is very much a Ghost-forward sauce, in terms of both flavor and heat. This means there is quite solid heat, to be sure, probably well above what will be comfortable for most non-chileheads, but also a very notable superhot bitter, which is probably the main flavor note. There are accents of the Ghosties before the roaring heat and bitter come on, along with the smoke and a bit of pungency from the vinegar, but the sugar and garlic part of things are lost nearly entirely.

This is a sauce that almost immediately overpowers whatever it's used on with that bitter aspect. While I found it a lovely sauce when using it as incorporations with lighter amounts and mixing it in with other sauces or foods, sprinkling it over the top was not something I found overly enjoyable. Once I got out of the idea of using it for Asian foods, which can often be a bit light and delicate in terms of flavors, I found a lot of places I liked it, but again, mixed in with other stuff. Indeed, that's where I think this shines and has a lot to offer. 

Bottom line: This is not what I would call a sriracha and I'm a bit confused as to why they called it that. Taken as its own thing, it has a lot to offer, such as putting the Ghosties very forward and showcasing what they can bring, which is its best footing.

 Breakdown:

            Heat level: 2
            Flavor: 5
            Flexibility: 4
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 8

Overall: 5

Moto Hot Sauce Review

Moto Calabrian Chili

 

Note: This is the 700th overall hot sauce review on this blog. 

Calabrians are one of my more favored pods. There is an entire post to the effect of which pods are my strong preference, which can be accessed via the SOTY Link at right. Consequently, I always get a little excited when they’re used in sauces, though, truth be told, the resulting sauce I enjoy about half the time. Of the half that I do, it tends to be a lot, while the other half I enjoy less well I find a bit underwhelming. Of course, one never knows until you crack open the seal and get into the bottle.

I really like the bottle. The packaging is all-around very slick. On the label, there is a scooter with a background of flame and it’s very nicely structured with the text. “Moto” is an Italian derivative of the Latin “motus,” which means movement or motion and so I figured this was an Italian sauce. I didn’t investigate too closely, though, as I was already sold on the appeal. It is not, in fact, Italian, but from Northern Cal, but I’m wasn’t overly upset with that revelation. The majority of my favorite sauces are from the USA, though sometimes with regional ingredients, like the Calabrian pods, this can work against it.

So, I made a special trip to get a bottle, cracked open the bottle and was nearly instantly dismayed. I am not even remotely a fan of oils and fats. I hate the mouth feel and generally dislike the flavor of it by itself. When used in sauces, it tends to make them a bit thicker than I would prefer and they tend to come across as heavy. This was exactly the case here, more akin to a salad dressing than hot sauce, despite more heat than salad dressings usually have. It is only Calabrians, though, so heat is quite tame. Ok, fine, the first shot was at room temp and maybe I’d like it better chilled, as what happens sometimes with hot sauces. So, I tossed it into the fridge door and forgot about it while I did some of the other sauces around it and contemplated what I could conceivably pair it with.

To that, the best thing to do with this is to try and seek balance. So, anything astringent or on the lighter side, like tomatoes, it works well. Pairing it with cheese was...not great. It is another that would work well with a tomato sauce Italian dish, but not at all with something like a Carbonara, unless you used this in place of some of the heavier parts of that sauce. It is very low in sodium and has no black pepper, so using it on something with black pepper and/or a higher salt content is also quite nice. If whatever you’re thinking is heavier, then it is less useful, unless you want richness on top of richness, which, for me, is just too much. I didn’t love the flavor here, as the Calabrians were not forward enough, but in the right application, it can be pretty nice. You may just have to cast about a bit to find the right light for it…

Bottom line: I can’t really say this is a good representation of Calabrians, as it comes across to me as far too oily, but if you’re up for some experimentation, this can be pretty fun to play with.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 5
            Flexibility: 4
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 5

Overall: 4