Dr. Scoville's Tropical Citrus Surprise Hot Sauce Review

Bear River Bottling Dr. Scoville's Tropical Citrus Surprise Hot Sauce

UPDATE: Video support available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA1Y_pxLGzk

Pineapple and Habanero works in a sauce. Mango and Habanero works in a sauce, or, rather, I should say it CAN work in a sauce...numerous examples of it not being exactly a sure thing, but it definitely can work. No reason that pineapple and mango and Habanero can't be a sauce, though the milder flavor profile of the mango can get lost there. Going tropical with those two fruits and Habanero is definitely a winning combination, but, one that we've seen a few times, so how to differentiate one's sauce...

You could toss in some red bell peppers and take a stab towards the sauce profile of sweet & sour chicken, as I think this sauce sort of does. I don't know what the actual surprise is meant to be here, but I get the feeling it's the citrus component and here, we have a touch of lemon and orange zest, the latter of which tends to cut through notably. I'm not especially fond of that part, truth be told. Conversely, the pineapple is dialed back somewhat, which lets the Habanero shine. That part I think works well and is a bit different than a lot of other sauces I've had, which aim for a much more composite flavor.

Orange is not a flavor typical for hot sauces. It's been used before, but more in a juice context and not so much with the zest providing a lot of nose and shoving it way forward in the mix. It is a jolt when it hits, so perhaps that's the surprise. Other than that, it's a pretty straightforward sauce, with a pretty dense consistency that you might find closer to a jelly. It sticks reasonably well on foods and functions well as a dipping sauce. If you want to take a stab at a Kahuna-esque burger but don't want to be bothered grilling pineapple, you could substitute this, but better to do both, grill that pineapple, then use this sauce. Despite it's relatively high sugar content, I did not find it worked particularly well as a grilling sauce, so this one is probably better to use with meats after the fact.

Heat-wise, even though the label, as companies tend to do, overrates vastly the heat here, this is pretty moderate. Even non-chileheads shouldn't be troubled by this too much. I personally find the orange aspect limits how much I want to use this sauce, except for on that burger creation I mentioned, even in the areas where it does best. It is far too sweet for overall usage, but if you don't mind the orange as much as I do, can make a refreshing addition, used sparingly.

Bottom line: Solid entry into the sweet-hot category, though on the lower side of the heat scale there. Tropical citrus works better as a drink than a sauce, to my mind, but depending on how much you enjoy orange, your mileage may vary.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 2
            Flavor: 5
            Flexibility: 4
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 3

Overall: 3