Karma Huhu Pina Hot Sauce Review

Karma Huhu Pina Hot Sauce

Note: This sauce was provided for purposes of review by Roger Damptz of Burn Your Tongue. Check him out on Facebook or, better yet, head on over to his new online outlet where you can shop the widest selection available anywhere, www.burnyourtongueonline.com.

UPDATE: Video support available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMuxyoE3IrY

When I did some compilations in Q3 of 2020, as a point of curiousity, I went through to see which letters of the alphabet had been covered through the years. As mentioned in the Q3 2020 Update post, I found I had not reviewed any sauces with the letters "K," "U," "X," and "Y". This was already on my list, thanks to some fairly glowing praise on Roger's Facebook page feed, wherein I drop from time to time. 

It is another in a very long line of Pineapple-Habanero, a category that is so saturated that folks are resorting to doing things like adding ginger and/or lime to differentiate themselves. This one adds both of those, adds a Korean pepper and stuff like agave and marjoram as well as a host of other ingredients, including cumin. As cumin is another of those flavorings I'm trying to move away from, this was not an especially welcome development, but once I understood the intent of the sauce, it made more sense. 

This is apparently intended for that narrowest of narrow craft categories, not merely a Pineapple-Habanero, but specifically for one dish, that being al pastor tacos. Now, this is a bit of a problem for me, since I do not own a trompo and this is not a time when I find myself having much trust in any restaurants. There are only a select few who I think do a good job with this, as it is, and none of them are particularly close to me. Still, I try to test things as thoroughly as possible and this was no exception, so I used it in every place where I would normally use a Pineapple-Habanero, so things like chicken strips, pizza, etc. Cumin I did not find to be a very welcome addition to any of those and it is somewhat of a challenge to figure out where this sauce should fit, as the one food dish it appears to be meant for, al pastor tacos, it is doubtful I will have in 2020. I dislike sweet sauces generally with Mexican dishes, so I didn't find it enjoyable there, either. Once the video posts, you can see my attempt to build something along the lines of the dish this sauce is wanting.

Heat -wise, this is very moderate, bordering on non-existent. The consistency is somewhere between the Inferno Farms Pineapple XXXpress and one of the thicker sauces, right about the middle between them. There are a lot of good bits of pineapple and pepper in there, which I do like.

Bottom line: Designing a sauce for one specific food is an interesting idea, but one that seems inherently limited. If this sauce did not have cumin, I would find it far more enjoyable, but as it is, I find that ingredient bottlenecks applications. 

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 4
            Flexibility: 1
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 2

Overall: 2