Firelli Hot Sauce Review

Firelli Italian Hot Sauce 

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpI5iVdjy64

Sauces like this are really why I keep on trolling the various supermarket aisles, as you never quite know what will show up. This one is direct from Italy, the famous Parma, specifically, and utilizes the great Calabrian pepper, which, if you watch the Food Network at all, know is one of the darling trendy peppers in that sphere. I don't run across it in sauces, aside from that Private Selection sauce (reviewed elsewhere here) which used it extensively and quite effectively, to the point where that sauce was in contention for Sauce Of The Year.

This one is not quite of that caliber. Labeling is kind of interesting, with porcini mushroom, of all things, making an appearance. It is a very smooth sauce, very vibrant and lively, nice and rich, with some herby notes that keep reading through. One of those reads through the strongest and it is somewhat of a confusing flavor, that of dill. I know people have utilized dill in other sauces, but this one is ostensibly geared towards Italian food, with special emphasis on pizza, which I don't think I've ever seen dill used with. This aspect sort of waxes and wanes, depending on the other flavors. Indeed, this sauce is one of the more reactive with what you use it on, with the taste profile changing dramatically depending on what else is there. 

Heat-wise, like the Calabrian pepper itself, it is minimal. I'm tempted to give it a zero, but there is enough there, just enough, to let you know it is meant to be a hot sauce. I think, given the shape of the bottle and the cap, that they are really taking a swing at the gourmet market here. It will probably fit in nicely there, but as a hot sauce, I think it somewhat misses the boat. A gourmet sauce, yes, but not so much a hot sauce, in that much more focus is devoted to flavor complements and contrasts than on anything resembling heat. 

Bottom line: Well worth a pick-up, as anything with Calabrian peppers works nicely with Italian foods and there are never enough sauces that function well in that setting, but this is perhaps the epitome of a YMMV sauce and I don't find it especially resonant.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 6
            Flexibility: 8
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 4

Overall: 5