Fiji Fire Native Bongo Hot Sauce Review

Fiji Fire Native Bongo

Note: This sauce appears on Season 11 of The Hot Ones.

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXsGTAxbNQ8

One of my favorite things, perhaps my most favorite thing and sometimes only favorite thing, about The Hot Ones show is the introduction into peppers I've previously been unaware. Case in point is this, the Fiji Native Bongo, which I'd not encountered before. Apparently the majority of the items in this sauce are sourced directly from Fiji, including the turmeric, which is a very nice touch. The pepper itself is interesting in that it seems to have a lot of flavor attributes of a superhot, without the requisite heat. Here, it is paired with the sweetness of carrots and some turmeric, which all come together to make a rather interesting sauce.

Looking into this pepper further, it appears to be a sort of Habanero derivative that is native to and grown only on the Fiji islands, which explains much of the flavor profile. Habanero-carrot was kind of an in thing in the sauce world for a while, but this is not really reminiscent of those style sauces, instead coming across very much as its own distinctive thing. Those sauces usually worked better with lighter colored meats and definitely that same thing applies here. 

It is a sauce that is quite pleasant, in terms of flavor, but is odd and eccentric enough that I find it a lot more useful as a pleasant change of pace rather than something I want to have repeatedly. The design here definitely seems pretty pointed at meats and I wouldn't consider using this is anything like a mac and cheese or even ramen. There is just enough sweetness here to need food that accompany that aspect better, but I think this would also go very nicely on pizza. Definitely it does lend itself somewhat well to trying different things and general experimentalism, which I can always get behind. Also one of the better sauces from The Hot Ones show, which I'm always happy to come across.

Bottom line: This is a unique sauce, pretty specific to itself, and for food adventurers or chileheads looking for a new taste sensation, this would probably fit the bill quite nicely.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 2
            Flavor: 7
            Flexibility: 6
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 8

Overall: 6