Sinai Gourmet Tropiquante Hot Sauce Review

Sinai Gourmet Tropiquante 

Note: This sauce appears in Season 19 of The Hot Ones.

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJP5op5lM70

This is one of the strangest hot sauces I think I've ever had. While the first 4 ingredients are fruit, and it is at least somewhat fruit-forward, this is not a very typical fruit-based hot sauce. Indeed, there is not any particularly strong flavor generally, rather a more tropical fruit vibe, if anything, but if pressed, I'd probably point to the mangoes and papaya. Despite bananas being first in the list, they show up more in terms of texture and consistency, which is somewhat reminiscent of applesauce. It is very thicky and sludgy, which makes using it somewhat of a chore, as it really likes to cling to the bottle neck.

The wonderful Scotch Bonnet is the pepper of choice here, which brings a fairly moderate heat, but little else. This is almost more of a fruit sauce, like way of applesauce but tropical, with heat as very incidental. I really wish there was a lot more focus on that Scotch Bonnet, as this could have used both the flavor and more heat. The flavor is quite mild and very mutable in terms of what one puts it on. It has enough spices (such as mustard) and no additional sugar that it tends to conflict somewhat with sweeter items, but can get lose nearly entirely in things like pizza. It does fine with meats, which I think is the intent of this, but my overall impression was more that it was just there, rather than good or bad. It's a sauce I would characterize as almost lacking in identity.

Most of the usage I had with this sauce was in trying to figure out where it would be best used. This can be a very fun and invigorating process, particularly when sauces have a wonderful flavor, but this one is a bit too blase', so the process seemed slightly more of a chore. Getting the ratio correct to the foods is not only a challenge with the flavor profile (at times, elements would be canceled and it would wind up in a conflict), but with the consistency of this, which tends a bit towards the gloppy.

Bottom line: While a certainly unique entry into the list of sauces I've had, it was not particularly memorable one way or another beyond that and definitely was pretty far from satisfying on a heat perspective.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 6
            Flexibility: 2
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 0

Overall: 2