Tamazula Black Label Extra Hot Hot Sauce Review

Tamazula Black Label Extra Hot

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl6HMnYUWDE

In many ways, this will be one of the easier sauces to review, since I've already done it...but there is a story here, kind of. It has to do with Tamazula, who is the maker of both Tamazula and Valentina hot sauces. At first, I thought it might be more of a regional difference, as in the sauce is called one thing in Mexico (Tamazula) where it originates and another (Valentina) when exported to the US. There are differing packaging restrictions between the two, which could also be part of it. The idea was borne out a bit when I found the Tamazula in a Mexican grocer, the only place I've seen it so far, and the Valentina rather ubiquitously elsewhere, including the Mexican grocer. Well worth noting is how quickly this theory is deflated upon discovery that Valentina is the best-selling sauce in Mexico. For what it's worth, the Tamazula is also notable more expensive on a per ounce basis.

So...is it the same sauce as the Valentina Black Label Extra Hot (the labeling and name also shared with that sister sauce, which is reviewed elsewhere here)? For me, the answer is not so cut and dried. I found the Tamazula to be a lot less harsh and abrasive, much smoother in taste, than the Valentina, however, this could be due to the bottle having a lot less room to agitate and perhaps as I get more towards the end, this will change. The ingredient panels are identical and both use the Puya pepper as the heat source. Color-wise, while I don't have a bottle of the Valentina or a color spectrophotometer to measure, I would put them closer than not. If pressed, I would probably say the same about the taste as well. While I found this one to be silkier in tone and slightly preferable, it is also a bit less hot than I remember the Valentina being, but again, the difference is minute enough to be barely about negligible. 

Either one is going to serve roughly the same purpose, which is as a Mexican table sauce, meant to have a flavor profile that will lend itself to be poured over everything, including possibly desserts. It fulfills this mission well and this is definitely one of the more flexible sauces in that category, as the Valentina also is, though to a lesser degree. While I prefer this one, the Valentina is considerably more available (the website is named after that sauce rather than Tamazula) and it would be kind of interesting to understand why the company both introduced Valentina to the market after the Tamazula sauce and why they keep both in production.

Bottom line: Not exactly a clone, but more like the Valentina Black Label than not, this is right at the top of the various Mexican-style table sauces.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 2
            Flavor: 8
            Flexibility: 8
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 10

Overall: 7