Volcanic Peppers Peach Ghost Pucker
Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0epK0VBX2L0
In the hallowed shelves of BYT (link to the online store at right), I again ran across this brand, one that I've had on the back burner for some time, but meant to get back to once I narrowed the list down a bit. Whilst perusing the various bottled goodies, I came across this, which had my immediate interest. Peach + one of my favorite superhots? Sign me up...though I do admit to a pause when I came across the cinnamon in the ingredients. Cinnamon is a hard ingredient to use correctly I think, though this might be my rather particular palate, and most of the time I encounter it in sauces I strongly wish I hadn't. As a kid, I hated, just loathed the cinnamon candies, still avoid them now, was actively offended when someone offered me a stick of Big Red and I took it and shoved it in my gob without knowing what it was beforehand, disliked Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, and generally found cinnamon to be a flavor I could largely do without...save for a very specific application that being as accent to heavily buttered toast sprinkled with sugar beforehand. There, I didn't mind as much.
Nostalgia is a beast. When I first tasted the sauce, it brought me racing right back to that time, shoving the toast in my mouth so I could concentrate on running up to try to meet the too-early school bus on a country road, before the driver lost patience and fucked off away. Obviously, melted butter on toast were not part of things here, instead a very nice peach lushness as backdrop. That wave passed quickly though, with a crash as the characteristic superhot bitterness and a very nice heat kicked in. But before the sauce was done, it also delivered a nice bit of pucker, as send-off. Quite the ride and I must admit to loving every second of it.
I do find it to be somewhat of a unique ride, tasty though it is, and not something I want on everything. For grilled meats, suggested lighter ones or not, I found it didn't quite create the harmonious accompaniment I wanted. Move to chicken tendies, though, with the fairly neutral meat combining with a generally neutral breading and this becomes an instant winner. To my mind, it works well on lighter meats, but moreso when they're breaded and fried. I found it makes a nice dessert element on things like pies, though choosing something overly sweet, as most ice creams are, and all the subtle balance with the peach, cinnamon, sugar, and pucker, gets cancelled out and you're left with the bitter tones of the superhots, which are not exactly an enjoyable component to ice cream.
But, the bright side is that this is a very lively and fun sauce to experiment with and when you find a place where it works, it tends to work marvelously and to great effect. This is also one of the rarer sauces that I don't find quite makes it to a 3 in heat, but nevertheless, I think most normies will both find it too hot and dislike the flavor roller coaster journey, especially the bitter part in conjunction with that heat. There is quite a bit going on with this sauce and I suppose one needs to like complex sauces a bit to really admire the shine here.
Bottom line: This is an excellent sauce, extremely well-done, but ultimately more of a nice change of pace for me than something I'd want to have all the time. It is also probably better left to chileheads.
Breakdown:
Heat level: 2
Flavor: 10
Flexibility: 5
Enjoyment to dollar factor: 8
Overall: 6
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