Heat Hot Sauce Shop x Dawson's Sunny Citrus Habanero Hot Sauce Review

Heat Hot Sauce Shop x Dawson's Sunny Citrus Habanero

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykIRMFmtBV4

I think I stumbled on this sauce a year or so ago and made a note of it at the time for something to look out for. To my mind, Dawson's makes some interesting sauces and this seemed to be definitely more of a crossover than a straight across re-label. By the time I got to actually being ready to plunk down and get it, the label, while still looking like a Dawson's label, had changed a bit. The signature red wax, that I rather loathe, over the cap and neck of the bottle is also still intact as well, of course. 

I think the idea of Habanero and citrus sort of intrigued me and when I skimmed the ingredients, I noted the blood orange and figured that was the citrus. It is and isn't. Grapefruit is also in there as well, which is kind of a fascinating choice to me, as neither of those citrus types are particularly sweet. There is the addition of some maple syrup in there as well and the cumulative effect is to play up the fruitness of the Habanero, which is frankly a remarkably brilliant idea.

Rounding this out is a bit of garlic and it's all smoothed by the EVOO circulating amidst things. There is also goji berry in there as well, but I didn't find that really impact the flavor so much as the other things. The grapefruit and blood orange, to be sure, can't really be picked out distinctively, but combine to make an overall sort of general citrusy aspect, though, again not on the sweet side. What it really comes down to is a rather intricate combination of a delicate balance of flavors that really wants to be the star of whatever you're adding it to. For stronger flavored foods, the results can be a bit clashy. Sticking to lighter fried meats with a more neutral breading is probably the better way to go here, but it could be interesting on vegetable versions of that. Even if it doesn't work, this is light and lively enough to be fun trying.

Heat-wise, despite the label listing as an 8, this is a pretty tame sauce. We have both the oil and the citrus working against this reading as a hot sauce and despite Habanero being the first ingredient, this is definitely a much more flavor-first type sauce. 

Bottom line: Another sauce that winds up being on the fascinating sauce, quite well designed, but definitely doesn't play well enough with other flavors to be hugely flexible.

Breakdown:

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

Overall: 5