Dawson’s Apple Caraway Hot Sauce Review

Dawson’s Apple Caraway

Note: This sauce appears on Season 25 of The Hot Ones.

I've been kind of excited for this one for a while, as the idea of apples and hot sauce, or, in this case possibly, apples in hot sauce, is an idea that tickles me. This one, however, I do find to be a bit misnamed in that respect, as the apple used here is in juice form (paired with the also-subtle flavor of dates) and doesn't really play into the flavor profile much, other than as part of a general fruitiness, which includes what I'm guessing are probably Bells as the first ingredient, dates, and Habanero. 

The more forward flavor note here, though, for me, is the caraway. I think that ingredient is probably another I would consider "dangerous," in that it is so distinctive that it can easily carry away and dominate the flavor of the sauce. While I wouldn't say that is totally the case here, it is to a large degree. If you don't like caraway, the odds are pretty good that you won't like this sauce as that reads through pretty strongly.

For me, I have no real issue with it, but find it to be a very specific "time and place" sort of ingredient, in that I want it in certain dishes, but not really so much outside of that. It winds up spicing up pickles and rye bread quite a bit and in Akvavit as well and for those things, fine. Pairing it with the fruitness of this sauce is rather a bold move and Dawson's is yet another company that is quite daring in the approach to sauces generally. For me, though, this is another like the Shawarma sauce (reviewed elsewhere here) from them in that I like it only in highly specialized places and not really aside from there. If this sauce is still here when grill season hits, I'm definitely going to be trying it on some brats, though, as I think that will work wonderfully.

I did some testing about and found that, while I seem to dislike caraway flavor paired with chicken tendies, for instance, leaning into the caraway aspect is the good move here. So having it with things that already have caraway tends to accentuate that a bit, while also leaving room for the rest of the sauce to shine. This sauce can easily move to distraction of the palate, so it definitely needs to be paired judiciously. Heat-wise, though this was in the 5 slot for that season, this is a rather tame burn. 

Bottom line: Yet another imaginative sauce from the increasingly impressive Dawson's, as distinctive as it is unique, but definitely best reserved for compatible dishes, where results can border on magnificent.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 8
            Flexibility: 3
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 7

Overall: 5