Volcanic Peppers SUK Hot Sauce Review

Volcanic Peppers SUK

One of the things I’ve noticed a bit about a lot of the fruit-forward sauces, particularly involving mango, is that the flavor of the mango will get lost. Happily, that is not the case here and they are quite front and center. Indeed, of all the various mango-and sauces I’ve had, this is one that does a better job of capturing that flavor profile. This is balanced somewhat with some citrus, which very nicely brightens things up and keeps it from being overly sweet.

Usually, I would not go as low as Serranos, as the motif has been “Habanero or higher,” but really, who am I kidding there? One of my favorite styles is Louisiana-style, which is nearly always Cayenne and Fresnos are one of my all-time favorite peppers, so I’m feeling a lot less that I don’t need to adhere to that frankly very entertaining, but not exactly true, slogan. 

There are a few mysteries about here, such as what the guy on the label is actually meant to be doing and what “SUK” is intended to reference, answers for neither question I’ve been able to unearth, but what really matters ultimately is what’s within the glass, not on the outside of it. What we have here is a quite tasty and pretty well-balanced, tropical fruit-based sweet hot that is excellently and skillfully done.

Given that it is only Serranos, the heat here is quite moderate, which the label copy also notes, so chileheads won’t likely be satisfied, but this could be an excellent gateway or stepping stone sauce. As with fruit-based sweet hots generally, the applications are a tad on the narrow side, but this is quite lovely on fried foods and pairing it with other dishes involving fruits, such as perhaps a quinoa bowl, also works to great effect.

Bottom line: Another lovely entry from the burning masterminds of Bellevue, if you’re a fan of tropical fruit-based sweet hots, this is well worth a look.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 9
            Flexibility: 4
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 9

Overall: 6

Sendy Original Hot Sauce Review

Sendy Original

It’s always a little thrill when I happen to stumble across a sauce when I least expect it. Usually this will be on a grocery store shelf, like it was here, of a store I had not visited at all in this year and just happened to be near and looking for something else entirely. But, as is my wont, I always like to wander the store, see what’s new, what else is there and so on, and always, but always, check the condiment section, generally to see what might be on offer for hot sauce. Most of the time is it the usual mass market stuff that we’re all well familiar with, but lately, one of the local chains has made a push, as they do every few years or so, to getting more regional products on the shelf. Given that Colorado seems to have a significant number of hot sauce companies, it is not surprise that many of them, like this, wind up originating from there.

This is a good example of what I’ve mentioned before, that many hot sauces can benefit tremendously from the addition of tomatoes. Here, we have 4 different pods (and black pepper), namely Serrano, Jalapeno, Habanero, and Cayenne, though that last one doesn’t really show up in the mix too much as the first two do, which carry most of the flavor. This is a very nice, pepper forward flavor, with the tomatos adding a nice density and richness to the flavor. The first ingredient is vinegar and, depending on what I have this on, it sometimes will strike me that I would find it more favorable were that aspect dialed down a bit. It is quite a wonderfully flavorful sauce, however, more than making up for the abject goofiness of the name.

“Sendy,” much like the sauce name in the prior review, is an appeal to pushing it all the way over or full tilt or maximum effort or giving it your all, etc. etc. Unlike the cool callback to Star Trek TOS, however, this one is...ummm...decidedly not that, but is kind of awkwardly silly. I hope they revise the label copy, as this sauce deserves better. 

Given the sort of ubiquitous nature of the flavoring, this is a highly flexible sauce. It is not, however, particularly hot. That would be my second complaint, in addition to the slight over-astringency here and there. There is precious little heat there, for all those 4 pods. There is a hotter version, called Full Send, that I will be absolutely on the hunt for, as it would fix at least one of my issues with the sauce, but perhaps they were going more for general accessibility here.

Bottom line: Kind of a silly name, but don’t be deterred from what is a quite tasty robust and pepper forward sauce, albeit one with little to no heat. 

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 0
            Flavor: 8
            Flexibility: 8
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 8

Overall: 6

Bohica Ghost Juice Hot Sauce Review Addendum

Bohica Ghost Juice

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USy0kSNZ5HQ 

I can’t say I was especially blown away by the previous entry into these annals from Bohica, that being the Hawaiian Lava (check TOC, if interested), but when I looked at this and saw both Ghosties and cantaloupe, my imagination was immediately engaged. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, given that strawberries, citrus juices, and pineapple were also in the mix, but I was unquestionably intrigued and...sometimes you just know. Like, you crack a bottle and as soon as you open the cap and catch a whiff, you immediately know, either for good or ill, how you will react with the sauce. In this case, it was good, most definitely good.

What we have here is a very nicely balance fruit-based sweet hot, though it is perhaps on the lighter side of sweetness as far as sweet hots go. There is a good mix of the pineapple, citrus, and strawberries, with the cantaloupe providing a nice round foundation. Ghosties are towards the back here, so while there is heat, it is very much to the back. This is unquestionably a quite approachable sauce and I imagine that was what they were going for. For my part, I would have liked heat to be a lot more to the fore, particularly given how much I like Ghosties, but perhaps they can have an alternate version some day.

I like to have, at my disposal, a sort of internal list, where I can point people if they want to try a given style, as both an excellent example of that style, as well as a wonderfully tasting sauce. Given that condiments are food, I find there is nothing so fast as to lead people to the chilehead gateway, as a sauce that provides a sort of smooth and low smolder, combined with a phenomenal flavor, which is perhaps the most apt description of this sauce I can come up with. 

Given the variety of fruits and that it is a tad low on the sweetness scale, this doesn’t work super well on pizza, which I had hopes for, but it does retain a good flexibility for fried foods generally, and lighter meats in particular, though I wouldn’t be afraid to cast it out towards stuff like burgers or other foods. I think it could be particularly wonderful on a salad or perhaps the right kind of sub sandwich. One of the aspects about a great-tasting sauce is that even if it isn’t magnificent in that application, it will generally never be outright bad. 

Bottom line: Hugely impressive flavor profile with this not hugely sweet hot sauce, though a touch light on heat.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 10
            Flexibility: 4
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 10

Overall: 6

Puckerbutt Peach Habanero Hot Sauce Review

Puckerbutt Peach Habanero

For the review of the Puckerbutt Peach Super Hot Blend (reviewed elsewhere here), the idea struck me that Smokin’ Ed Currie, architect of the sauce, had “forgotten” to add salt to it, essentially making the end result a pepper-flavored vinegar. Perhaps by the time it was discovered, the batch was just bottled, shipped, and sent out anyway, as it was done. I have now observed this phenomenon once again with this sauce, strongly suggesting to me that it weren’t a forgetful error of omission on Ed’s part, but an inaction with direct intention.

I can’t say that I have the time (or interest) to comb through a bunch of Ed Currie interviews, of which there are many, to see if this disdain for salt is real or imagined on my part, nor did a cursory online search reveal much more information than rampant speculation, along with observations from a few other parties matching mine, that this is, in fact, a tendency of Ed’s, at least in regards to Puckerbutt sauces, and is possibly (likely?) related to purported health benefits by the lack of this ingredient. If that rationale is true, this is another point of departure of agreement between himself and I.

In that other review, I went over the basic components, the elements, that I think a condiment needs to be considered a hot sauce. Because that, and now this, are lacking one of those elements, they do not really constitute a hot sauce in my mind, despite the label insisting otherwise. These two are, in fact, more accurately pepper-flavored vinegars. However, as I will approach whatever sauce based on how a maker portrays it, this one, like the other, will be rated as a hot sauce and, also like that other, will suffer slightly for it. 

So, heat-wise, we have a fairly low charge. There are 16 different Habanero varieties, according to the label, and you get a good sense of the flavor there, both the slightly bitter aspect, but also some of the inherent pepper fruitiness. There is obviously a high vinegar charge to it, as well, not to mention a very thin and watery nature, that benefits from repeated agitation. The back end has a subtle fruity sweetness, which brushes towards peach here and there. Once I discovered the lack of salt, I decided to try and “fix” the sauce, with the simple addition of some kosher salt, which not only made the experience better, on the whole, but also brought forth the peach flavor considerably. This is not rating the sauce as-is, however, and the ratings will reflect what is actually in the bottle.

Bottom line: While I think this comes off a bit better than the other “sauce” I mentioned in this review, the lack of salt is a bit detrimental to this overall. It does make a very interestingly sweet-ish pepper-flavored vinegar, but fails as an actual hot sauce.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 4
            Flexibility: 2
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 4

Overall: 3

 

Brooklyn Delhi Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce Review

Brooklyn Delhi Ghost Pepper

Note: This sauce appears on Season 20 of The Hot Ones.

The last remaining sauce for Season 20 and it was one of those that could go either way. I didn’t expect it to be hot, as it was in the 5 slot and generally anything below 7 isn’t too challenging, but it seemed to be pointed a bit towards Indian flavors. As noted repeatedly in this blog and elsewhere, I am not so much a fan of those generally, but this did feature my favorite superhot, the mighty Ghostie, and was further bolstered by what appeared to be heavy usage of tomatoes, an ingredient that I think is pretty underrated in hot sauces generally.

So, not knowing what to expect, I pulled the shrink, found that I had a lot less than 5 fluid ounces in the bottle, and that a healthy amount was stuck in the neck. Indeed, this is a very thick sauce and that is something you may wind up frequently contending with. After clearing that, I got to the sauce proper and was nearly instantly blown away. The Indian spices, while definitely present, are fairly mild in the flavor and this is much more a comprehensive sauce, with the tomato base there for everything else to play on top of.

The flavor is both deep and rich and does a spectacular job utilizing the wonderful flavor of the Ghosties. The hand-blend of Indian spices, whatever they are, seem to be the way to go here and I found myself quite enjoying this wonderful concoction. They are very much going for flavor first here and while there is heat, it is a bit on the lower key side of things. That allows the sauce to add an Indian spin to whatever you put it on – I didn’t try it, but suspect it would be very interesting on burgers - and works to great effect subtly sliding you into the flavors of that cuisine style without ever once being overbearing...which is pretty much the perfect way to do it for me.

I would call this more of a gateway to Indian cuisine generally, as tomatoes are used in a number of dishes there and this sauce is a hearty welcome, but approaches it with a smoothness and grace that is an absolute pleasure. I can’t say it would go with everything, but if you’re looking for an introduction, this sauce is the way to go. As mentioned, despite the Ghost being the namesake of the sauce, this is fairly mild and shouldn’t be particularly challenging for anyone.

Bottom line: This is unexpectedly definitely one of the better sauces from the show and a good reminder that rich rewards like this are why we keep an open mind when it comes to food.

Breakdown:

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

Overall: 6