Gindo's Mild Roasted Red Pepper Hot Sauce Review

Gindo’s Mild Roasted Red Pepper

This is a bit of an unusual selection, in that I wouldn’t generally pick something that is intentionally low heat. A couple of things strike me, one which was a factor in me getting the sauce in the first place and the second something that came about later after consideration of me contemplating something on the label. The first of those was that Habanero was listed in the ingredients, so I thought there might be perhaps a modicum of heat. To that end, there is not. There is no heat really to speak of at all in this sauce, but that ties in to what was on the label. It is intentionally a mild sauce and there is mention that it is a perfect sauce for beginners new to the chilehead world. I definitely would not disagree with that, but the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a good thing. 

I write these reviews and make these videos and cast them out in the world on their own, without ever knowing who may be reading or viewing and perhaps, if all the stars align, may be inspired by something they read or see, some neuron, the right neuron, fires and things click over for them. I have tried to not get into gatekeeping territory and it’s been very important to me for a very long time to be as inclusive as possible and it struck me that people who may be in the beginning of their chilehead journey are not especially represented here. The blog has generally been more reflective of where I see myself, which is far more intermediate to upper end of heat chilehead, but that was its design. While this doesn’t mean there will be more milder sauces that I intentionally pick (and I have backed off of my earlier impulses over time), I do think it doesn’t hurt anything to have sauces like show up from time to time. All of us start from zero and have different beginnings, different origin stories on our path into the chilehead journey.

Anyway, as to the sauce, roasted red peppers was one of my happiest food discoveries, perhaps ever. I should back up. Fried red peppers was a world-altering event for me, but those I found a tad hard to come by, but it was that which set me on the discovery to roasted red peppers, which were far more readily available. I loved those quite a lot, but also discovered that at times, they would come out of the jar a bit slimy. This sauce is basically like a fresh and vibrant roasted red pepper, in its very best form, made into a sauce, with that same freshness and vibrancy. It is that flavor, tinged with salt and vinegar, which constitutes nearly all of the flavor and it is pretty wonderful...provided you like roasted red peppers, of course. This would be brilliant on a sandwich or pizza or any other place you might use the roasted red peppers and the sauce is both so flavorful and mild, that you will not be punished for oversaucing. 

Bottom line: Definitely a potential gateway sauce, as those have to taste great, though I think this serves more as just an excellent version of roasted red pepper more, given the lack of heat.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 0
            Flavor: 9
            Flexibility: 6
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 9

Overall: 6