Karma Burn After Eating Hot Sauce

Karma Sauce Burn After Eating Hot Sauce

Note: This sauce was provided for purposes of review by Roger Damptz of Burn Your Tongue. Check him out on Facebook or, better yet, head on over to his new online outlet where you can shop the widest selection available anywhere, www.burnyourtongueonline.com.

Note: This sauce appears in Season 10 of The Hot Ones.

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

This is an interesting sauce on a number of levels. It's one of the few sauces in the #9 position on The Hot Ones that I've done and it treads a sort of grey area of a sauce I might have been interested in without the show, given that it has neither extract nor onions. The styling is ostensibly more Northern Indian, a cuisine style I admit to little familiarity with, partially since Indian food in general I find largely unpalatable. It also pushes hard at the notion of being a sauce at all. It is thick enough I more consider it a paste than a sauce and flow is nearly nonexistent. I do find a strong degree of amusement in the word play with the naming of this sauce as well, though it is an accurate depiction.

This sauce is unquestionably hot. The company is pushing the idea it is the hottest non-extract sauce on the market, though I dissent to this idea. For my money, that still goes to Torchbearer's The Rapture (reviewed elsewhere here), though there are a few other sauces I've also seen making this claim. It is not quite, oddly, burn while eating, which I find curious as the effects are definitely post-consumption in a lot of respects. There are quite a number of superhots in here, which makes for a very pulpy result. 

What I find most curious is the herbaceous nature of the sauce. It struck me rather substantially of something that might be more heavily in an Italian seasoning setting, such as oregano, yet there is none of that present. It is probably the ajwain, which itself is an herb related to some of the others of the type I mentioned and which evidently is a rather dominant flavor ingredient. There is also something called amchoor, which is a mango powder, green mango, and hing powder, which is another savory ingredient. The last four elements I mentioned I'm not familiar with by name and did not consume prior to this sauce, so I suppose you could say this is also an education burning experience. 

The color is gorgeous, a nice flame orange with some hues tending towards red. Highly visually appealing and appetizing, there is a very nice chili underbase to all of the aromatics, which is a decidedly flavorful one-two punch. The one issue with a sauce this thick is that frequently it will be difficult to agitate the sauce in-bottle, so there will be times when the aromatics are overpowering, rendering it of less usefulness in things like chicken strips. It seems a pretty strong fit for Italian-based foods and is one of the few sauces that really fits into that role well, though it seems outside the intent with the website references the aforementioned regional cuisine and roassted veggies. 

Bottom line: This is another fascinating entry into the hot sauce world that pushes the flavor boundaries. The thickness of it makes me question if it should be called a sauce and the more one finds herbs favorable, the more likeable this will be, but it definitely lives up to its name and is better restricted to experienced chileheads for whom a sauce meeting this description checks the boxes I've mentioned.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 7
            Flavor: 6
            Flexibility: 4
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 7

Overall: 6

Bravado Black Garlic Carolina Reaper Hot Sauce Review

Bravado Black Garlic Carolina Reaper Hot Sauce

Note: This sauce appears on Season 6 of The Hot Ones.

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6ik9EORHeY

I have not held a particularly great appreciation for anything Bravado makes generally. In fact, this was pretty far down on the list of things (full description of the order can be found in the SOTY Q4 2021 post, if interested) for coverage of The Hot Ones show. The sauces (full list available to the light) on that show I find to be a really mixed bag in that they mostly are treading the middle quite extensively. It is few and far between that I find entries I really enjoy to the extend of considering buying them again. 

So that it was as good as it is came as no small surprise to me, given my expectations were not high, not the least of which because I had found many of the sauces with the Carolina Reaper to be somewhat uneven. The ingredient of black garlic is also a sort of trendy foodie item, as far as I'm concerned, and the subtlety of it often leads it to not reading at all in the respective flavor profiles. 

Once I got into this, though, I found a phenomenal richness to the pepper flavor, helped amply, no doubt, by the red Serranos also here, which also contributes to the beautiful red color of the sauce.. Like all of the Bravado line, this is a very smooth sauce. All of the elements blend together quite well to make a whole, a composite, that goes a long way towards demonstrating the capacity of that black garlic. The Reaper here is used mostly for a heat element, I suppose, and not so much for flavor, but there is a very slight sweetness from both it and from the maple syrup, though the flavor of both that and the black pepper do not really register. This is another sauce that will change its complexion notably, depending on where it's used.

For me, I really feel that the best thing to do with a sauce that is meaning to emphasize a umami flavor element is to use it on a food that itself has a high umami aspect. This meant I used it on such things as my signature breakfast burritos, as a dipping sauce, and perhaps my favorite application, in some nice ramen. The sauce is flexible enough that it does well in a fairly wide variety of foods, though the more umami the better, to be sure.

Bottom line: The first entry from a sauce company that I've found to have very slick and well-done labels, only to have the sauce be wanting, that is both highly enjoyable and lives up to the hype of the ingredients. Another of the few from The Hot Ones shows that I feel is a truly excellent sauce.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 4
            Flavor: 9
            Flexibility: 8
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 7

Overall: 7

 

The General's Danger Close Hot Sauce Review

The General's Danger Close Hot Sauce

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6tOOi8fipY

The last of the Heatseekers box that I had left (the sauce is named in reference to being near an area where support fire, such as bombardment or mortars, etc., is being sent, though I suppose it could also function in the literal sense as a warning/hazard slogan) and this one is kind of like a relationship in which the negative parts of the respective parties are negated by the union. Here, we have the off-taste of the Dead Red (also reviewed elsewhere here) and the Shock & Awe (also reviewed herein) that are substantially downplayed by the combination. Indeed, the flavor is much moreso towards Dead Red, with the undercurrent of the Shock & Awe not quite eliminating the off-taste, but nullifying it somewhat. It is also the hottest of the three in the Heatseeker pack.

The combination of Cayenne with Habanero, along with the addition of the garlic, moves this much more towards Cajun style and I think that is probably where this fits in best. It definitely is not quite Louisiana style in that it is much thicker (these bottle pour horribly, by the by) and the flavor profile is not in that line, either. The heat level is also quite a bit more than might normally be in Lousiana-style usually, but as far as application goes, both Cajun and Louisiana-style share a lot of commonalities and this sauce fits in there as well. I don't think it's a particularly good example of either, as the flavor, while much better here than in the other sauces I mentioned, is not one I find particularly tasty and I don't think I would call this a good sauce so much as a definitely less bad one than the others.

While this is probably not a heat level that will challenge chileheads, it is beyond what normal people would probably find enjoyable. Like the Dead Red, I intend on finishing out the bottle, but I don't see me getting anything further from this company as this is more or less the third strike and out. I have established to myself that this is a mostly marketing and gimmicky proposition and I get it, one has to set themselves apart and do some differentiation in this competitive market space, but for me, it also needs to be backed up by flavor and none of the three sauces from this company that I've tried do that for me.

Bottom line: By far the most successful of The General's hot sauces, this is probably the one chileheads should start with, if they're interested in the company, and go from there.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 3
            Flavor: 4
            Flexibility: 6
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 4

Overall: 4

Angry Goat Dark Swizzle Hot Sauce Review

Angry Goat Dark Swizzle Hot Sauce

Note: This sauce was provided for purposes of review by Roger Damptz of Burn Your Tongue. Check him out on Facebook or, better yet, head on over to his new online outlet where you can shop the widest selection available anywhere, www.burnyourtongueonline.com.

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_yCq7Y7vRk

This is a fascinating sauce, from one of the more innovative sauce companies out there. Ostensibly designed after a couple of drinks from Bermuda, this one combines citrus (though this one reads a bit more as lime-dominant) and tropical flavors to an intriguing effect. Since those drinks are boozy, there is some nice rum in the sauce, though it doesn't really read, other than as a bit of slight spirity mouth feel. This is also amplified a bit by the ginger, which I was thrilled to discover in there.  There is a very pronounced superhot aspect to this as well, with the Ghost coming through and adding a nice edge to this, though not overwhelming. 

The result here is a bit chunky, due to some of the fibery nature of some of the ingredients and it is slightly prone to separation. The taste here is strongly its own, distinct,  though different nuances read through as well. Where it succeeds in innovation and experimentation, it loses a bit in flexibility to its uniqueness, as this wants to stand on its own, rather than blend in with food. With the main flavor profile aspects, it works better on lighter colored  meats, with little to no other flavor adornment, and if there is one, the more neutral, the better.

I found this a very enjoyable diversion from the regular gamut of sauces, very well-executed, and with a strong sense of daring. In many ways, it comes across more as an adventure than just another sauce, which is something I admire from a foodie perspective. It is a bit higher on the lime side than is my preference, which precludes this a bit from being one I would keep in rotation, but I did enjoy it as a break from the norm. 

Bottom line: If you're into the more interesting and novel sauces, or like lime more than I do, this is definitely not one to miss.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 3
            Flavor: 8
            Flexibility: 6
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 7

Overall: 6

Keep Calm And Pour More Cayenne On Hot Sauce Review

Keep Calm And Pour More Cayenne On Hot Sauce

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBMrR8ese0s

I think I'm finally down to the last of a Black Friday novelty sauce buy (this is a riff on the "keep calm" phrase of British origin, but they could have just called it Keep Calm and Cayonne...) from 2020 and it wound up being a case of saving the best for last. Sauces like this are kind of why every once in a while I'll do that, in that this was not a very expensive sauce, but goes a long way towards demonstrating one of my frequent points that you don't need much more for a good Louisiana-style sauce than Cayenne, vinegar, and salt.  That is nearly all that is in that, save for xanthan gum. The result is a very low heat, but smooth and delicious sauce, more orange in appearance than red, but somewhat reminiscent of Trappey's Red Devil, the sauce that is my favorite, flavor-wise, in that category. There is more of the flavor of Cayenne here than abrasive vinegar, which is definitely more my preference.

Like most sauces of that type, it is pretty runny, though not quite watery. It does not come with a restrictor cap, but pours slowly enough that it doesn't really need one. It also tends to stick well to food, which is kind of interesting, considering there is no sugar component to this. 

Bottom line: Sometimes the simple, non-complicated sauces, such as this, can be gold mines. This wound up being an unexpectedly excellent buy.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 0
            Flavor: 10
            Flexibility: 8
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 10

Overall: 7

Z's Berzerkerz Rage Hot Sauce Review

Z's Berzerkerz Rage Hot Sauce

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_jfR4gHE20

I was oh so tempted to make this a literal one sentence review, which would read thusly: "This sauce needs to be sweeter." But then, I thought better of it, because, as every writer out there knows, why use 6 words when you can use 60 or 600. That single sentence, while true, is not sufficient to do justice to this sauce, however. I will also note that I did attempt to sweeten it myself with maple syrup, which ruined the maple syrup, but did make things sweeter, though even with the citrus knocked down a bit, the thyme still wound up somewhat as wrecking ball. 

Berries and Ghost pepper, which we have here, is usually a stunning combination. Those two ingredients go together magnificently. Unfortunately, this sauce is not really content to just leave it there and adds in elements, jarring flavor elements, such as lime, thyme, and citric acid, which tends to detract from the blackberries. It also makes the sauce quite unpleasantly sour, which is not a good combination to pair with the thyme.

For me, if you're making a sauce, particularly a fruit-based sauce, I am automatically going to assume it will be sweet. It doesn't have to be Torani syrup sweet, but I am expecting a strongly sweet element, one which is largely absent here. If a fruit's name is in the name of the sauce, this one has a subtitle of Blackberry Ghost Pepper, I am expecting the fruit element to be largely forward in the flavor profile and things, perhaps not built around it entirely, but at least based in that. Here, we have blackberry as the lead ingredient (and there are plenty of blackberry seeds and pulp to be found here), but the sauce itself is also quite runny. 

I don't find the combination of stuff in this sauce to work particularly well together in a composite (and am not certain I would like them separated, either). Part of my issue here is I don't understand what they were going for. It suggests pork, chicken, Asian dipping, cheesecake, and ice cream. I don't eat a lot of cheesecake these days, but would also not want thyme on it, if I was. The sauce was not enjoyable for me on either of the meats nor on the ice cream. As to Asian, the ginger that is here is not present enough in the flavor profile for that really to make a lot of sense. So, it's a sauce that is somewhat baffling and doesn't have a ready place.

Calling something "rage" should also indicate a fairly prominent heat profile, but the Ghost peppers here are a touch on the muted side. One can tell there is a superhot present, as what heat is there is pretty immediate, but it is a fairly low burn. Adding in the call with "berzerker" also leads one's mind to somewhere that the sauce does not quite deliver to. 

Bottom line: This sauce misses for me and misses hard and is one I find a bit lacking in identity. I appreciate the experimentalism, as always, but I don't find this one successful.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 2
            Flavor: 0
            Flexibility: 0
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 0

Overall: 1

 

Hoff Smoken Ghost Hot Sauce Review

Hoff & Pepper Smoken Ghost Hot Sauce

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po2FrOYmdt8

Hoff is another of the newer sort of boutique hot sauce companies that has come to my attention in recent years and I've had them on the list for a while. Here, we have the company putting forth a sauce specifically into a category, everyday sauce, that has no actual meaning, or rather, a meaning that varies from user to user. Now, before anyone is prompted to write me, I am aware that everyday is meant to mean exactly that, ubiquitous daily usage in an all-purpose sense, but for some people, that will be a fruit-based sweet hot or a Louisiana-style sauce. It's very difficult to find one single sauce that works well for all cuisine styles, with Mexican and Asian distinctively flavored enough that they are nearly always the exceptions, even if a sauce has full coverage of nearly everything else.

For this, I think you probably would be fine using it on Mexican foods (definitely not on Asian), but it is also not a sauce I find enjoyable in high concentrations. Using the red Jalapeno to lend it sort of a tomatoey aspect, then dosing that with the combination of Chipotle & Habanero is both wise and wonderful, but Chipotle can be a vicious sword. Smokiness will add a degree of complexity to things, but too much, and you face down a bitter aspect. Ghosts, while one of my very favorite chiles, is a superhot and bitterness is part and parcel of the equation with those. The higher you go up the heat scale, the more bitterness tends to play into the flavor profile. Thus, using this sauce with things (and somewhat sparingly, so as not to overpower the dish), is the way to go, but leaving it solo, such as a chicken strip dipping sauce, for example, is not an application I find pleasant. While this sauce is certainly flexible, it is that part which moves it away from the "everyday" part for me.

It is a very rich sauce, medium thickness, sort of like a yellow mustard. It is mostly smooth, though there are some chile particulates in it. The Ghost lends a nice touch of heat to things, but it is mostly a pleasant warmth rather than raging fire. I mean, I can see where they were trying to go with this. Most of the "everyday" sauces out there are pretty mild, so taking the best-tasting superhot and using it to spike up a solid flavorful formulation, but for me, it is not pulled off entirely successfully.

Bottom line: Definitely a hot sauce company to watch out for, with one of the more interesting entries into this category. If you wish your everyday sauce had more punch to it, this is worth a go.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 3
            Flavor: 8
            Flexibility: 8
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 5

Overall: 6

The General's Shock & Awe Hot Sauce Review

The General's Shock & Awe Hot Sauce

Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8ObuJQMuIA

The questions I have about this sauce company continue with this one. The good news is that the weird aftertaste of the Dead Red, reviewed elsewhere here and which covers quite a bit of that commentary, is to less effect here, but the less good news is that the sauce overall  has a large funkiness and unpleasantness. I'm more convinced that the oddness of flavor has to do with the garlic addition with this sauce, but overall, the blend is such that this is an incredibly hard to use sauce, one that tends to foul the flavor of everything it's on. 

Here, we have a slogan devised relative to General Colin Powell's strategy during the first Gulf War, presumably designed to infer a high heat content, but there is not a great deal of heat here. Definitely a heat reflective of the Habaneros, but not a particularly strong degree of it. The color is more or less what you'd expect from orange Habaneros making up the vast majority of this sauce. It is not one I find particularly appetizing, though. The consistency is quite smooth, though the foolish plastic simulation of a grenade handle had some sort of issue with the foam cap padding inside and it doesn't fit entirely correctly on my bottle, which is probably more nuisance than anything.. 

This is the second of the Heatseeker box I wound up getting and it is one that I will attempt to use as part of a recipe, but that is really the last ditch hope for this. It is highly unappealing when it overpowers food, which doesn't take a lot, unfortunately, and unless it is wildly successful in the cooking application, it will not go beyond that application.

Bottom line: The strongest indicator yet that the company behind it is more focused on marketing than on flavorful sauces.  This is not a good sauce.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 2
            Flavor: 0
            Flexibility: 0
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 0

Overall: 1

Top Best Chilehead Foodie Wonderful Most Good Hot Sauce Brands

Most recent update: 02/17/24

Apologies for the clickbaity title, but I'm trying to keep on theme here...

This is a post I've been on and off threatening for years, largely because people like lists, including me, and because I've read a lot of crappy ones, from thrillist, from epicurious, from tasteofhome, from nymag, a sodium-oriented one from eaththis, from the spruceeats, even CNN has gotten into the act. Most of these use what I consider flawed reasoning and I tend to agree with very few of them (I will not be linking any of them, so use teh Googlez, if interested). The why behind my reading them is research for this blog (and in a subsidiary sense, the FOH video series), as the chilehead community, particularly those who do written work, is fairly small. There are a lot more with video channels, but those tend not to be particularly well-suited for lists, or are at least not being used for that.

I have held off because the actual list, in my mind, where I keep it, keep constantly changing, which makes the post quickly obsolete (and I hate going back and re-editing, though I will be doing it anyway to keep this list current). The prompting for me to finally do this is a recent post by Roger Damptz of Burn Your Tongue over on his Facebook page (check it out if you want to find the link to that one) about a list he came across on a site called Wishlisted. It was not really constructed either by foodies or chileheads in mind, to wit, here is their stated criteria: "In creating this list, we took into account brands that are highly talked about, uses [sic] quality ingredients, gives back to the community [?], and most importantly makes some blazin’ hot sauce." This is then followed by a list which backs somewhat away from the last criteria. I was tempted to reprint their list, along with my reaction to each entry, but I won't do that, as I'd then have to do it for all the other, more ridiculous lists I mentioned as well. Instead, I will save a paragraph of commentary at the end. Their 2022 list (not sure if it is weighted, but this is the posted order), then:

13 Stars
The Heatonist
Elijah's Extreme
Frank's Red Hot
Torchbearer
Angry Goat
Siete
Pex
Yellowbird
Kultivar

Ok.Of these, 3 (Elijah's, Siete, Kultivar) are from companies where I've not had any of the sauces yet. I'm familiar with all of them, save Kultivar. In the case of Siete and IIRC Elijah's, it is because both heavily favor using onions. The other is on my list to get to, as is Elijah's, once I find something of theirs tolerable, but the inclusion of Frank's pretty explicitly means flavor is not really a factor in their findings, as well as killing the idea of "blazin'" that they mentioned. As to The Heatonist, stunning success story, yes, but they are more hot sauce outlet than producer, to my mind. If we're considering The Hot Ones sauces, I have reviewed a number of them and found them to be really hit and miss.

So, to my list. I suppose you could conceivably just click on my Table Of Contents page for this blog (see link at right) and count which makers appear the most, but that might not be the best indicator, exactly. Here, then, is my list (in alphabetical, not weighted, order):

Angry Goat

Hard not to agree with their inclusion, as they're one of the more interesting in what I think of as the "new wave" of makers. While not every single one of their sauces are a hit with me, I do appreciate their inventiveness and originality and I find they do a great job of balancing heat with flavor.

Blair's 

As the first of the old school (old wave?) of makers, though the company has fallen into a number of challenges, the shock wave of Blair Lazar on the industry was one of the larger turning points in its history. His Pure Death (reviewed elsewhere here) is the stuff of magic and still one of my all-time favorite sauces.

Butterfly Bakery (of Vermont)

This has proven to be one of my happier finds and another that was both another gem from Vermont, as well as another I was only initially familiar with via The Hot Ones series. Since then, I have had some incredible and wonderful, as well as inventive concoctions from this company, led by mastermind Claire Georges, who clearly both knows what tastes good and knows her way around a sauce. Absolutely stellar stuff and the further I get into their lineup, the more impressed I become. 

CaJohn's

It's not hyperbole for me to state that more than any other single company, a hot sauce list without this company on it is a largely worthless list. This is the maker with by far the most entries in the blog (and probably on the FOH video series) and whose consistent quality was unparalleled. I once wrote that if there was such a sure thing in the industry, it is them, a statement which stood for the majority of this blog (Happy Beaver, reviewed elsewhere here, was this blog's first ever SOTY (Sauce Of The Year - see link on right)). Every sauce entry from the brilliance of John Hard is potentially a SOTYcontender, which is a feat in itself, given how many sauces this company has out there, and with the apparent ease with which he is able to flip styles and make something at the top of that category.

Eddie Ojeda's Twisted

I wish there were more sauces from this company. Possibly, I should also wish they were still around, as I haven't seen anything at all from them in a very long while and I suspect they may be done entirely. Everything I've had from them has been a marvel, with a huge emphasis on flavor. These are possibly the best-tasting fruit sauces on the market, though heat is not necessarily left behind in service to it. Just deliciously well-crafted stuff.

Gindo's 

The ultimate expression of a boutique and gourmet sensibility in hot sauce. This is like one of those hole-in-the-wall places slinging up amazing food, that secret only you know about, the gem dazzling more than all others. That this is not included on most lists of this type I see means they are criminally unregarded and still a secret, for now. As was the case formerly with the sauces from John Hard, every entry from them has potential to be a contender for SOTY, which is a decidedly rare attribute. The deliciousness Chris Ginder is able to summon is a marvel and a must, if you care at all about this type of food.

Silk City

Like Angry Goat, there is a major emphasis on experimentalism, as well as an intense focus onto farm fresh ingredients. Also, like Angry Goat, not every sauce is great, but when they're on, they're near untouchable, often creating SOTY-contending creations. Most of the sauces also sometimes come in flasks and there is a dedication to a $10 retail price point for those flasks that I find admirable, particularly with how high quality they are. To put a finer point on this, for the last couple of years (this is the 2024 update, right here), I have made it a point to make a annual pilgrimage to the Silk City website, to make a buy of whatever sauces I've missed over the year. No only do I not do this with any other sauce company, none are in consideration.

______________

At this point, I ran into a stumbling block. There are companies like Hellfire, Jersey Barnfire, Karma, and Volcanic, where there is high promise but I've had not quite enough sauces for me to make a definitive judgment, then a few others like High River, Irazu, Pex, Torchbearer, and Voodoo Chjle, where I really liked some of their sauces, but not quite enough to put the company on a list of this type. Should I include Dave's, if only because of the profound influence of his sauces, which I don't really love, had on the industry? If so, that makes it more of a Hall Of Fame list rather than my personal top anything. What about Puckerbutt, which I'm ashamed to admit, took me a decade to finally get to? I'm quite favorable towards Smokin' Ed Currie, who has maybe single-handedly done more to revolutionize the chilehead community than anyone and who I agree with considerably as to thoughts on the respective peppers, but  I've yet to have been smitten by one of his sauces, though I have some enjoyed some thoroughly.

Speaking of that, if it's just love, should I include Trappey for Red Devil, one of the sauces I loved so much I've consumed that maybe more than any other single sauce (Cholula Original is probably close, though), despite not having any at all for at least the last 9 years? We have too the case of Big Red's, where I love the company itself a great deal, but only find some of the sauces favorable. There's a case for Honorable Mentions, but that list is longer than the main list itself and much more subject to change. Should I include the makers of my Sauce Of The Year winners, though some of the makers have that sauce only as entry? Even a list of my favorite sauces has some agony, unless I do it by category...

This blog is 10+ years old, well over 600 sauces, and I still don't have a concrete answer to any of this, other than the ones I mentioned. Lists like this are somewhat difficult to do well, when all entries have to be worthy and at least competitive with everything else on it, that list, by the way, is where most of the lists I see fall apart. The genesis of the blog was a gigantic list, respective to me, and in a lot of ways it still functions in that way, but by creating a list of this type, I'm explicitly recommending you spend your money on certain thing, at the very least, encouraging towards those companies appearing on it, which is a responsibility I do not take lightly.

To conclude, what I think I'll be doing is to keep this list perpetually updated.

Mega Valley Spicy Sweet Aleppo Hot Sauce Review

Mega Valley Foods Spicy Sweet Aleppo Hot Sauce

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mb8xDwqwIsw

The only Aleppo I was familiar with prior to coming across this was the city in Syria, which is also evidently where these peppers originated (though they are now available from Turkey and the US, due to the Syrian strife). Aleppo typically take a form more similar to the dried red pizza pepper flakes, though they are slightly sweeter and milder than the usual ones. I'd never had a sauce using those peppers, so when I came across what I thought was a new pepper for a sauce, I was immediately interested. Here, however, we have a sauce that starts with those, but then adds Cayenne, Habanero, and another nameless pepper. The resulting sauce is a bit lacking in identity as a result.

This seems modeled as an everyday sauce, but for me, the sweetness from the honey comes across as a bit odd, almost like a funky version of a sweet and sour sauce, almost in a straight split ratio, though it also comes across as a bit strange and off-putting, given the vinegars and pepper combination. The various suggestions are for roasted vegetables, eggs, sandwiches, stews, etc., though none of those foods are ones I particularly like with sweetness. It's a bit sour for my taste on pizza, which leaves generally chicken as the best usage of this, though I'd generally rather have something else. 

Heat-wise, there is basically none to speak of, despite those other peppers. Aleppo is not generally spicy, the next ingredient chile powder (which I'm taking as possibly powdered Arbol, such as you might get at a grocery store), is not particularly either, then Cayenne, which is almost never. There are Habaneros, but such a moderate amount that they serve up little against the preponderance of other elements.

Bottom line: I really haven't found a setting where I like this sauce a great deal and have struggled through about half a bottle of it trying to find where to put it. The flavor is much more odd than interesting and this is one that can be safely skipped.

Breakdown:

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

Overall: 1