I’m just getting over a bout of the flu and I was looking for something to add a little kick to my lunch so I opted for the new bottle of Try Me Tiger Sauce we picked up a couple weeks back. With a name like “Tiger” how could this not give my taste buds the excitement it was looking for. From a child, whenever I was getting over not feeling well, I always found comfort in hot sauces. Yea, I’m strange… I guess!

So did it live up to it’s name?

The Aroma.

This one took me a few tries to actually come to a conclusion as to what my nose was trying to identify. I usually try to go through the review before actually reading the list of ingredients, as not to have what I read influence my thoughts. However, due to the sort of complex scent I got on opening I had to take a peek at the ingredients. There’s a sort of earthy opening scent which is similar to the musty smell you’d get on entering a vegetable market during a humid summer’s day. As someone who’s familiar with Tamarind, I could easily point out it’s scent with a bit of an “aged” twist. This was all encased in an overall smokey aroma, that really worked for me.

The Taste.

Definitely not the “kick” I was looking for as there’s not much heat to this Tiger Sauce. However I found it well balanced with a unique taste from the tamarind and Worcestershire sauce that’s listed in the contents. As with the aroma, the smoky smell was also present in the taste as well (somewhat aged) and there was also a savory sort of finish to this sauce. Looking back to when I was testing this sauce I recall that I also got a hint of something similar to Cumin (maybe this is where the smoky taste came from?). Not a “hot” sauce by any means, but well rounded and full of good flavours.

Texture.

Shake Well before Opening! Don’t miss this warning, as the sauce seems to separate in the bottle and needs a good shake to combine everything before use. A rather runny sauce (even though they have artificial thickeners listed in the ingredient list) that “pours” out if you’re not careful. With specks of pepper flakes, glossy look and occasional pepper seeds in the sauce, it reminds me of the dipping sauce I got with chicken fingers that was called “Sweet chili heat” by the restaurant we had lunch at a few months back. Think about the plum sauce (but darker) you’d get at MC Donalds when you purchased that last chicken nuggets ‘happy meal” for your daughter, except there’s pepper flakes included.

Overall this is not a disappointing sauce, even though I was looking for some heat and there wasn’t much. With a wonderful dark caramel colour, aged smell and well balanced taste with the use of the tamarind, this sauce should be included in your pantry. However, more for a dipping sauce than anything else. As far as heat goes, I’d give it a 0.5 out of 5 and for taste I’d give it a 3.5 out of 5.

This would be perfect as a dipping sauce for shrimp or grilled kabobs and so much for a topping for sandwiches etc.

How much impact does packaging play when shopping? In this case, it’s the package that caught my attention when I picked up the bottle of Macarico Piri Piri Molho Hot Sauce a couple days ago. Granted I’ve heard ads on the radio for a Piri Piri chicken served by a popular restaurant and always wanted to give this a try. From what I read, piri piri is the name used in Portugal and the ex-Portuguese colonies (Angola and Mozambique) for African bird’s eye  chilis (to be distinguished from thai or Asian bird’s eye), which register in the 100, 000-350,000 Scoville range. This is approximately the same as a scotch bonnet, but don’t expect scorching heat from this sauce, as it packs less of a punch than the average scotch bonnet sauce.

The Aroma.

I did this review in my back yard, so on opening it was a bit difficult to get a true smell as when I’m in my closed kitchen. However after closer attention I did get a bit of a musty scent, that reminded me of a “Malta” ( a sweet malt beverage from the Caribbean). Similar to the smell you’d get on a humid summer’s day when entering a closed room. Maybe this is from some sort of aging process?

The Taste.

WOW! This is immediately salty, almost as if anchovies were used in the preparation of this sauce. However the ingredients listed on the packaging included: Capsicums, Water, Salt, Vegetable oil, Spices, Acidity regulator E-330, preservative E-211, and thickner E-415. The heat is a bit mellow and takes a few seconds to really register and when it finally did it wasn’t anything special. The good thing is that it’s not overly acidic, so if you hate hot sauces that are acidic you may want to give this one a shot. I’m still debating if I could taste any of the “spices” listed in the ingredients list. maybe the sort of Malt/smokey taste is from the spices?

Texture.

Thick and well blended. With the use of the thickener mentioned in the ingredient list, they achieved a perfectly blended sauce that does not separate as so many that I’ve reviewed in the past. Very smooth, but with a slight (very slight) sort of grainy feel to it. Be sure to shake well before opening and with the help of the regulator the rate of pour is controlled perfectly.

Final Comments.

Besides the salty taste (that goes away when the heat kicks in) this Macarico Piri Piri Molho Hot Sauce is not bad and a good change from the Habanero based sauces I love so much. However if you’re looking for something “unique” or “ethnic” you may want to try a different brand of piri piri sauce as this one does not deliver anything really unique. The heat level I would put it at 2 out of 5 and overall I’d also rank the sauce at 2.5 out of 5. At under $5 a bottle, it’s worth testing for yourself… your taste buds may appreciate this more than mine did.

Have a glass of water or milk handy as this pepper sauce by Grace products from Jamaica, rocks! In the brief history of me reviewing hot sauces from around the world, I can safely say that I found a hit. Yes, it does have that vinegar base that I dislike, but the lasting heat makes up for it. Yes, I love heat!

The Aroma.

This time I had help in reviewing this hot sauce, so I’d like to say special thanks for Andrews for his assistance. The poor fella is now red and gasping for air as he’s not one who can tolerate much heat. Personally this sauce didn’t have much appeal as far as the aroma goes, but there was an undertone of aged peppers which was delightful. Myself and Andrews found the vinegar base to be a bit overpowering and wished there was a bit more to challenge our noses.

The Taste.

As mentioned, Andrews is in pain as I type this review and it’s been about 30 minutes since we tested it. So be warned if you have a low tolerance for heat. For me, this was average heat, but good heat. Besides being high on heat this pepper sauce is well rounded and very appealing with it’s minimalistic contents. According to the label on the bottle, all that went into making this sauce were peppers, water, vinegar and salt. Basic, but it works. To be quite honest, I was surprised by this pepper sauce, after the smell test I didn’t expect much.

Texture.

Smooth, but very runny. I also found that the sauce separates when placed on a plate and one can easily see flecks of pepper when this happens as well as a thin (water-like) liquid around the parameter of the pour. The bright orange-red colour is very brilliant and appealing. I’m almost positive they used some sort of food colouring, but since it’s not mentioned in the ingredient list I cannot confirm this.

Final Comments.

According to the product description “Grace pepper sauces are the number one choice of Jamaicans, and are becoming the standard for hot sauces around the world. Bringing Caribbean flavour to your favourite meats, transforming them into a gourmet delight.” After consulting with a few of my Jamaican friends, it was confirmed that though is a top choice on the island, it’s not necessarily number one. Personally, I like this sauce and will give it a 3 out of 5 for heat and 3 out of 5 for being well rounded. Priced under $5, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better sauce as far as heat goes for the same price range. This would work well with BBQ chicken and other grilled meats. And I look forward to testing it on some chicken wings.

Yes, I’m back at it again with another hot sauce review. This time we’ll be taking a closer look at Mr Goudas Hot Little Devil Pepper Sauce. A product of Costa Rica, which is imported by Goudas Food Products Co. Ltd, of Concord Ontario (Canada). Packaged in a tiny 57ml bottle and readily available at most ethnic grocers and many of the bigger chain grocery stores for under $5.

The Aroma.

A typical (quite ordinary) vinegar based hot sauce that does nothing to the senses upon opening. With it’s almost Tabasco like scent, it seem to lack any creativity with it comes to making me want to go beyond smelling it.

The Taste.

As mentioned this sauce didn’t encourage me to go further by it’s bland scent, after-all you know how much I dislike sauces that’s overpowered with vinegar. However I decided to take one for the troops and give this a shot. At first you get a very pronounced salty sort of taste, followed by a nice punch of heat. A type of heat that lingers on the tongue for a good 10 minutes or so. However, other than the heat, there’s nothing much else to this pepper sauce. My taste buds could not detect any other hidden flavours as I gave it a second try with another teaspoon full.

Texture.

A rather smooth and well blended sauce once you shake it well before opening. I especially like it’s consistency as it pours perfectly from the bottle. It also spreads well on deli meats as I tried it on my cold cut sandwich. BTW.. it works well with cold cuts.

Final Comments.

Other than heat and the way it pours out of the bottle, there’s isn’t much else to say about this pepper sauce. If you’re looking for cheap heat give this one a shot, as it does deliver some punch. I’d rate it 2.5 out of 5 as far as heat scale goes and 2 out of 5 as an overall score. As mentioned it would work well with sandwiches and eggs at breakfast with it’s sort of salty taste and heat. I would even add a couple drops on fresh oysters for that little zing. I forgot to mention that I also love the rich orange colour of the sauce, but that’s helped with the use of artificial colouring.

It’s been a few weeks since my last hot sauce review so this morning I decided to dip into my collection and write a new post. I had just done making a wonderful omelet with ham and onions for breakfast and I wanted something with a bit of heat and flavour to top it off with. No matter how you make eggs, it’s not the same without a few drops of hot sauce to really give it that “kick” in the morning.

I asked Caron to get me a sauce from my now growing collection of sauces to review and top my eggs with. Her choice… Goya Salsita Tangy Arbol Chiles Hot Sauce.

Let’s get to the actual review…

The Aroma.

On opening the bottle of Goya Salsita there wasn’t the normal vinegar-like smell I’ve now grown accustomed to getting with cheap sauces. This sauce was under $4 at the local grocery store so I didn’t expect much. However, the scent was very complex and didn’t really point to one thing or the other.There was an almost “aged” smell with a bit of a smoky undertone. In some of the sauces I’ve reviewed before there’s always one ingredient that always stick out, but not this one.

The Taste.
With the complexity of the smell I got when I first opened the container I was anticipating a “good” hot sauce. However I was disappointed once again. As I pointed out in the “aroma’ above, there was a bit of a smoky taste that matched the smell I originally got. That’s where the pleasantness ended. There was an over-powering tart taste and nothing much else to this sauce. The heat was minimal on first contact but as I write this, there’s still a lingering bit of heat on my tongue. Nothing to really write home about as far as flavour or heat is concerned though.

Texture.

The sauce itself is very smooth and pours out of the bottle easily (with a shake). The colour is a nice burnt orange and with it’s the even consistency, it does not separate when poured onto a plate as you can see from the picture above. I couldn’t identify any of the ingredients used in the sauce as it was well blended/pureed unlike other sauces I’ve reviewed before.

BTW, the ingredient list include: Water, Arbol Pepper, Salt, Acetic Acid, Citric Acid, Sugar, Xanthan Gum, Powder Onion, Oregano, Lime Powder, Garlic, Cumin, Cinnamon, Sodium Benzoate, Hot Pepper Extract.

Final Comments.

I think I  keep expecting “too much” from these sauces that are under $5. The packaging, aroma and texture gets full marks, but I believe that the taste suffers from mass production. Barely any real heat and a strong tart taste, this sauce left me with my omelet ruined. Overall I’d give it a 1 1/2 out of 5 for heat and flavour.

According to the Goya website, this Goya Salsita Tangy Arbol Chiles Hot Sauce is recommended for:  soups, pizza, rice, vegetables, pasta, chips, popcorn, eggs, beans, seafood and meats.

if you’d like to contact Goya Foods:

http://www.goya.com/english/about/contact_us.html

* This is probably one of the best packaged sauces for under $5 I’ve come across. One look at the bottle and I knew right away why Caron brought this one for me to review. She’s captured by packaging and this one caught her eye. From the shape of the bottle, the clear labels, the sort of wooden lid and wonderful colour of the sauce itself.. it really stands out. Maybe some of that effort should have been placed on the sauce itself

One of my mom’s favourite sayings is “if don’t have something good to say keep quiet”, and this is the position I find myself in when I tested this sauce from Encona. As I write this review I realize that I have nothing good to say about this “Caribbean Creole” hotsauce, except that I love the packaging. After finding it difficult to write a positive review I decided to find out a little more about the sauce to see if there’s some sort of history behind it or to figure out what was the intention of the makers.

According to their website.(http://www.encoproducts.co.uk/content/encona-sauces-1)
We make Encona Creole Hot Pepper sauce to an authentic Bajan recipe that comes from the island of Barbados. It features a blend of scotch bonnet peppers, spices and mustard seeds, which gives this sauce its distinctive colour and flavour. You can use it as a cooking ingredient for a host of Creole-inspired dishes: like our other sauces, it is also delicious in sandwiches and as a table condiment to spice up everyday meals.

Let’s get to the actual review…

The Aroma.

What an offensive scent that greeted my nose as I opened the bottle. I’m not sure if it was the strong vinegar scent combined with citric acid and whatever spices they used, but this was not appealing to me at all. Actually our entire kitchen had the funky smell when I poured some onto a plate as I taste tested it. I knew it would take everything out of me to place this in my mouth for the taste test that awaited.

The Taste.

This is the first time since testing hot sauces that I’ve been a bit reluctant, the smell had already turned me away from the get-go. I’m a brave fella so I went ahead and got the usual spoon full I use for tasting. Again the smell hit me with a bang, followed by that strong vinegar taste that the scent hinted to when I first opened the bottle. The ingredient list stated that it contains: Water, Pepper mash (Habanero peppers, Scotch Bonnet peppers) (20%), Mustard (8%), Acetic Acid, Modified corn starch, Onion, Sugar, Salt, Turmeric. For sure you could taste the vinegar as I mentioned already, as well as the mustard.. but where was the pepper? This was more of a tart/sour tasting hot sauce than anything else.

Texture.

It’s rather thin and pours rapidly from the bottle, but at least it holds it consistency and does not separate as other sauces I’ve encountered in the past. You can tell there’s a fair amount of mustard by it’s colour and there’s also specs of pepper flakes as well as a few habanero seeds.

Final Comments.

There’s nothing to this hot sauce, maybe that’s why it’s less than $3 in stores. Heat was absent except for the strong vinegar/mustard taste. The smell is an immediate turn off and the sort of tart taste needs some work. I’d give it 1 out of 5 as far as heat goes and an overall mark of 1  (that’s the lowest mark I will give a sauce I review). I did like the packaging and label since it really stands out and font they used on the label was very easy to read (unlike others in the past).

If you’d like us to review your hot sauce or spicy food, be sure to contact us. But remember the review will be based on our opinion and will not be edited to glorify any product. Our readers depend on our honest opinions.

This sauce will forever be known on FierceSauces.com as being the very first Jamaican made hot sauce to be reviewed here. Growing up on the islands I was spoiled by having the luxury of various traditional home-made sauces, so this is also the very first time I actually paid for a hotsauce from the islands. Let’s take a closer look at the Eaton’s Jamaican Crushed Peppers sauce.

Review: Eaton’s Jamaican Crushed Peppers.

Manufactured by King Pepper Products LTD.

King Pepper Products Ltd. Hague Industrial Estate
P.O. Box 43, Falmouth, Trelawny Jamaica, W I.
Tel: 876 954 4462/3 Fax: 876 954 3681 E-mail:customerservice@eatonsjamaica.net

The Aroma

A rather mild “tangy” scent when the bottle is first opened, but as I explored it further it was very clear that this sauce would be overwhelmed by vinegar and citric acid. I absolutely hate  hot sauces where the main thing you smell or taste is vinegar, however the use of cane vinegar did add a bit of complexity to the overall scent. I got Tehya our 15 year old (pepper lover as well) to take a whiff and her comments were as follows.. smells like cheap ketchup with a bit of a sour or tangy finish.

The Taste.

I wasn’t expecting much after allowing my nose to get acquainted with the sauce. As mentioned in previous reviews, I eat with my eyes first and I was really impressed by the bright colour of the sauce from the outside of the bottle and even the bottle itself was well labeled. Yes, that tangy smell did work it’s way into the actual taste and it gave the sauce a bit of a sour (tart) finish. After my 2nd teaspoon full I got a hint of some sort of fruit flavour (could be the cane vinegar) and noticed that though you’re greeted immediately with heat, it does not last that long. I would say the “raw” heat lasted about 2 minutes and you could only feel the effects on your tongue for about 5 minutes overall.

One thing I did find a bit confusing is that on the image on the label it shows Scotch Bonnet peppers and one would assume those were used in the sauce, however it had a bit of a Tabasco characteristic to it.

Texture.

The label reads “shake well” and it must be followed, as the sauce tends to settle to the bottom due to it’s consistency. Overall a bit runny and you could easily see the corn starch at work with the gelatin-like texture. The sauce itself is “thin” with rather large specks of pepper flakes and a lot of whole pepper seeds. If you’ve ever had a popcorn kernel’s skin get stuck in your throat you’d know how apprehensive I was when I saw those large pepper flakes.

Final Comments.

Not as impressive as I hoped, with a 2 out of 5 for the overall sauce and a 2.8 for heat. The tangy taste would be well suited for breakfast meats and eggs. I would also put this on roasted meats (chicken and pork) and on cold cut sandwiches. I don’t think it would add any real value to stews, soups or sauces unless it’s just a bit of heat you’re looking for. I believe I paid around $2 for the sauce so I guess I got what I paid for. I must mention that I was quite impressed to see a “best before” date stamped on the outside of the bottle as well as a  batch code.

If you’d like us to review your hot sauce or spicy food, be sure to contact us. But remember the review will be based on our opinion and will not be edited to glorify any product. Our readers depend on our honest opinions.

If you’re looking for heat and absolutely no flavour, this El Yucateco Chile Habanero sauce is for you. I grew up on scotch bonnet and habanaero sauces, but they all had a level of added flavour. Lime, garlic, shado beni and tropical fruits were all used successfully to give these sauces an extra punch, so I was a bit disappointed with this El Yucateco sauce. That said, my biggest turn-off with this sauce was the colour. That brilliant green (added artificial colour) was an immediate turn-off as it did not look appetizing. If you’ve ever made sauces using green habanero peppers you’ll know that the colour is not a brilliant green like the colour they added.

The Aroma.

Yet another sauce that failed to deliver when opened. I had to place my nose very close to the bottle’s opening to get a hint of true hotsauce scent. There was the ever present vinegar and a very slight hint of garlic, with an undertone of the actual habaneros which were used.

The Taste.

Yes, there’s definitely HEAT with this one. According to the El Yucateco website, the green habanero hot sauce is rated at 9,000 Scoville units and I don’t doubt this at all. Besides the fact that you could easily taste the vinegar and the heat of the peppers, you also got a sort of sour or tart taste as the sauce made it’s way around my tongue. And as mentioned above there’s a hint of garlic and there’s also another herb or spice used that I could not name. I’m not sure how they achieved it, but it also had a sort of smoky flavour as the heat subsided a bit.

Texture

The sauce itself is rather smooth with flecks of the green habanero peppers as you should be able to see in the pic (spoon) above. The bottle should have a bit of a smaller opening as the sauce is very thin and does pour out very fast. However, though it was runny it did not separate as some sauces tend to do when it’s poured.

Final Comments.

For the price (less than $4.00 at Walmart) it’s not a total waste, especially if you like raw heat. As mentioned I like my habanero sauces with some added flavours and not “artificial green”. The makers could easily improve on this sauce with some more salt to take away some of that tart taste, make it a bit thicker (or use a bottle with a smaller opening) and try to improve on that awe-full green colour.

I’d rate this 3.5 out of 5 for heat and 1.5 for any sort of flavour. This sauce is about heat and ONLY heat. The heat does last fairly long in your mouth and I think it work well with eggs at breakfast and on cold cut sandwiches.

If you’d like us to review your hot sauce or spicy food, be sure to contact us. But remember the review will be based on our opinion and will not be edited to glorify any product. Our readers depend on our honest opinions.