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