Chilli

Nostalgic sauce this one. Prior to covid-19 I used to meet a group of old friends once per year at a beer festival after which we’d head to Wahaca for some nosh and tequila. As part of that we’d attempt to see how much sauce we could consume between the 4 of us (2.5 bottles is our record, though 2 were the hotter sauce rather than this one). Looking forward to beating that once we’re back to being able to go out!

The caption on the label says “Fruity with hidden heat”. For me, one part of that is correct. I like the fruit, but overall I find the sauce a bit sweet (according to the ingredients it contains more honey than habanero) and lacking punch. Nothing bad about it, it’s just not going to make my list of greats.

6/10 – Looking forward to having this in Wahaca in the future!

This is my second sauce from Heartbreaking Dawn’s with a similarly pretty label.

Good sauce, on the runny side (not a bad thing, just an observation!). Second on the ingredients list is apricot preservatives and while I have to admit that I didn’t pick out the apricot, there is a very pleasant fruitiness which complements the scorpion, as you might expect. Blueberries are in there too, apparently… I’ll take their word for it!

It’s another sauce which is using a mash and I’m becoming increasingly fond of the flavour profile that results from the mashing process. It’s hot, but not outrageously so, so hits a sweet spot for me… Bottle lasted me about 14 days.

8/10 – Will likely order again

A pretty straight forward beast. Habanero mash, a bit of bulking and a pep up with capsicum powder…

While I’m not sure it’s 100% pain, it it a powerfully hot sauce. The mashed habanero gives it a lovely mellow up-front flavour, with the heat really kicking in as a follow up. It’s damn hot and damn tasty, but not one that I can use very liberally on my food without paying for it.

8/10 – If you like your sauces on the hot side, I can really recommend this one

Ah, Spicin Foods, well done. Another triumph! For me this is a medium hot sauce, you can certainly get the habanero but it doesn’t blow my mouth up. What makes this sauce a bit special, I think, is the tomatoes and spices. It gives a very smooth base flavour with the spice dancing on top. This is one that I love with food like Tex Mex and wedges.

Pro tip: it has a bit of a tendency to separate in the bottle so remember to shake… Otherwise you end up with quite a sticky last 1/4 of the bottle which is tricky to get out!

8/10 – Yum.

Picked up from the supermarket, apparently lovingly made in The Fens.

Pretty tasty sauce (garlic and lemon quite prominent, giving way to chilli) , not particularly hot, so liberally used (I think this bottle lasted about 10 days)

6/10 – Good, solid sauce but a bit unremarkable. Happy to buy again but so many others to try…

I don’t think it’s any secret to say that I really like the Psycho Juice range and in my opinion, this one’s another cracker.

For me, this is a complimentary sauce rather than a “drown everything in it” type. It’s pretty hot (well, it is 64% naga) and packs a flavour punch so becomes very dominant if used liberally. I think I’ve mostly dripped spots on sandwich filling, chips, roast potatoes, etc. In this way I find you get the smack of flavour and heat, but can still enjoy the tastes of the carrying food.

So.. Strong hit of smoky chipotle is first on the tongue, mellowing out a bit & then giving way to naga heat which has quite a follow-through as you might expect.

8/10 – Will buy again

I was putting together an order from an online grocer & was idly browsing when I came across this and being a hot sauce that I had not tried before, the addition of a bottle to my cart was the automatic response.

This makes an excellent table sauce. It’s warming without blowing your mouth up, so can be applies liberally on a sandwich (great with a bit of cheese) . Bit of sharpness (probably from the lime, now I read the ingredients list!) on the up-front flavour giving way to a medium, mellow burn with a bit of garlic richness and a long tail on the palette.

8/10 – Have already bought again!

I think this might be another sauce picked up from Bristol. Certainly it gets good marks for bottle design in my opinion.

Not strictly a hot sauce this one. There’s more roast garlic in it than cayenne chillis and that’s very much reflected in the taste. It has oodles of that wonderful rich roasted garlic flavour, with a bit of sharpness from the vinegar to back it up.

7/10 – Great flavour but I generally want a bit more hear from my sauces.

What’s the best kind of chilli sauce? Free chilli sauce! A sauce hand made and gifted by a friend! This one was produced from garden grown chillis from that well known source of Scoville rated heat, Leicester.

I liked this one (not just saying that either). Uncomplicated, punch of heat, acidic tail. One might use the phrase “does what it says on the tin” except that it neither arrived in a tin, or even had any writing on it.

Really good partner for a hash brown or to pep up a stir fry. A valiant effort by the sauce but it didn’t last 2 weeks.

10/10 – please sir, can I have some more?

Most of the hot sauces I use are red, so this one caught my eye as being something a bit different. It’s pretty tasty; the tomatilos, lime and coriander combine nicely to give it that zesty verde taste. I was a little disappointed though. I realise that everyone’s perfect heat level is different, but I was really struggling to find any ‘hot’ in this at all. The ingredients list jalapeño, serrano, habanero and jolikia. I can only guess that the person crafting my batch had run out.

6/10 – Pleasant but won’t rush to buy again. Thought it a bit on the expensive side for what it was.