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Before I go any further, I must say that I like this sauce. I believe it has specific applications, but that’s OK. Not every sauce is good on everything.
Labeling- California Habanero Blends has three sauces: Ginger Garlic, Habanero Garlic and Chipotle Sweet and Smokey. All three labels are almost identical, which is awesome for marketing or “shelf Appeal”. Imagine all three sauces lined up side by side, 10 deep in a grocer. At first glance, you will see these over anything else. The label is good. No gimmicks and actually lets you know what you can expect. There is no trans fats information on the nutrition label, so I assume the manufacturer still has a supply of old labels.
Ingredients- Sugar, Orange Juice, Pineapple Juice, Soy Sauce, Garlic, Habanero Peppers, Ginger, Key Lime Juice, Vinegar, Salt, Spices, Xanthan Gum.
Aroma- First and last impression, Awesome! Immediate hard hit of garlic married to the ginger and pure pineapple smell. No hint of vinegar. Even though the garlic and ginger are not listed as dominating ingredients, they are just stronger in nature and overpower other ingredients. I heated up a small sample and then and only then did I get a hint of soy. I missed the Key Lime aroma, but on flavor, it was the after taste. The best way to describe the aroma is to think of freshly stir fried General Tso’s chicken.
Consistancy- This sauce is thin, but not in a bad way. You’ll find many bits of Habanero seeds, garlic and bits of ginger floating around. Overall color is pineapple/orange. Xanthan gum provides just enough viscosity to make the sauce work. If you want to think “Duck Sauce” with attitude, then think California Habanero Blends Ginger Garlic.
Heat- Mild, just like the label says. It has a very small bite to it and only when you hit on a habanero seed. I would not hesitate letting your 3 year old try this.
Flavor- Now to the most important part.
California Habanero Blends Ginger Garlic was awesome on the grilled Tilapia Filets. Simply salt and peppered fish on a hot grill. I accompanied this dish with a mild Sedona Shrimp Salad with some Garlic Ginger sauce added for flavor.
This sauce provided a great sweet flavor on a very mild fish. I couldn’t tell where the garlic began or the ginger ended but the combination accented the fish without overpowering. Somewhere, I had the hint of peanuts, but this had to come from the ginger, garlic. Fresh and light. This dish has become my new “Thai Fish” recipe. In fact the flavors of this sauce would be killer on duck, any white fish, chicken or just about any dish that would call for a duck sauce.
Overall, I recommend this sauce to anyone and everyone. Definitely different, definitely good.
California Habanero Blends
www.californiablends.com
P.O. Box1134
Chico, CA 95927
530-228-6386
Chilehead Comments:
Posted by: Steve - Categories: Hot Sauce Reviews
Permalink: Review: California Habanero Blends - Ginger Garlic Hot Sauce
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9 Comments »
I have tried all three products and they are great
I’m not real big on fish or ginger, except in a stir fry. I bet this would be great for that.
Tilipia would not work well in a stir fry……but I bet Cal Hab Ginger Garlic Sauce..would work in a stir fry with a more solid fish
Yes, the filets do look great! Nice perfect grill marks.
Out of the 3 CHB sauces this is the one that I have not tried. I too felt the same about the SAS implications of the other two sauces.
Very nice looking meal. I just don’t have sauces with sugar as the first ingredient. Tempting review though, good work.
wesley h zebzda on 11/6/2007 at 3:42 pm said:
Tilipia would not work well in a stir fry……but I bet Cal Hab Ginger Garlic Sauce..would work in a stir fry with a more solid fish
My Asian customers would disagree with you on that one.
Steve - Thanks for the review and you are spot on that this sauce has its applications! I made the three totally different sauces that made me happy! Because if it did not sell I was eating hundreds of cases of it! But it seems to keep running out and I keep making it. The heat is a starting point for people to try the Habanero heat and flavor that it can be tamed and not all sauces are made to make people cry. The secret to all the sauces is the citrus base and that the Garlic Key Lime sauce is added to each in different amounts to get the different heat levels. So if one is not hot enough like the Ginger Garlic just add some of the Garlic Key Lime, since it’s already in there you doesn’t get a huge flavor shift only added heat. I find ways to use this sauce and it always surprises me, we use it as a marinade with some added soy sauce and beer is AWSOME and like you mentioned it makes a great Orange Chicken with a kick or a nice Orange Chicken Salad add some mandarins and some noodles it always a hit. One of the restaurants locally has customers using it as a salad dressing straight out of the bottle. I like to add some rice wine vinegar myself and a touch of oil.
Thanks for the comment on the packaging that was the longest part of the whole process, was to make a straight forward appealing label that stood out of the crowd. I am also an Airbrush Illustrator so I was very particular in the process and design. Branding was the key and will help sell future products. The labels contrast the sauces and were targeted to women, they do most of the shopping and gift buying so if the sauce was great but no one picked it up then what. I had to appeal to the shopper and it is mostly the women who do it. Men seem to eat whets in the fridge so lets put it there. I wanted to see my sauces in local restaurants and homes that was not offensive and welcomed its use at the table.
We were picked up by Raley’s who owns BelAir and Nobhill foods in California and will start stocking shelves in at least 20 stores through out Northern California mostly Bay Area and Chico Area to start.
We were also invited to the Sunset Magazine Celebration Weekend this year and did extremely well with the Foodie Group and sold almost 50 cases for the two day event. Also at the Autumn Food and Wine Festival in Lake Tahoe we received some great comments from some of the Executive Chefs in there cooking competition and also from one of the Cooking Demonstrators from the CIA Culinary Institutes of America in St.Helena Ca. These types of events and food industry feedback have really helped to solidify my concepts with the sauces of that they are not a typical hot sauce but more of cooking sauces and finishing sauces.
Thanks again and I look forward to spending more time reading other reviews of all the other sauces out there and trying them out. Your time is really appreciated. Thank You!
Sugar as the first ing. a bit to sweet for me.
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Hay Steve….nice looking Tilapia Filets…..great looking diamond grill marks….You ever work in a restaurant?…ginger garlic on Tilapia sounds great……nice job