Now, before Mr. & Mrs. Eman go into panic mode and think I ate their bounty, this is a seperate pre-prodcution jar that is un-signed and not numbered. So rest at ease, the #1’s are enroute and unopened.

I remeber trying Blair’s Death Salsa with Ginseng almost a year ago and the thing that sticks in my mind about that salsa is that the chunks were huge - but there was definately not enough heat for a Blair’s product. (the wife ate it with no trouble).

Now, fast forward to the beginning of March and a jar of Blair’s new XXX Salsa & Queso (that review to come later) arrive on my doorstep. Now, both of these products are labeled XXX Hot so I took them to my chilehead AA meeting and shared the heat with the group.

Ingredients (as listed on the prototype label): Red Habanero Chili Pods, fresh diced tomatoes, yellow onions, green bell peppers, white vinegar, water, fresh jalapenos, garlic, cilantro and spices.

Holy moly, habaneros are the first ingredient? Hallelujah, Blair knows his chilehead taste buds. I’ve never come across a shelf stable salsa (with no preservatives) that lists habaneros as the first ingredient, have you? Shelf stable for those that are not in the biz means the product does not have to be refrigerated and can/will remain edible for a certain time period (usually years).

Taste: Mmmm - smaller, more even chunks then the Ginseng Salsa - flavor is a few notches above anything else you would find on your local supermarket shelf. It reminds be of the Salsa de Rosa salsas I love so much. Good honest salsa flavor and then the heat.

The Heat: Now this is funny. I conned a newb chilehead into giving the salsa a whirl. One chip, then two chips and then on the third chip he paused, put the chip down and went for the water. No less then 1 minute later he had sweat dripping off his ears. This folks was the funniest thing I had seen in a while - I’ve heard of things so hot it makes your ears sweat, but Blair’s XXX Salsa literally did it to him before my eyes. And then, after drying himself off with a towel, he came back for more. The flavor and heat combination proved to be like a moth to a flame, no matter the pain he wanted more.

I can’t wait for Blair to release this to the general public (late April) so I can order it by the case for myself to consume. As a seasoned chilehead I’ve definitely had much hotter salsas, however this is the hottest (shelf stable) salsa I’ve come across that does not use extracts to boost the heat level.

Heat and flavor - now that’s what I’m talking about!

You can now get Blair’s XXX HOT Fire Roasted Tomato Habanero Salsa on Sweat ‘N Spice