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Bottle Description: It’s the fresh pureed strawberries that give this strawberry hot sauce its truly unique taste. In fact, over 25% of the ingredients are strawberries. With the first bite you’ll taste the SWEET of the fresh strawberries and the then the HEAT from the fresh habaneros. Afterwards the heat simply fades and you are read for another.
Ingredients: Water, fresh strawberries, red wine vinegar, tomato paste, fresh habaneras, chiles, lemon juice, kosher salt, cornstarch, dried garlic and dried red pepper flakes.
Container: Simple small time company type graphics. That isn’t knocking it of course. It’s quaint.
Appearance: Looks like a puree with a kind of jam-like consistency.
Smell: From the smell of it you don’t really sense hot sauce at all. Strong strawberry scent with hints of garlic and pepper as a bit of an after note but not an after thought. Really unique smell that you don’t really get from most sauces.
Taste: I would reverse the bottle description. You really taste the hot sauce elements of the sauce first. A little rugged with some peppers and garlic but after getting to know it for a while it softens up and is almost as sweet as jam. This sauce REALLY tastes like strawberries. Usually the use of fruit is kind of gimmicky in the sauce but I think this stuff is the real deal. Delicious stuff. It will surprise you because it is such a sweet hot sauce but still has the charisma of a pure pepper sauce.
Heat: (6.4/10) Not hot at all but it’ll leave a little heat in the mouth.
Field Test: Delicious but a specific application sauce. I’d use this sauce like you’d use a cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving, over slabs of lighter meats. I added this to a dish of salmon and rice and it was fantastic, it worked many times better than a regular pepper sauce. The sweetness really can’t be paired with everything but if you’re imaginative you’ll really find yourself reaching for it.
Final Word: I’ve used this sauce for three meals. The rest of the time I’ve been drinking it straight from the bottle. Nuff said.
Overall: 8.6/10. Delicious. I would also check out Scotty B’s Berries in Heat for addition sweet sauce goodness.
Carlsbad Gourmet
Russ@carlsbadgourmet.com
Phone: 760-730-3423
Chilehead Comments:
Posted by: clint - Categories: Uncategorized
Permalink: Review: Carlsbad Gourmet- Strawberry Hot Sauce
One year ago: Recipe: Round Up Chili
Two years ago: Pepper picker's decision: How hot do you want to go?
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7 Comments »
How about that. Thirty miles from my house from my house, no less, and I’ve never seen it before. Very cool. Maybe it will get as big as our local favorite- Ring Of Fire.
OK. I have no idea how I screwed up that second sentence!
DK on 4/11/2007 at 8:42 am said:
Strawberry flavor in a clear sauce? I would’ve thunk it would be a really bright red color or sumthin’.
That is just for all us more accident prone! YK, like clear fruit punch! If you spill it, it won’t stain and no one knows how clusty you really are! HA HA HA
Nice Review.
I have tried this about 2 months ago. I wish there was a stronger taste of the strawberries. Then again I am sure the proportions are really hard when it comes to fruit based hot sauces. I honestly believe that pineapple makes the best fruit based hot sauces because it seems to be versatile enough to mix around with other ingredients.
Jodie on 4/11/2007 at 9:59 am said:
That is just for all us more accident prone! YK, like clear fruit punch! If you spill it, it won’t stain and no one knows how clusty you really are! HA HA HA
So you’re saying that the sauce really is clear and not a picture of an empty bottle? I’m confused. To be honest, it would be nice to see what the sauce looks like. Not trying to start anything, but a sauce review with a picture of an empty bottle? That just doesn’t seem like a complete review. Why even show a picture if it doesn’t show the actual product.
So, am I wrong, is it actually a clear sauce?
And the two opposing descriptions of the taste is rather confusing. Sorry Clint, I’m not knocking the review, but I’m just confused by a couple aspects of it. What does the sauce look like, and what is the actual dominate taste, the strawberries, or the ” hot sauce elements “?
Thanks.
Yeah..that was my bad. I polished it off when i was reviewing it. Looks like jam.
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Strawberry flavor in a clear sauce? I would’ve thunk it would be a really bright red color or sumthin’.