The Green Bandit line of hot sauces may very well be one of my all time favorite “finds” in the industry. I first met Amir at the 2006 Fiery Foods Show and since first sampling his hot sauces there, I haven’t been able to tell enough people about them. My favorite out of the bunch is the Basil Serrano (read the review) but that doesn’t mean the others are any less tasty.

If you haven’t met Amir or seen the Green Bandit line before, they specialize in herb based hot sauces, such as Basil, Dill, Rosemary & Cilantro. Amir’s father is a food scientist which has to play a factor into why these sauces are so good while maintaining a strong flavor and balance of heat. At the 2007 Fiery Foods show, Amir handed me his latest hot sauces, a Dill and a Rosemary, and it wasn’t long before I’d cracked them both open to try. For this review, I decided to focus on the Dill sauce – the Rosemary review will be coming along soon enough.

Ingredients: Dill, Apple Cider Vinegar, Honey, Ginger, Serrano Peppers, Orange Peel, Salt, Lemon Juice Concentrate, Roasted Sesame Oil, Habanero Powder, Xanthan Gum, Garlic Powder

The first ingredient is dill and WOW, look at all that dill. Needless to say, if you don’t like dill, then you won’t like this sauce. It’s exactly what is says on the label “DILL”.

Not knowing exactly what I could use this sauce on, I decided to cook with Green Bandit Dill instead. And low and behold, as I was researching burger recipes for a pseudo party, I happened across one that mentioned that dill and turkey burgers went great together. So I took that advice and made my own recipe for the turkey burgers.

Recipe:
1lb ground turkey meat
1lb ground dark turkey meat
2 cloves of garlic – diced
2 jalapenos – seeded and diced
1/2 bottle of Green Bandit Dill Hot Sauce
Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:
Mix all ingredients and form into patties. Grill until done and enjoy!

Traditionally, turkey burgers are rather dry, but the mix of light and dark meat combined with the dill sauce created a turkey burger that was in fact, very moist and almost juicy.

Check out those grill marks

Breakfast Burger

Cooking Conclusion:
Green Bandit’s Dill Hot Sauce played an important role in the creation of these turkey burgers. Without the dill sauce, the burgers would have been very plain to the palate. The dill sauce made the burgers shine and allowed the flavor to “pop” in your mouth. The Dill imparted itself throughout the burger without taking over the flavor – it simply enhanced the meal. I can’t wait to use this again in another dish.

Without Food:
The smell of this sauce takes me back to one of the summers I spent picking produce, particularly the day we had to pick and sort dill. Not necessarily a good memory, but it does remind me of summer in general. This sauce is very light on the olfactory senses and you’d be hard pressed to smell anything other then the dill. Straight on the tongue is another story – the first taste you’ll get is of the apple cider vinegar & lemon juice concentrate and then the dill comes out and takes over. Once the dill washes over your taste buds, nothing else matters – this sauce is simple and to the point, it’s all about the dill. The heat is there, sort of, but I’d put it in the 2-3 range on the HSB Heat Scale.

Recommendation:
The sauce may look scary and you may wonder what you can use it on, but don’t let that stop you. Give it a try & you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the herb flavor this imparts. It’s not a sauce that you’ll use all in one shot (unless your addicted to dill), but it’s definitely a sauce that you’ll be happy to have in your fridge for those meals that need an extra flavor kick.

Green Bandit LLC
24 Spielman Road
Fairfield, NJ 07004
Phone: 973 276 5020
Fax: 973 227 0172
info@greenbandit.com

Previous Green Bandit Reviews:
- Review: Green Bandit Dill Culinary Herb Sauce
- Review: Green Bandit Basil Serrano Hot Sauce
- Review: Green Bandit Cilantro Habanero Hot Sauce
- Review: Green Bandit Basil, Oregano Culinary Herb Sauces
- Review: Green Bandit Basil Culinary Herb Sauce