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Initial Thoughts: I remember not too long ago I learned about the Congo Habanero, also known as the Chocolate Habanero. I gained interest to learn more about this pepper as a result of a forum where inquiries were being made as to the hottest chili peppers in existence. There were arguments being made that the Red Savina made it into the guiness book of world records, having a 577,000 SKU rating, due to the testing crop having received super optimal growing conditions. Arguments were being raised that there were a few species of habaneros that were just as hot as the Red Savina. The main argument was the Orange Yucatan, Fatalli, Red Scotch Bonnet, and Chocolate Habanero were all just as hot as the Red Savina.
The hottest topic of late has been that of the Bhut Jolokia (Naga Morich) which has been tested several times and the results are coming back indicating that the Red Savina is no longer the hottest chili pepper in the world. Bhut Jolokia’s seem to be averaging around 1 Million SKU when being tested. The Red Savina has been retested under normal growing condtions with SKU ratings of around 250-350k making it just as hot as the Fatalli, Congo Habanero, Red Scotch Bonnet, and Orange Habanero.
I have had many Red Savina sauces, Scotch Bonnet sauces, and have recently had CaJohns Orange Habanero Select Puree as well as his Fatalli Select Puree. Personally I feel that so far the results are true in that there is no real difference in heat amongst the Red Savina, Orange Habanero, Red Scotch Bonnet, and Fatalli. I wanted to try a Congo Habanero Hot Sauce to see how this pepper fits in the rankings.
Based on the Habanero Chili Database: “The notorious & viciously hot Chocolate Habañero ranks among the deadly few at the top of the heat scale registering upto 450,000 scoville heat units. Indeed the Chile Pepper Institute of New Mexico State University reported that the Chocolate Habanero Chile was the hottest chile pepper they had tested. Also known as the ‘Congo black’ the fruits have a unique, rich flavor unduplicated by any other pepper. The 2″ fruits ripen from an emerald green to a gorgeous, chocolate brown approximately 100 days after transplanting. The ultimate salsa pepper used to make the famous Jamaican Jerk Sauce. The variety is a must for heat lovers.”
Searching for a Chocolate Habanero sauce was not the easiest of tasks. CaJohn’s Black Mamba does have Chocolate Habs but is loaded with extract. I wanted to have a more accurate gauge to see where the Chocolate Hab. ranks amongst the big boys. I wanted to use a non-extract. type of sauce. I finally did a search with a great hot search engine that Nick L. had provided me with! (Thanks Nick! 
) I was able to find a sauce titled, Hot Chocolate, which is made by Ocean Winds. I found one on ebay and decided to order it.
My initial thoughts were pretty vague. I never really knew what to expect from this sauce. I was thinking that it would be hot as some of the other habanero sauces I have had before. It was hard for me to get a sense for how this sauce would taste because I have never had a pepper that was brown before. I was wondering if the sauce did have any resemblance to “Hot Chocolate” besides the name and the color. Could it really taste sweet, like chocolate, etc? If so what would I use this sauce on? I really want to go to Starbucks right now! My last experience there wasn’t so good. I remember dating a girl that was allergic to milk and one time I had a hot chocolate and then she called later on that evening and said that by kissing me she got sick from the hot chocolate I had. Well I hope this is not the case with this sauce!
Ingredients:Chocolate Habanero Peppers, Vinegar, Water, Onion, Garlic, Salt, Almond Extract, Black Pepper, Xanthan Gum
Visual: Hot Chocolate comes in a 5 oz. normal bottle. The label can really fool a naive individual. This is because it looks as gourmet as gourmet can be. The label says “Hot Chocolate: A Fine Habanero Sauce”. Below this title is a caption that states “For the Pepper Afficionado”. The label is a chocolate brown color and the text and trim is done in a flashy light golden color. The label reminds me of Willy Wonka and the golden ticket that is needed to get into his palace of goodies! (BTW, has anyone seen slugworth?, lol) This bottle really can give someone the impression that it is a dessert sauce! Looking inside the bottle all you can see is basically a light brown chocolate colored liquid. There is some small pulp floating around but you almost have to use a magnifying glass to observe it. The consistency is slightly thicker than a creamy hot chocolate from your local caffe.
Aroma: I give a choclate shake and opened the cap and was very suprised by the smell! It was definitely an eye opener to me! It didn’t smell like any of the other Habanero sauces I have had before. A distinctive odor definitely hit me, much more pronounced than some of the other Habanero Sauces that I have tried in the past. It doesn’t smell as fruity as some of the others but it is much more rich. There was almost some sweet chocolate like odor to it! I think this is due to the Almond Extract. Well if you don’t know that much about extracts I can tell you that they are strongly scented. Even though it is listed as the 7th ingredient, a little can go a long way! If you don’t believe me try some vanilla extract for yourself! This actually makes me wonder now if there are any hot sauces out there that have a vanilla extract to it! Arrrrghh, it seems that Hot Chocolate has raised me to yet a new search! Anytime a hot sauce can give you ideas, I am almost going to guarantee you that you will enjoy it.
Application: I decided to put this on some brown rice and smoked ribs. My reasoning was that this was a sauce that I wanted to use on something rich and hearty. I felt that the brown rice and flavor of the ribs from the pork juice would go along with this sauce. As I said in my last review, sometimes I am able to judge by color alone as to how I want to match up my dishes with their respective sauce. This seems to be a good rule of thumb, at least for me lately. I could have used Asbirin Extra Strength for this meal but it didn’t seem like the sauce to be used on a very darkly colored steamed dish! I like my ribs and rice to be really hot and have a smokey flavor to it so I thought why not try Hot Chocolate.
After eating a few of the ribs and rice I was very pleased! The sauce did have this flavor to it that was different that the other habanero sauces I have tried. The flavor was more smokey than the Scotch Bonnet, Red Savina, Fatalli, and Orange Habanero but yet the heat was there but it wasn’t pronounced when eating the meal. How weird is this? After I swallowed the food and waited a minute or two the heat did appear. I would say I felt the heat was slightly less than the other ones but please remember the others I am comparing it to are basically as puree as you can get. This isn’t a real puree sauce. When I went back to eat more the flavor was there. I was able to tell that it added flavor to the ribs and the rice soaked in pork juice but it didn’t interfere with the flavor or take away from the flavor of the food. It actually blended quite well enhancing the flavor of the ribs and rice. Howver, it didn’t taste like your normal smokey hot sauce such as a BBQ sauce or a hot sauce with rich color such as Acid Rain or Alberta Crude.
Final Thoughts: This sauce is somewhat of a novelty. I mean that in every sense of the word. Everything from the label to the aroma and to the taste will be probably be new to you. It is a fairly decent tasting sauce with a good amount of heat. Much more experimentation is going to be needed on this sauce. I am going to have to try this on some chicken dishes and tacos. I think honestly it is to be used for mainly smokey flavored dishes. I can’t imagine this on a standard pizza. I think that this could probably even be used as a BBQ sauce offshoot. Cooking with this sauce will lead to many new adventures. Remember in the description of the pepper they said it was great for Jamaican Jerk sauces so the flavor may be enhanced even great with physical heat being added to it. Overall it is definitely worth trying and having in your collection. I am glad I purchased Hot Chocolate.
Packaging 10/10
Aroma 8/10
Taste 7/10
Appearance 8/10
Heat 8.5/10
Overall 8
Chilehead Comments:
Posted by: GoonieNick - Categories: Hot Sauce Reviews, Reviews
Permalink: Review: Hot Chocolate - A Fine Habanero Sauce
One year ago: Early Blair's 2AM
Two years ago: Crazy From The Heat by Dave Hirschkop
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36 Comments »
Nick ….do you know who makes this sauce?
the truth on 2/11/2007 at 8:46 am said:
Great reading Nick ..Good job as always..Now just dont comment anymore they might jump all over you….
I didn’t realize GoonieNick was a manufacturer…
the truth on 2/11/2007 at 8:46 am said:
Great reading Nick ..Good job as always..Now just dont comment anymore they might jump all over you….
Get over it, I am! And I’m not quite big enough to be called “they”.
Did goonie Nick pass away or something ? he has not commented on anything here yet..wow the whole new thing is starting to wear off (thank God)
Must of been the Med’s talking,
the truth on 2/11/2007 at 8:46 am said:
Great reading Nick ..Good job as always..Now just dont comment anymore they might jump all over you….
Seems your in love today….
John..Im not to sure why that you felt that you needed to bring THT into the mix when clearly your beef stared with Jim..Then you proced to say THEY when you should have said her.The TRUTH is if you have a problem or something to say you should come right out and name names cause “THEY” can be alot of people,With that said I do see your point on this one and i also understand Jod view also.Nothing was ever said until she had a sauce that she did not like.I have known Jodi for some time now and if she does not like something she will tell you.I dont really know why you took that quote that she said personal. As you have stated to DK there are other manufactures as reviewer and you have never brought this up before.Maybe you can help me understand why now.As for me getting over it ..Iam but just remember these are my girls and i will allway stand behind, infront and on there side always..
BLANE on 2/11/2007 at 9:31 am said:
Did goonie Nick pass away or something ? he has not commented on anything here yet..wow the whole new thing is starting to wear off (thank God)
Must of been the Med’s talking,
Seems your in love today….
I can always count on you for a comment..lol
“Then you proced to say THEY when you should have said her.”
“there are other manufactures as reviewer”
That is what I meant when I said they. Give me a call tomorrow, or I’ll buy you a beverage and we can talk about it in ABQ. I don’t think you realize I’m on their/your side as well. No beef with anyone, just acting too fatherly. (Although Jim IS the grandaddy) Jodie, you can get in touch with me as well if you like. I’ll explain to you what I mean.
Now off to the store, I hope we don’t have any strange unannounced visitors like yesterday! Although the group he was with were great…
Call me Jim, out…
You know i love ya John
CaJohn on 2/11/2007 at 9:56 am said:
Call me Jim, out…
OK, so now John wants to be called Jim!! This is really getting interesting for sure!
CaJohn on 2/11/2007 at 9:54 am said:
Now off to the store, I hope we don’t have any strange unannounced visitors like yesterday! Although the group he was with were great…
Thanks Bigdaddy have good day
Why, you have such a great name 
The word for the day is “they”….I’m having flashbacks of pee-wees playhouse!
CaJohn on 2/11/2007 at 9:56 am said:
Call me Jim, out…
No way I’m calling you Jim, John! Trademark violation- Jimmy Johns Sub Shops would be all over us
He did mean to say ‘they’ Truth & he includes himself and me in that ‘they’. The shots (beef) were at me & I’m not offended in the slightest! I appreciate what he was trying to say about the appearance of objectivity.
Great to see you back Mrs Ryan! Best wishes & prayers your way
Great review GoonieNick, A bit long, but a good read…lol
Nice and detailed - with a bit o funny Sh#%! rolled in - keep it up!
Oh, and dont ever start selling sauce - LOOK ^ UP - u see what happens 
nuff said!
Whats up with that hot chocolate girl??? ha ha
Anyway I have a whole case of this sauce I bought, maybe a year ago. I never opened any of the bottles to try it (out) though. Kinda like most of my sauces I purchased
Now I know, so maybe its time to open one up - and yeah, it was ebay too…
on a side note…this sauce I have is say a year and a half old…the heat increase, or decreasae, or stay the same?
Great review G-Nick!!!!
Re: on a side note…this sauce I have is say a year and a half old…the heat increase, or decreasae, or stay the same?
It should stay the same. There’s no magic formula for more capsaicin to be created out of the other ingredients. The amount that’s in there, is the amount that’s in there. Having said that though, several folks report to me that it seems the last half of a bottle is hotter than the first half. This might be due to settling of the ingredients.
Any alchemists out there?
Jim Campbell- StepUpForCharity.org on 2/11/2007 at 11:16 am said:
Re: on a side note…this sauce I have is say a year and a half old…the heat increase, or decreasae, or stay the same?
It should stay the same. There’s no magic formula for more capsaicin to be created out of the other ingredients. The amount that’s in there, is the amount that’s in there. Having said that though, several folks report to me that it seems the last half of a bottle is hotter than the first half. This might be due to settling of the ingredients.
Any alchemists out there?
I was thinking the same kinda thing Jim, but Im not an expert so I figured I ask .
But I guess the flavor will change depending on what other ingredients are in the sauce?
Thanks
If you want some wicked Chocolate Habs, check out Jim’s stock. They quickly became my favorite pepper!
After open fields last year, when I was steming and seeding my haul, those little suckers got me in a full waterworks of tears and coughing fits - just from cutting them open with a knife! No other pepper has ever hit me that hard just from seeding it. My wife even came out to see what the heck I was doing, as her eyes were burning from all the way on the other side of the house.
The crazy thing about the chocolates compared to all the other has I’ve tried, including fatalli, orange, red savina, and scotch bonnet, is how incredible aromatic they are. You don’t even need to eat them to get a wicked burn, just be in the same room where they are being cut.
the truth on 2/11/2007 at 8:46 am said:
Great reading Nick ..Good job as always..Now just dont comment anymore they might jump all over you….
I am not afraid of being jumped all over, I would actually prefer it at this time in my life..!!
I believe it is ocean winds. They have a website www.oceanwinds.us
I am not a manufacturer, John, at least not yet, lol
Nah,
I am alive somehow in this evil world. I sleep late on weekends… I am often hibernating these days on sat. and sundays so I dont get up until at least noon-4pm depending on my mood.. lol
chrisk on 2/11/2007 at 11:03 am said:
Great review GoonieNick, A bit long, but a good read…lol
Nice and detailed - with a bit o funny Sh#%! rolled in - keep it up!
Oh, and dont ever start selling sauce - LOOK ^ UP - u see what happensWhats up with that hot chocolate girl??? ha ha
Anyway I have a whole case of this sauce I bought, maybe a year ago. I never opened any of the bottles to try it (out) though. Kinda like most of my sauces I purchased
Now I know, so maybe its time to open one up - and yeah, it was ebay too…on a side note…this sauce I have is say a year and a half old…the heat increase, or decreasae, or stay the same?
A year and a half.. well over time I believe the sauce will decrease in heat, but its not like 5 years old so it should be the same.
Thanks for liking my reviews. I try to insert some funny stuff in as needed to keep the interest up!!
Thanks Anthony,
Some of my reviews are better than others I admit. I seem to specialize in reviews that are somewhat interesting to most people. Chocolate habanero is somewhat uncommon to most people so maybe I try to go out of my way to learn about it myself before writing the review.
This is who I am I guess as a person, lol.. loving to learn new things and teach others about them..
Cheers
Yes the odor is somewhat unique. It is definitely different than the peppers you mentioned. Its the “rebel” of peppers.. Sort of like my “A Goonie!!”
Jim Campbell- StepUpForCharity.org on 2/11/2007 at 11:02 am said:
No way I’m calling you Jim, John!
He did mean to say ‘they’ Truth & he includes himself and me in that ‘they’. The shots (beef) were at me & I’m not offended in the slightest! I appreciate what he was trying to say about the appearance of objectivity.
Great to see you back Mrs Ryan! Best wishes & prayers your way
If John would have said “Y’all”, then he would have excluded himself, but he didn’t, and so it is that he did include himself!
CaJim’s?
Re: CaJim’s?
Sounds more like ‘ca-CHING’ to me
chrisk on 2/11/2007 at 11:22 am said:
I was thinking the same kinda thing Jim, but Im not an expert so I figured I ask .
But I guess the flavor will change depending on what other ingredients are in the sauce?Thanks
Yeah- if anything I’d expect it to go down a bit as some of it volatilizes. Not much will refrigerated or at room temps though so I’d expect it to be minimal.
Yes- flavor can/will change over time. I occasionally hit a nearly nine year old (opened, room temp) bottle of one of my sauces as part of my independant shelf life studies. They do begin to pick up a bit of an ‘off’ flavor, mostly from the oxidation I think.
I like your reviews… especially the ones on my stuff! 
Re: If you want some wicked Chocolate Habs, check out Jim’s stock. They quickly became my favorite pepper!
Thanks John! Coming back for more this year? I won’t have too many of them this time around but will have nearly 11,000 plants for you to pick from
the truth on 2/11/2007 at 9:41 am said:
John..Im not to sure why that you felt that you needed to bring THT into the mix when clearly your beef stared with Jim..Then you proced to say THEY when you should have said her.The TRUTH is if you have a problem or something to say you should come right out and name names cause “THEY” can be alot of people,With that said I do see your point on this one and i also understand Jod view also.Nothing was ever said until she had a sauce that she did not like.I have known Jodi for some time now and if she does not like something she will tell you.I dont really know why you took that quote that she said personal. As you have stated to DK there are other manufactures as reviewer and you have never brought this up before.Maybe you can help me understand why now.As for me getting over it ..Iam but just remember these are my girls and i will allway stand behind, infront and on there side always..
I am welling……;-)
Love you too FB!
Jim Campbell- StepUpForCharity.org on 2/11/2007 at 12:22 pm said:
Re: If you want some wicked Chocolate Habs, check out Jim’s stock. They quickly became my favorite pepper!
Thanks John! Coming back for more this year? I won’t have too many of them this time around but will have nearly 11,000 plants for you to pick from
I sure hope I can make it! It’s an event not to be missed.
chrisk on 2/11/2007 at 11:03 am said:
Great review GoonieNick, A bit long, but a good read…lol
Nice and detailed - with a bit o funny Sh#%! rolled in - keep it up!
Oh, and dont ever start selling sauce - LOOK ^ UP - u see what happensWhats up with that hot chocolate girl??? ha ha
Anyway I have a whole case of this sauce I bought, maybe a year ago. I never opened any of the bottles to try it (out) though. Kinda like most of my sauces I purchased
Now I know, so maybe its time to open one up - and yeah, it was ebay too…on a side note…this sauce I have is say a year and a half old…the heat increase, or decreasae, or stay the same?
I couldn’t do it.. When I buy I am sure as hell going to at least try it. That is why I keep an unopened stock of no more than 20-25. It really isn’t that many considering the amount that I use. Often a bottle per meal. However, I don’t eat meals like a regular person so it all balances out. I am more like a snake somewhat.. lol Probably how I stay so slim I guess.
I do admit I take pride in that my collection is my collection that I have used and tried. I remember basically what I tried it with, where I was, time of year.. etc..
sometimes, the chocolate habanero is confused with the jamaican hot chocolate, or the long chocolate habanero, the chocolate habanero is smallest,BUT, at 250,000 to 450,000 SHU it’s a force to be reckoned with, and with so many pungent chemicals in the pepper, it is no wonder that it is aromatic!!!
lol that might be a titanic understatement…
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Great reading Nick ..Good job as always..Now just dont comment anymore they might jump all over you….