I just had the opportunity to sample Peppermaster’s hottest offering, Hurricane Mash. All I can say is it was so good it nearly left me speechless.
On First Taste
I tried my first sample, as is my custom, on a plain salted tortilla chip. The heat came on instantly, and intensified quickly. It’s a rapidly forming hot, with ample heat to tickle the tongue, but lasts only a minute or two. The pepper flavor comes through the strongest, with a reassuring fresh citrus and acid finish. The remarkable thing about this sauce is how fresh it tastes – I swear it had been made from fresh picked peppers and limes squeezed within the hour. The only thing I’ve had similar in fresh taste is a sauce from my favorite Ecuadorian restaurant, and that’s homemade daily.
The only style I can think to compare it to is Desert Pepper Company’s XXX Habanero sauce. But Peppermaster manages to blend in a fresher, fuller, all around better taste while adding significantly more heat. The consistency is better, too, though due to the jar presentation it’s best served with a spoon. It’s not as extreme as a Blair’s or Dave’s Insanity extract type sauce, but it has plenty of heat to keep the fiery food lover happy. It is hotter than most other non-extract sauces I’ve had. A very small drop was quite hotter than what my wife typically likes – but the taste was so good she quickly forgave me.
After tasting the sauce…and tasting the sauce…and tasting the sauce some more, I discovered a great use for it. The Hurricane Mash makes a great salsa to eat directly on tortilla chips. I could hardly stop eating it. The only thing that got me to stop was the realization that Peppermaster’s Hurricane Mash would be incredible on seafood.
On Food
I whipped up some crab cakes and a shrimp salad with fresh french bread on the side, using the sauce as a topping for the crab cake and a dipping sauce for the shrimp. Halfway through the meal it became a dipping sauce for the bread, too.
Without exaggerating a bit, this is the best hot sauce for seafood I’ve ever come across. It easily passes Ring of Fire, which had been at the top of that category. I expect it would be equally as good with chicken, and could hold it’s own with pork. And the sauce can definitely stand on it’s own – it’s so versatile it’s hard to imagine anything it wouldn’t complement.
In Conclusion
I strongly recommend giving the Peppermaster’s Hurricane Mash a try. I can’t wait until the Goat Pepper Mash comes out later this year.
The fresh suppleness of the taste is outstanding, the pepper taste is clean and refreshing. For anyone who likes habaneros and cooking hot, this sauce is a must have. Plus, you can feel good about $3 of your purchase going to help restore pepper crops damaged by last year’s hurricanes. Also, remember that it’s 190 ml compared to a typical 147 ml bottle, and that it seems to go slowly. I ate it liberally all evening long, and barely made a dent in the bottle.
Final Score: 9.75 out of 10