Ingredients:
Water, Pineapple Concentrate, Guavas (guava, sugar, water), Vinegar, Natural Flavor (water, hydrolyzed yeast, natural flavor, lactic acid), Guajillo Pepper, Morita Pepper, Salt, Xanthan Gum
The first thing I have to say here is that I’m pleased to see this isn’t a vinegar-based sauce. Sure, there is some vinegar in the bottle, but it doesn’t occupy the top slot, meaning I don’t need to expect that characteristic smell and bite from this product. Instead, we have water on the top, followed immediately by pineapple concentrate and guavas. The “concentrate” label is a good hint that this is not a pulpy sauce. Moving down the list, I don’t see much else to worry about (although I do wonder why this sauce can’t get by without the yeast), but I am very interested in the two peppers featured in this sauce. First is the guajillo, a fairly low-heat pepper that is actually the dried form of the mirasol pepper. Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisines often use the guajillo, so I’m at least passingly familiar with it. The morita, on the other hand, is new to me. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that the name is new to me, because it turns out that moritas are actually akin to chipotles, in that both are made from smoking red-ripe jalapeno peppers, with the key difference being that moritas see less smoking time. This allows them to retain a softer texture and a fruitier flavor.
Appearance:
Without the label, you probably wouldn’t know it by looking at the sauce that this stuff is fruit-based. It really does look like a standard dark red sauce. The one difference, though, is that this sauce is stickier than most other sauces I’ve had, and clings to the bottle exceedingly well.
Smell and Taste:
I’m really glad I looked up moritas earlier, because I immediately found myself wondering why there was a smokey smell to this sauce. After all, there’s no indication from the name that I should be expecting something reminiscent of chipotle peppers. Most fruit-based sauces actually smell fruity, but the pineapple notes really take a back seat to the morita peppers. In an impressive twist, though, this sauce doesn’t really taste like it smells. The smoked flavor hits first, but it is instantly overtaken by the sweet pineapple flavor. Honestly, I’ve not encountered a spicy product that captures the essence of pineapple quite like this one does (a fact I lamented in another recent salsa review).
Ratings:
FIRE | FLAVOR |
What’s funny about this product is that it bills itself as a “pepper sauce,” but not necessarily a “hot sauce.” Still, the smoked jalapenos in the mix do make their presence known, taking this one up to a Medium heat. More impressive, though, is that the heat actually sticks around for quite a while. I’m also pretty impressed with the flavor. It isn’t terribly bold, but it does represent the duality of citrus and sweetness found in pineapples. I don’t really get a whole lot of guava flavor, but this is still good enough for me to grant it a Nice.
Suggested Uses:
This is a fairly sweet sauce, so it can serve in a variety of purposes. First, it would make a great low-calorie alternative to salad dressing or vinaigrette, especially on a salad that packs some meat. It would also work as an addition to cream cheese and crackers. Most importantly, though, this is, in my opinion, the rare sauce that seems to have been made to be poured all over a ham. Not just a piece of ham, mind you, though that would be good as well, but a whole ham. You know, as a glaze. Pineapple and ham work so well together, and this would be the perfect sauce for giving a holiday ham a little bit of zing. Easter’s coming up, and if you and your family of chileheads like to celebrate the sacrifice and resurrection of your savior by feasting on a dead pig, then give this sauce some healthy consideration.
Final Word:
Like I mentioned above, Fredericksburg Farms makes quite a variety of products. If you’re interested, check out the company’s website for more information.