2006 Houston Hot Sauce Festival
1st Place: Specialty Salsa-Amateur Competition
2006 Texas Tornado Hockey Salsa Shootout
1st Place: Best Hot Salsa-Consumer Division
It’s been a while since we’ve done a salsa review here on the HSB, so I was happy when Wayne Brawley’s 2 Brothers Fire Roasted Chipotle Salsa came across my desk. Made under the name ‘2 Brothers’ – the company is actually ran by one brother (Wayne) as a dedication to his brother Wes who used to love Waynes’ homemade salsa. Wayne started making salsa over 10 years ago when his mother had an excess of tomatoes available after a harvest and as the familiar story goes, everyone loved it and before Wayne knew what was happening, he was packaging his salsa creation and entering it into a few local contests and events. Needless to say, Waynes family and friends were right and Wayne has gone on to take 1st place at the 2006 Houston Hot Sauce Festival
Ingredients: Tomato, Jalapeno, Chipotle Peppers (Tomato puree, Vinegar, Onions, Sunflower Seed Oil, Sugar, Salt and Spices), Citric Acid, Cilantro, Garlic, Salt and Spices.
The ingredient list is simple and straight to the point and when you look at the salsa, that’s exactly what you see – fresh & fire roasted ingredients. Just by looking at the salsa, I would venture to guess that this is a salsa that’s similar to one you can find in a nice Mexican restaurant. 2 Brothers Fire Roasted doesn’t have that typical “out of the jar” salsa appearance. The salsa is nicely blended to a consistency that creates a nice “stick to your chip” dip.
So it looks nice, but how does it taste? Three words: emptied the jar. I killed the entire 16oz. jar in two sittings. And just to see how well the salsa held up – I opened the jar in early June – ate half and then stuck it in the fridge to see what would happen to the flavor after sitting refrigerated for a while. Flash forward to July and I took the jar out again – consistency and smell were the same and the flavor was spot on. After a month of being opened and refrigerated, this salsa held up and tasted as fresh and excellent as it had on day one.
Now, granted, this isn’t a hot salsa by any means. On the HSB Heat Scale, it comes in at a 3-4. Not hot enough to cause you to sweat, but just a tingle to let you know that you are eating a nicely chipotle inspired salsa. Give 2 Brothers Salsa a whirl for yourself and you won’t be disappointed. And expect to see 2 Brothers Salsa taking home more awards in the upcoming months.
Brawley’s Foods
4318 Eastside Avenue
Dallas, TX 75228
http://www.twobrotherssalsa.com
Fire Roasted Salsa – $5.49 per 16oz. jar