Posted January 3, 2008 by HSB Reviewing Team in Reviews

Review: Blind Hot Sauce Review #105

If you would like to know what the sauce is before reading through the review, you may skip to the end here

AppearanceReviewer #1: Wherein most cases a nice thick sauce is a positive thing, there was something a bit creepy about this one. It was very dark in appearance but once I removed the packing tape it lightened up. In the bottle it looked glossy but gooey and clung to the sides leaving many tiny seeds and skin behind.

Reviewer #2: Packaged in a typical 5oz. woozie bottle with a black plastic cap, this sauce has a nice deep burgundy red color with little flecks of pepper skins and small reddish-black seeds.

Reviewer #3:At first glance, I can tell you that this sauce is going to have specific uses, but it looks very, very good. It is dark, reddish burgundy, with many, tiny strawberry seeds floating around. Lots of fruit pulp present and some chunks of fruit so big, the bottle actually clogged. No pepper seeds were present, but lots of tiny pieces of red pepper flesh were visible. Overall appearance, 9.5 out of 10

ConsistencyReviewer #1: Once poured on a plate the sauce seemed to loosen up a bit. It reminded me of a stirred jam with a little water added. You can see some tiny diced chiles when you pour it out. These were not clearly visible in the jar. There are a lot of seeds, but not from peppers, I’m guessing strawberry from the appearance. This is a very syrupy sauce with clumpy bits in it. It does not pile up when poured out but it does coat your food nicely.

Reviewer #2: The overall viscosity of this sauce is perfect. It pours nicely from the bottle and isn’t too thick or thin. The producer of this sauce obviously knows what they are doing and they do it well.

Reviewer #3: Perfect. Thick but pourable. Bits of fruit provided texture and strawberry seeds provided a little crunch. I would love to know if the owner of this sauce used pectin as a thickening agent like most jams and preserves use. 10 out of 10

SmellReviewer #1: Somebody hand me some toast! This sauce smells like pure strawberry jam. I can’t detect any other aromas in this at all. Strawberry”¦ That’s it.

Reviewer #2: Cranberries! I love the smell of that firm jellied cranberry sauce out of the can, and this has that same smell and not much more. There is a slight acidic aroma from vinegar, a hint of citrus, but the peppers are a no show.

Reviewer #3: I was really hoping for a huge blast of fruit aroma, and was a little disappointed. My first impression was indeed fruit, but not really intense, like if the sauce had been reduced to really intensify the fruit flavor. This sauce smelled of strawberries, but almost a watered down version. I did not catch any smell of vinegar. Overall Smell 7.5 out of 10

HeatReviewer #1: Heat? Did I miss something? OK, I’ll give it a 1 for heat. If I try real hard I can barely detect a slight glow on the back of my tongue. Did I say glow? Glow might be too strong a word, perhaps tickle”¦. Yes tickle is better. Unfortunately any food you put this on will overpower the tickle

Reviewer #2: It isn’t often that I say that a sauce wasn’t at all hot, but in this case, it isn’t. In fact, I had my eight-year-old daughter taste it and she wanted to know why it’s called hot sauce if it’s not hot? Kids! After a while however, the heat did intensify after trying it over and over, and my mouth and throat did eventually get a bit warm.

Reviewer #3: I would not want a fruity hot sauce to blister me and this sauce does not. I ate teaspoon after teaspoon after teaspoon ( Cause I like this stuff) and did get heat and a mellow, lingering, mild, burn in my mouth. When I used this sauce on my turkey instead of cranberry sauce, I barely noticed any heat at all. I really don’t want to grade this sauce on a 10 point scale, because it actually has the perfect balance of heat for it’s purpose.

FlavorReviewer #1: Strawberry, that’s the flavor, maybe a little zip of vinegar, it’s hard to say. While even the strawberry flavor seems to be washed out, it’s still enough to bury any other flavor that is trying to get attention. My taste buds are already really tired of this flavor.

Reviewer #2: I also love the taste of that firm jellied cranberry sauce out of the can, and this is very reminiscent of that flavor. The initial sweetness is quickly married with tangy tartness and finished off with a bit of heat. Delicious! I’m not a big fan of fruity hot sauces, but this stuff will definitely find a home in the pantry and get a lot of use.

Reviewer #3: Very good. Not intense just like the smell, but just rich enough. Strawberries as well as cranberries are perfect on turkey. It imparted a sweet accent that allowed me to taste turkey and fruit at the same time. It was a perfect compliment. This sauce would be great on vanilla ice cream. 9 out of 10

OverallReviewer #1: Initially I paired this sauce with pork chops. There is probably no other meat that is as bland and ready to accept fruit flavors as readily as a pork chop. Unfortunately, this sauce was not even bold enough to stand up to the pork chop. I used about half the bottle and found that the flavors were just lost in the shuffle. I did however find a use for this sauce that brings out its full potential; peanut butter on a Ritz cracker. The crispy buttery cracker topped with the smooth, creamy, peanut butter paired well with this sauce and really featured its strawberry flavor. I think I’ll stick with Smuckers!

Reviewer #2: Wow! I wish I’d opened this sooner and had it around for the holidays. It would have been terrific on a roasted turkey breast sandwich with a little hot stuffing. Although I haven’t tried it on food yet, I do think I’ll be making a grilled pork loin for dinner tonight. This sauce will be excellent on it. I can also imagine it going great with chicken, drizzled over cream cheese with crackers and poured all over a bowl of vanilla ice cream. If you are a fan of the cranberry and are looking for something different in a hot sauce, give this stuff a try. You won’t be disappointed.

Reviewer #3: I really like this sauce . It has specific applications like ice cream, turkey etc, but I most definitely will buy a bottle to keep on hand, once Nick reveals the name. For what it is designed for, it gets a 9 out of 10

Curious to know what sauce it is? Information on the sauce is available below the fold

HSB Blind Review #105: THT’s Cranked Up Cranberry Hot Sauce

Ingredients: Cranberries, Sugar, Water, White Vinegar, Pineapple, Concentrated Orange Juice, Balsamic Vinegar, Dorset Naga Peppers, Salt.

You can buy your own bottle from the Three Hot Tamales here and determine for yourself whether it’s more cranberry or strawberry. Clearly there’s no strawberry in the ingredients, but as this review shows – everyones tastebuds are different. You can also read a previous review of the THT’s Cranked Up Cranberry here – which both reviews comment on the “tickle” of heat from the sauce but as always, only you can be the judge, so buy yourself a bottle today and give it a whirl.