First off, HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!!! My first review and post for 2007. Believe me, this one is not a harbinger of things to come. In fact it could be a warning for your taste buds to start the New Year right and avoid this sauce. So let’s get to it!
I was a little weary of this at first. This being my second foray into “True” Mexican hot sauces. El Yucateco was my first of these experiences and I devoured their series of bottles over the course of a few meals. So I was thinking, will I get lucky twice? This sauce isn’t available in Canada outside of some niche market and Latin food stores. So excuse my ignorance if everyone of you have already tried this sauce.
This is a hefty 13.8oz bottle. And what scares me is the price point on it (I found it on-line for about $3.00 on average). I wish some of my favourite sauces came in a bottle this size and cost so little. It is nice to see that many makers are now addressing this and making different sized bottles. Anyways, back to the sauce.
At first glance this is a very smooth orangey red sauce that makes no bones about its watery vinegar base. And that is about all the nice things I can say about it. Plain and simple it wasn’t very good. It had some kind of pepper flavour and the claim on the bottle that this is “very hot” is laughable.
Ingredients: Water, Distilled Vinegar, Chile Peppers, Sugar, Xanthan Gum, Spices, 1/20 of 1% Sodium Benzoate (as a preservative), FD&C Yellow and 1/20 of 1% Sodium Sorbate (as a preservative).
I thought wings would be a good starter for this. Ugh was I wrong. I was able to choke down two wings before I had to call in the old faithfuls. I came back to this sauce a few hours later and gave it another test straight out of the bottle. And ya, the stuff was pretty awful. There is something in here that I can’t put my finger on that makes the taste so awkward. Like something just isn’t right in there. Also, forget about the claim of this being very hot. That little statement made on the bottle seems embarrassing coming from a Mexican hot sauce.
Packaging 5/10 ““ Not bad not great
Aroma 3/10 ““ I think it is vinegar
Appearance 8/10 ““ The only good thing going on for this sauce
Taste 2/10 ““ It gets the two points for being just plain odd tasting
Heat 2/10 ““ They mentioned peppers ““ someone somewhere may find this mild
Overall 2.7/10 ““ Mass produced commercial sauce that even lacks taste in comparison to its brethren
Bufalo Picante Especial
Distributed by Herdez Corp Stockton, CA 95201
QuestionsComments 1-800-333-7846
Mexico’s #1 Hot Sauces For 60 Years