Posted August 26, 2007 by Anthony in Reviews

Review: Ebesse Zozo Hot Sauce – Hot

Ebesse Zozo Hot Sauce

“Considered at least “five times hotter than tabasco”, Ebesse Zozo could definitely be tagged as being “extremely hot!”. Ebesse Zozo is Togolese for hot pepper and gets its fiery heat from the Habanero pepper, which is native to Africa. While abundant in Togo, the people of Togo “eat hot foods at every meal.” It just wouldn’t be the same without hot sauce.

The idea spawned from one of the Segbeayas’ routine visits to their local grocery store (Kootenay Co-op) in Nelson*. The Segbeayas’ love for hot foods certainly “caught the attention of a Kootenay Co-op manager” who wanted to know why they were purchasing entire crates of Habaneros while the most of the other customers could tolerate no more than possibly one or two of the flaming vegetable.

After explaining to the manager about their knack and culture for naturally growing up “eat(ing) hot foods at every meal”, the Assistant Product Manager (Ken Lister) inspired and motivated Edmond Segbeaya to promote, sell, and distribute Ebesse Zozo to as many places as possible. So Edmond decided to start up Awassi as his company to promote his spicy product, and as you now know, the rest is history!

Now let me present my product:
Ebesse Zozo is a hot pepper sauce. Because of the tropical climate in my home country, we use a lot of hot peppers in our daily food. Ebesse Zozo is a combination of many vegetables with the principle ingredient being habanero peppers and is one of the hottest sauces I have ever tasted. It should be refrigerated after opening.
All the ingredients are natural, without vinegar, sugar, MSG, and no chemical preservative.”

Damn, I was not expecting this. I really hope this finds it way to an unsuspecting non chili-heads fridge. They have no idea what they are getting into. I also hope that chiliheads track this sauce down.
Just the smell alone is wonderful. Very strong curry notes along with tumeric and habaneros. And wow is the smell alone misleading. You think you are getting a run of the mill hot curry sauce here, but watch out.

I tried this straight out of the bottle and the instant heat was just incredible. Along with that heat followed along the same great taste that the aroma led you to believe that was here. But I do have to say for that non-chilihead, they have no idea how much heat is packed in here. The bottle is very unassuming. For the chiliheads here, you have a full on hot sauce that is getting closer to the upper realms of the heat chart without any extracts and a full and flavourful sauce.

Ingredients: Habanero Peppers, onions, garlic, vegetable oil, salt, black peppers, ginger, powdered bouillon, tumeric, curry, lemon juice. No Chemical Preservatives.

Ok, lets take a step back here. The label, take it or leave it. It has all the essentials and no exploding rectums. The bottle itself is a very nice 250ml hexagonal that houses a decent amount of sauce. More than just one application. The colour of the sauce isn’t the most appealing, but I have seen worse. There are a lot of visible pieces in it which are nice. The consistency is quite thick and would make a great marinating sauce.

Note that this bottle also was a winner at America’s Best Food Show. Just like Belize has been a hot spot for some great sauces, British Columbia is making a name for itself now with the Denzel leading the way and Awassi tagging along. Make sure to take a look at the awards they have won. This is probably the most award winning line-up you have never heard of.

Lots of applications here for this sauce. From standard Indian dishes to taking a chance with more mainstream dishes, there is a lot of versatility. I am looking forward to making some wings with this stuff.

For those wanting something completely different from a hot sauce and those who finally want “HOT” Indian food. Look no further. This sauce is a gem!