First announced here on the HSB, I was as excited as anyone to get my bottle of THT’s Cranked Up Cranberry. Every year for Thanksgiving, I’ve wanted a satisfying cranberry sauce that can crank up the heat. And now the Three Hot Tamales have delivered! And just in time to get your orders in before the turkey pops out of the oven.
Cranked Up Cranberry Up Close
Ingredients: Cranberries, Sugar, Water, White Vinegar, Pineapple, Concentrated Orange Juice, Balsamic Vinegar, Dorset Naga Peppers, Salt.
Have you ever tried to find a turkey to buy before Nov. 1? the Ex & I have been looking in the markets since this sauce arrived (as well as my turkey fryer) so that we could give this the test it deserved – but we have not been able to find a whole turkey yet. Now that it’s after Halloween, I’m sure there will be plenty of turkeys available – I need to practice my frying before the big T-day!
So after a few weekends of not finding any turkeys to test on, I opted for a turkey sandwich. I was working from home and instead of my standard cold turkey sandwich (when I go into the office), I went for a heated up version of the lunch time fare. I snagged some jalapeño cheddar bread, cheese, turkey and THT’s Cranked Up Cranberry and went to work.
Into the pan went the bread, then the cheese, then the sliced turkey. Then, on top of all that went THT’s Cranked Up Cranberry. The smell of the sauce reminds me of the fruit roll ups that we used to eat when we were younger. The smell of the cranberries is upfront and mellowed by a sweet undertone – but more noticeably is the absence of any sort of olfactory heat.
Straight to the tongue – the sauce is all cranberries. Almost too sweet – then, when the sweetness has permeated your mouth and throat – the heat kicks in. It’s not a overbearing or overpowering heat, it’s almost a tickle on the back of one’s throat.
Most impressive is the fact that the heat in this sauce isn’t even intelligible until after a few bites – much like the naga, the heat doesn’t kick in until it’s almost too late.
I doused my turkey sandwich liberally with the sauce (it’s rather thin) and just as the cheese was starting to melt, combined the two sides and got ready for my turkey sandwich feast.
Gratuitous Sandwich Shot
No further pictures of lunch are available – because, well, it was too good to put down. For me, THT’s Cranked Up Cranberry is going to be a fairly SAS (Specific Application Sauce) – but in those settings, it’s going to excel beyond belief. This Thanksgiving, Cranked Up Cranberry will most definitely have a spot on our dinner table and it will be a driving force in the consumption of post Turkey day leftovers. If you haven’t already ordered a bottle for yourself, you’d best do so now – Turkey Day is less then 3 weeks away and your table will be sorely lacking without this sauce.
Three Hot Tamales, LLC
973-340-0551
Garfield, NJ, 07026
www.threehottamales.com