Chilli Sauce Reviews - Page 007

Reviews of chilli sauce products by an former industry-insider

Traffic Light Scoring System

0-3/10 = crap, 4-6/10 = average, 7-10/10 = great!

Dave's Scotch Bonnet Sauce

Name: Daves Scotch Bonnet Sauce

Manufacturer: Daves Gourmet Inc ( San Francisco, California, USA )

Style Classification: Caribbean

Appearance: 6/10

Dave's labelling is extremely consistent across his range of products and which creates good brand recognition immediately identifiable in the marketplace. Not as dressed-up as Blair's products - not saying that's a bad thing, merely an observation.

Ingredients: 5/10

Water, Scotch Bonnet Peppers, Cane Vinegar, Peaches, Salt, Citric Acid, Glucose, Sugar, Onions, Ascorbic Acid, And Spices , Xanthan Gum.

No major concerns here. There are a very small percentage of people that have an allergy to Xanthan gum.

Aroma: 5/10

Strong smell of vinegar but can also pick up strong elements of garlic and that beautiful green jalapeno/capsicum aroma. It would be nice to get a bit more of the jalapenos and less of the vinegar but it’s not a serious flaw.

Flavour: 5/10

After that you do get some sense of the tropical fruit flavours from the scotch bonnets but I was expecting more given this is a scotch bonnet dedicated source. The peach is not really detectable but I'm sure it is part of the background flavour attributed to the scotch bonnets.

Overall: 5/10

This is a massed produced sauce and is not going to rock your world as a flavour sensation.

You do get a perpective of the flavours you could achieve with using scotch bonnets, but it sits in the shadow the high acidity of the product.

Improvements: Less water, more fruit - enough said.

Matching it with food;

• use as a heat sauce in a salsa if you're not using fresh chillies - particularly salsa's that have a tropical bent to them (e.g. a mango salsa)
• also good as part of a marinade or baste where some heat is required, as these tend to be acidic anyway to help tenderise the meat.

Heat: 7/10 (doesn't affect Overall Score.

Broad heat, front of palate, and then appearing at the back of the throat after about 20 seconds. Overall heat lasts for a minute or two.

Ingredient Alert: Minor – Xanthan gum (see ingredient review above)