Chilli Sauce Reviews - Page 008

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!

Nando's Extra Mild Lemon Peri Peri Sauce

Name: Nandos Lemon Peri Peri Sauce

Manufacturer: Nando's

Style Classification: Peri-Peri (African/Portuguese) Variation

Appearance: 7/10

Nando's packaging is attractive and the brand instantly recognisable now that it's in 26 countries around the world, it obviously works. Nothing stunning, but very professional.

It declares quite clearly that this is an extra mild sauce and I like that being up front. There are too many sauces out there that market themselves as HOT simply because they have a bit of chilli in them.

The sauce itself is a not unappealing opaque pale orange/yellow with visible pieces of ingredient throughout. However, this is clearly a highly processed sauce base that, once thickened, then has the ingredient pieces added, in contrast to once that has been simply mixed together and cooked down (e.g. Disaster Bay).

Consistency is good and this will clearly stick to food if poured over.

Ingredients: 7/10

Contains no artificial preservatives, colours, flavours, or any MAS.

Stabiliser 405 is propylene glycol alginate - basically a seaweed derivative that has then been chemically modified. It's a thickener. No documented issues.

Stabiliser 415 is xantham gum, a product derived from the fermentation of sugar by a certain bacteria. Another thickener.

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

Aroma: 6/10

Vinegar and lemon was all I picked up in the sniff test. The vinegar was not overpowering which potentially bodes well for the taste. Would have been nice to be able to pick up some of the garlic as well.

First cab off the rank is the vinegar and then the flavour and tartness of the lemon comes through. The garlic and chilli are there as flavours, though they're definitely in the back seat compared to the first two.

You do get that weird taste/sensation of thickened liquids when you push your tongue to the roof of your mouth, though you'll only notice this if you eat the sauce on it's own - not a common occurrence.

Overall: 6-7/10

Overall, I couldn't decide whether to make it a 6 or a 7 - it's in that ballpark - a basically good sauce.

Improvements: Lose some of the liquid and hence the need for some of the thickener, resulting in more flavour through greater presence of the food ingredients.

Matching it with food;

• I cooked with it twice and was a little disappointed as the flavour definitely cooks away quickly - a reflection on the water/thickener content.
• However, as a pour-over sauce this is pretty good cooked over cooked meat or vegetables, particularly, as you'd expect, over chicken. It sticks to the food and the flavour works well.

Heat: 1-2/10 (doesn't affect Overall Score.

Back of palate heat lasting for 5-20 seconds. Extra mild as advertised.

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