This was the second time I have been sent some Southern hot sauce ... ( Just have to love the Southern hospitality :) Its very different from the standard one dimensional stuff we normally see around here. In fact I had become so bored with the hot sauces , that I haven't used or purchased them in quite a while... that was until I started meeting some very cool Southerners, that took their hot sauces very seriously .. with quality ingredients, no preservatives and some amazing flavor combinations.
So you can imagine how happy I was when the courier dropped off a little box FULL of flavorful hot sauces... 4 different ones :)
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| Here they are :) Just waiting to be tested !! First impressions ... VERY colorful packaging, looks good! |
I have to mention , when I read the ingredient list ... I was a little worried as me & cilantro are not the best of friends, and it was in 3 out of 4 sauces... Uh oh ?!?!
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| Having never really done a review before .. I decided to start off simple, and just taste the sauces. Nice and colorful, just like their packaging :) |
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| So I grabbed my favourite plain kettle crisps , and tasted them all .. in order of hotness. |
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| Two of them really stood out , for me, the Clearwater & Daytona Beach ! I was having a hard time choosing between the two. |
Oh, and as for the cilantro worries.... it turned out to be just the right amount and didn't over power the sauce ..just right!! As I actually do like cilantro , just in VERY small quantities.
I actually grabbed a note book for this one , and wrote down all my initial thoughts on the sauces.
Clearwater - Mild Chili Citrus : Very nice flavor up front, tangy and mild to start - with a some warmth creeping a minute after - Very Nice !! This one is a favorite. I should note that while it was marked mild, I personally thought it was hotter than the hot. Which was just fine with me , I do like a little kick to it .
Keywest - Medium Jalapeno Key Lime : Light and fruity up front, very different for me, with the fruitiness but nice! With a nice light burn afterwards. Im saving this one for a future post.
Daytona Beach - Hot Datil Mango Orange : Sweet and well balanced of the start , with a nice heat level ( Could be just a touch hotter :)) and with about a 2 minute burn time...Just right! Very nice and tied with Clearwater as my personal favorite. Again , for me having the sweet in there creates a very different but , very tasty flavour combination.
Southbeach - Extra Hot Limon Habanero : Tangy to start , with the warmth building quicky , and a very nice warm afterglow. Spicy, but not overpowering . Very nice. Im also saving this one for a 2nd posting.
So the initial taste test is done ... now time to have a little fun with them and see what I can create :)
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| Clearwater was just crying out to be used as a marinade... so I tried it on some strips of steak. Mixed well ,and into the fridge for a few hours. |
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| I used those chili steak strips to create this :)) A loaded steak, mushroom, onion and bacon jacket potato. The hot sauce held up well , and the flavor came thru nicely . |
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| I decided to put my two favs to a head to head taste test ... 6 year old cheddar on toast , with some left over steak ( not the marinated one ) In this trial , Daytona won easily , as it seemed to pair with the cheese better . Still, I wolfed both down and was not disappointed . |
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| This is what I enjoyed after my initial taste test, plain kettle crisps, prosciutto salami and 6 yr old cheddar. Now, usually I would have had some Lea & Perrins with this snack . Turns out , my favourite snack is just as good with some flavorful hot sauces too! |
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| I do tend to have a lot of midnight snacks around here, and the Daytona Beach sure made it easy to have a quick tasty treat. In this case a simple pita wrap, with leftover roasted garlic pork, cheddar and mozzarella. I'm not 100% sure why , but I really like this one with aged cheddar . Seems to work really well. |
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| Good thing too! As cheese plays a pretty descent role in my diet . With simple cheese on toast being a favourite of mine ... this time with a few peas from my garden . |
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| A couple of burgers got away from me and were a little crispy ... a few dashes of Clearwater Chili helped to solve that problem :)) Worked great as a burger topping ! |
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| When I added some mozzarella to the cheddar , the chili sauce went much better . Someday Ill figure out why exactly that is... for now . I just know I like it! |
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Thank you Flavors Of Florida for sending me these wonderful samples.
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I do hope you all have enjoyed my first review, please let me know what you thought , what was good, bad or ugly about it? Or if you have any questions , please just leave a note below , or come find me on Facebook (
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rich-Fletchers-Good-Food-Revolution/118986254815432 )
Flavors of Florida, I was trying to link your website www.flavorsofflorida.com but it appears to be down for maintenance ... so here is the link to their Facebook page instead :))
http://www.facebook.com/FlavorsOfFloridaThanks everyone , have a wonderful day !!
Rich
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