Condiments and Salsas Archives - Page 2 of 9

Salinas Salsa Mild Angel Hot

by Brian Meagher : 11/18/2013

A fresh salsa created in small batches that is authentic with every mouth watering bite. A homemade taste like no other.

Salinas Salsa Mild Angel Hot Salsa

Salinas Salsa, Co. is heating up Texas and beyond with their line of super fresh salsas. They are winning awards like the 2014 Worldfest People’s Choice Champion for Salsa Challenge.

This first review of 3 salsas begins with their “Mild Angel Hot” salsa. Salinas Salsa Mile is orange in color but green in flavor with cilantro and jalapeños and serrano chiles.

Nice texture.

Ingredients: fresh variety of tomatoes and onions, cilantro, fresh jalapeños & serrano peppers, lime juice, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, fresh herbs and spices & sea salt.

Small, chunky texture is satisfying.

Texture & Appearance: 5/5 – Beautiful bright salsa with a medium grind texture. Remarkable for the consistent size of tiny chunks of tomatoes and chiles. I love the “chew” factor and crunch. Superb.

Taste Straight Up: 5/5 – Big taste of tomatoes and onions – almost like a “pico de gallo” flavor, without the big chunks. The garlic flavor is there, with the vinegar in the background with a fresh lime taste supporting the bright flavor of the chiles. The serrano peppers bring their own unique flavor without an overpowering heat. Classic.

Heat Level: 1/5 – The heat in Salinas Salsa Mild would appeal to everyone from Mom and Dad to Uncle “Chilehead” Ed. Just the right amount of heat and flavor to please everyone. Satisfying.

Nice cut-out style label.

Label/Graphics: Very classy with a “cut-out” designed label, but a bit on the dark side with the fonts. It’s hard to read from a distance, but the shape is recognizable once you become familiar with it. Original, but hard to read. On the plus side, the label doesn’t cover up much of the jar, so the contents are easily seen. Innovative.

Final Thoughts

Salsa, salsa, salsa. Red, red, red. That’s pretty typical, isn’t it? Salinas Salsa Mild is a green tasting salsa with a bright orange look. It is incredibly fresh tasting for a jarred salsa. It is truly green only in flavor and concept. Highly recommended.

We did the dip and chip standard taste test…

Made for chips and dipping.

…and heated some up on some nachos with taco meat and cheese. Delicious.

Perfect on nachos anyway you like them.

Stay tuned to our reviews of the other Salinas Salsa Co. offerings – That’s Good Hot, and Hunter’s Habanero Hot.

About Salinas Salsa Co.

Salinas Salsa, Co. is from the founder Eliseo ‘Shane’ Salinas, Jr. – created to make a natural homemade taste & spicy blend to match the flavors he grew up with. This a natural homemade taste that infuses Texas & Mexico together to give you the authentic taste and feel of the deep TexMex south.

Social Media: Follow Salinas Salsa Co on Facebook, Salinas Salsa on Google+, and on Twitter.

Where to buy: You can visit http://salinassalsaco.com/ to purchase all of their salsas, and as usual, please tell Shane that HotSauceDaily sent you.

If you are a fan of Salinas Salsa Co., please let us know in the Comments below. Are you a fan of green salsas? What do you like in a salsa? We want to know that too!

Frankie V’s Kitchen Salsas review

by Brian Meagher : 10/15/2013

Frankie V and the Serranos – Frankie V and the Habaneros – two salsa offerings from Frankie V’s Kitchen of Dallas, Texas that also make Spooky White and Fiery White hot sauces.

Frankie V’s Kitchen Salsas

FRANKIE V’S GOURMET HOT SAUCES AND SPREADS are made using the freshest and highest quality ingredients, local when we can and 100% all natural, Texas Style! Frankie V’s passion for cooking was the inspiration for transforming the ordinary into a culinary masterpiece. Made from scratch with attention to detail, every jar is inspected and approved before it leaves Frankie V’s Kitchen. Great food that’s great for you!

We met the inimitable Frankie V at the NYC Hot Sauce Festival, where Frankie V’s Kitchen won a 1st Place Screaming Mi Mi Award for Best Artwork as well as a 2nd Place Mi Mi for his Serrano salsa.

Frankie V at NYC Hot Sauce Expo 2013

Frankie V & The Serranos

Frankie V’s Serrano

I’ve mentioned many times publicly and here on this blog, that serranos are one of my top 2 favorite chiles for salsa (the other being chipotle chiles), and when you combine serranos with tomatillos, you have the makings of a very green, very flavorful salsa or hot sauce – if done right.

Texture & Appearance: This sauce is of a very fine grind. Think apple sauce consistency. And you can see in the pics that it has a bright green color.

Frankie V’s Serrano up close

Taste Straight Up: First up, a big hit of sweetness from the pear and pineapple give way to what you may perceive as vinegar… nope. That would be the tomatillos. A light garlic flavor finishes with the mild heat of the serrano chile peppers – with the lime juice adding a slight “tang” to the whole mix. This green serrano-based salsa with tomatillos and pineapple really brings on the fresh, citrusy flavor of a good mild salsa. And surprisingly, there is no vinegar in this salsa.

Heat level: – ½/5 A very mild salsa with a big “green” flavor.

Frankie V’s front label

Label/Graphics: Some of the best graphics we’ve seen in awhile. With a simple black & white “turn of the century” sideshow/circus “silent movie card” style of flourished fonts and embellishments – the front panel and side panel graphics are inventive and entertaining. Some would argue the panels are hard to read, and indeed some of the text is very tiny (ingredients among them), but there is a reason Frankie V’s won best graphics at the NYC Hot Sauce Expo.

Frankie V’s side label

Ingredients: tomatillos, pear, pineapple, mango, onion, agave nectar, garlic, serrano pepper, cilantro, lime juice, coconut oil.

Overall Rating: – Frankie V & The Serranos could be just a bit hotter to get our favorite rating of 5. But for flavor and quality it’s up there!

Frankie V & The Habaneros

Habanero salsas, in my opinion, can be like habanero hot sauces – you either love ’em or not. I think it takes a true stroke of genius to craft a hot sauce or salsa with mainly habaneros, and not have it turn out to be simply hot for hot’s sake. Before the onslaught of the “superhots” (ghost, scorpion, jolokia), the habanero chile was the venerable king of the hottest chiles. Ok, this has been a few years, but stay with me here. And at its inception as a hot sauce chile ingredient, habanero salsas and sauces were all simply salt, vinegar and habaneros.

As a result, I was really late to the party as a fan of habanero sauces. To this day, there are still some that are simply the trio of ingredients. But things have changed! As the hot sauce crafters’ world has grown, and with the influx of chef created and inventive sauces, I’ve come around to actually liking habanero based products. Frankie V & The Habaneros Salsa is yet another one that raises the bar.

Frankie V’s Habanero closeup

Texture & Appearance: Not surprisingly, this salsa is of the same “apple sauce” consistency as the Serrano. Not that that’s a bad thing. Consistency, folks. A nice, fine grind (and I’m a fan of the fine grind as well as the coarse, chunky grind) – this is a medium-hot salsa that would just go over as gangbusters at your next tailgating/foo-foo dinner party. Yea, it would fit into both worlds.

Taste Straight Up: Wow. This just may be the most unique habanero based salsa we’ve ever had at the HSD HQ. Again, like the Serrano, sweet taste from the pineapple comes on strong, supported by the mango. Even the tomatoes lend a bit of body and sweetness – but ultimately, it’s the habanero and garlic that bring on the heat.

Heat level: – 1½/5 I’m pushing the limits of 1.5 stars here. I really want to say just 1 star, but there is the undeniable zing and heat and flavor of the habanero involved. And even though there is the habanero chile pepper in this salsa, it still remains a mild-medium salsa.

Ingredients: tomatoes, pineapple, mango, white onion, habanero, raw agave nectar, lemon juice, garlic, coconut oil, chili powder.

Overall Rating: – Again, Frankie V & The Habaneros would garner our highest rating of 5 if only it packed a bit more heat. But we realize not everyone is a Chilehead, and to cater to the masses, you have to compromise a bit. Still, it’s a stellar salsa, that you can accompany with vegetables that you can cut with the best knives from https://www.all-knives.org.

Final Thoughts: Of course we had these salsas with chips, and the obligatory pizza slices. But they really shined when added to a small plate of nachos.

Frankie V’s Habanero on left, Serrano on right

Frankie V’s Serrano nachos

Frankie V’s Habanero nachos

Where to buy: You can purchase any Frankie V’s Kitchen products on their website https://www.frankievskitchen.com/

You can also follow Frankie V’s Kitchen on Facebook.

Which of the two do you think you would most enjoy? The Frankie V & The Serranos or the Frankie V & The Habaneros?
Tell us in the Comments below.

Crazy Good Raging Pineapple Salsa Review

by Brian Meagher : 10/01/2013

Crazy Good Specialty Foods out of Hernando, MS has just released their Raging Pineapple Hot Salsa.

I love anything pineapple – salsas, bbq sauces, glazes, ice cream toppings, yogurt – if it has pineapple in it, I’m all in. We even posted our own recipe for a quick Pineapple Salsa you can make at home. Let’s see if Crazy Good Raging Pineapple Salsa deserves a spot on my list of good pineapple stuff.

Crazy Good Raging Pineapple Salsa

Ingredients: pineapple (pineapple, pineapple juice), diced tomatoes (tomatoes, tomato juice, salt), crushed tomato (tomato, salt, citric acid, spices), water, jalapeno peppers, distilled vinegar, poblano peppers, onions, orange habanero peppers, sugar, kosher salt, granulated garlic, natural smoke flavor, xanthan gum.

Texture & Appearance: Small chunks in a medium thick sauce, with a nice body and red color. Red? This is pineapple salsa! Where’s the bright yellow pineapple chunks? Well, they’re in there for sure, but with all the tomato ingredients and the jalapeño and poblano peppers, the nice yellow pineapple bits get colored over and lost in the overall look. So, it looks for all the world like your typical salsa. Ok, no biggie. Don’t panic.

Closeup of Crazy Good Pineapple Salsa – chunky

Taste Straight Up: Out of the jar, a spoonful tastes like tomatoes at first, and garlic and jalapeños. The poblano chiles lend just a little dark flavor followed by the heat of the orange habaneros. Only a hint of the pineapple brings a slight fruit flavor to the mix.

Heat Level: – 2.5/5 Right in the middle. Actually, the heat is on the far end of medium, just slightly. Habaneros are the chile that bring on the most heat in this recipe. And it’s a bright, fresh tasting heat. I thought at first, it was quite hot during the first couple of bites. Then I got used to it, and was able to eat more and more.

Label/Graphics: There’s an angry pineapple in the center of the label – that’s pretty cool. But most of the other lettering is muted and gets lost in the background colors. I think the fonts and colors could pop a bit more.

Crazy Good Pineapple Salsa served cold with chips

Taste on Food: Crazy Good recommends serving this salsa “cold for maximum flavor”. So that is how I first tried it with tortilla chips. And it really does bring out all the flavors and heat when you dip a chip into this cold salsa.

Small plate nachos with salsa

Next, I made a small plate of simple nachos with tortilla chips, 4 cheese shredded, and Raging Pineapple Salsa. I enjoyed the salsa so much more this way. It was gently heated as the cheese melted and the chips got crispy. I preferred this over the straight up / served cold chips and salsa.

Finally, and I couldn’t get it out of my head, that this just may make a good pineapple ice cream topping, so I had a few spoonfuls over vanilla ice cream.

Don’t do this…

Unless you like tomato salsa on your ice cream. Because when it comes down to it, this IS a tomato based salsa with the addition of pineapple chunks. Then again, you may like it. People put some weird stuff on their ice cream!

Overall Rating / Final Thoughts: – I was a little disappointed that the pineapple wasn’t the big flavor player here. This is not the fruity salsa I had expected based on the name. Raging? Yes. Salsa, yes. Pineapple? Just a little.

All in all, it’s flavorful from the 3 chiles in the mix – the garlic is fairly present, and the quality of the tomato base is solid. Crazy Good Raging Pineapple Salsa – Hot, is pretty good! It’s just not an over-the-top pineapple mix.

Parting shot of some good nachos with Crazy Good Raging Pineapple Salsa

While this salsa will not make my list of favorite pineapple products, it really is a very good, high quality salsa that brings on a nice bite and big flavors. I would be proud to serve it at any party or tailgate. Let’s face it, your friends would be wowed to know it’s a pineapple salsa, without tasting like a sweet pineapple sauce. Yea, people are like that. They like the familiar. Get yourself some, and try it for yourself.

You can order all the delicious Crazy Good products at CrazyGoodSauce.com

Passion Pickles from Cin Chili

by Brian Meagher : 08/10/2013

Cindy and Bruce Wilkins of Cin Chili & Co (makers of the multi-award winning chili mix that bears their name), have launched Passion Pickles. Not “dill” or “bread and butter”, Passion Pickles are a little sweet with just the right amount of heat.

We’ve been big fans of Cin Chili spices and sauces for years. Their Serrano Sauce pairs perfectly with their award winning Cinderosa Texas Style Chili Mix, and their Hell’s Passion Hot Sauce makes some great wings. So when we learned they now have Passion Pickles we promptly bought a couple of jars.

Passion Pickles

The label says these pickles are made with Cin Chili’s Hell’s Passion Hot Sauce. That sounds scary hot doesn’t it? But they’re not – read on to learn more.

Pint jar of Passion Pickles from Cin Chili

Ingredients: cucumbers, water, sugar, vinegar, salt, red pepper, black pepper, onion powder, cayenne powder, habanero powder, garlic powder, cumin, xanthan gum, alum, calcium chloride, natural flavorings, sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate, oleoresin tumeric, yellow #5, polysorbate.

Texture & Appearance: Big, thick slices of pickles in a nice green brine with bits of seasonings floating about.

Taste Straight Up: Just a slight hint of dill flavor at first, followed by the sweetness of the sugar. Next up comes the heat – mild at first, then a bit stronger. The various chile powders give Passion Pickles a unique, complex taste and type of heat.

Heat Level: – While certainly not as hot as some of the hot pickles out there, these babies bring on a mild level of heat that quickly warms the tongue with pleasure, and then fades fast enough so you can grab another.

Label/Graphics: Bumpy, green lettering in the title is a nod to the pickles, and there’s the familiar Cin-Chili Girl in front of a pickle barrel – this time she’s holding a giant pickle fork. “Homestyle Chips” and “Blend of Sweet + Heat” are indeed true words.

Grilled Reuben with Passion Pickles

Overall Rating: – As pickles go, Passion Pickles are high quality in taste, flavor and crunchiness. These thick chunks of spicy pickleness are great alongside your favorite sandwich or burger. Get yourself a couple of jars, they’ll go fast.

About Cin Chili & Co: Cindy Reed Wilkins, aka The Chili Queen, is a legend in the chili community. She’s one of the greatest champions in the history of chili competition. Cindy and her husband, Bruce, manufacture and sell her award-winning chili seasoning and hot sauces through family-owned Cin Chili & Company.

Social Media: Visit Cin Chili on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. They often offer special sales via their Facebook page.

Where to buy: Shop Cin Chili’s online store.

Disclaimer: We purchased this product for our own personal use and review purposes. No compensation was received. The thoughts and opinions expressed are our own.

Pyrodust Seasoning on Wings review

by Brian Meagher : 07/15/2013

Pyrodust, out of Texas, is a blend of spices that are just perfect on grilled wings. “Flavor in a handful of dust” is their slogan.

We smoke grilled about 36 wings this weekend, half of which were done with an Orange Chipotle sauce recipe from Gary Glen, and the other half with a dry rub from Pyrodust. Actually, we did two batches of wings with Pyrodust BBQ Dry Rub Medium, and Pyrodust BBQ Dry Rub Spicy. The Orange Chipotle sauce was just okay – just not hot enough for us, while the Pyrodust dry wings were the winner(s).

I don’t remember how I found Pyrodust, but I’m sure it was on the Internet, so I ordered a 3 pack of their BBQ Dry Rubs – the Spicy and Medium, along with their Steak Seasoning (a future post).

We dusted the wings heavily with the Pyrodust – some with the Medium, and some with the Spicy.

After smoking the wings for about an hour, we again dusted them with more Pyrodust. These dry rubbed wings were delicious.

Pyrodust BBQ Rubs Medium and Spicy

Ingredients: brown sugar, sea salt, garlic powder, black pepper, celery seed, paprika, mustard powder, cayenne pepper, rice concentrate (free flow agent)

(The ingredients of both the Spicy and Medium were identical.)

Texture & Appearance: – Both of these rubs were of a coarse grind and texture. You can see lots of black pepper in each. Both were very attractive in appearance.

Taste: – Sweet, celery, peppery – bordering on a classic “bbq style” flavor, yet with a hint of mustard and cayenne flavors.

Heat Level: – Both seasonings were very mild. Despite the name, Pyrodust is very tame.

Label/Graphics: – ~~One of the worst labels we’ve ever seen.~~ Well, not the worst, but it is kind of plain. There’s a dog, with a bone, that is “pouring” something from the bone onto a steak… Whaaa?. Never mind the vast area of the label that has no info on it – and some of the text is small and hard to read (black on red). Thankfully, the name PYRODUST is in big, bold letters set off nicely on a white background.
Pyrodust could use the help of a good graphic artist. As good as these rubs were, their label should reflect that same quality.

Having said all that about the label, I wouldn’t hesitate to pick this up off of a shelf, based on the name and ingredients.

Overall Rating (Taste on Food, Final Thoughts): – Despite the label and graphics, when you get down to the flavor, these rubs are delicious. And the name Pyrodust does not do them justice. These rubs are not “Pyro” in heat level at all – they are “Pyro” in flavor. Big flavor!

Visit Pyrodust.com to order these rubs and their “Mild” and “Atomic” versions.

And check out Pyrodust on Facebook.

Disclaimer: We purchased this product for our own personal use and review purposes. No compensation was received. The thoughts and opinions expressed are our own.

Deception Salsa “Tease” review

by Brian Meagher : 07/05/2013

Based in Maryland, Deception Salsa and creator Chad Houck has a lineup of 5 salsas, all having the red hot cherry pepper as an ingredient, with the addition of other chiles making up the different flavors and heat levels.

We met Chad at the NYC Hot Sauce Expo, and I was immediately impressed with the flavors and varieties of his Deception Salsas – so I promptly bought a case of all flavors.

Ranging from Girly Girl to I Dare You heat levels, this sweet and flavorful line of salsas won the Best Salsa Product Line of 2012 from ILoveItSpicy.com.

Deception Salsa Lineup

Currently Deception Salsa offers 5 versions of its salsa:

Girly Girl Mild Tomato Salsa – Heat Index 1
Entice Corn and Bean Salsa – Heat Index 3
Tease Tomato Salsa – Heat Index 5
Insanity Hot Tomato Salsa – Heat Index 8
I Dare You Wickedly Hot Salsa – Heat Index “Skull and Crossbones”

Deception Salsa is apparently reserving the missing Heat Index numbers for future products. We’re looking forward to them.

Deception Salsa “Tease” – Heat Index 5

We’re starting this series of Deception Salsa reviews right in the middle of the pack, with their Tease Tomato Salsa. With a heat index of 5, and my personal favorite of the bunch, it’s a great middle of the road salsa to begin with.

Our salsa’s start out with a sweet note and then, about 10-20 seconds later, the heat comes up. It’s this deceiving flavor that sets our salsas in a league of their own.

Ingredients: tomato, onion, sugar, green bell pepper, jalapeño pepper, red hot cherry pepper, habanero pepper, white distilled vinegar, chili powder, black pepper, cumin, citric acid, garlic – 12 oz wide mouth jar.

I love this texture – almost like a relish

Texture & Appearance: – This bright green salsa is of a medium grind, with an overall consistent chunkiness to it. It looks like a relish and I love the texture.

Taste Straight Up: – Big fresh flavors up front, with lots of sweetness. The sugar and natural sweetness from the cherry peppers is front and center. Then the heat kicks in followed by a mild smokiness from the cumin and chili powder.

Heat Level: – I enjoyed the sweetness first, and then the tomato and onion flavors. Finally, the pungent pepper flavors come in finishing up with a full mouth of medium heat from the jalapeño and habanero peppers. This is a true “medium” heat level salsa.

Label/Graphics: – Simple graphics adorn all of the Deception Salsa bottles, with a nice burnt-orange background. I’m a sucker for the font they use (it shows up everywhere on the ‘net from BBQ to Southwestern to cowboys-ropin’-in-doggies sites) and I think it’s solid. The label tells you what salsa, what heat, and that’s all you need. Great looking jars.

Chips and salsa – perfect.

Overall Rating (Taste on Food, Final Thoughts): – It’s a salsa. Delicious on chips, I could eat a whole jar in one or two sittings. I also had some on a cheese omelette that really brightened up the egg.

Great on omelettes too

I simply can’t say enough about this salsa and how much I enjoyed it. I can’t wait to dive into the other flavors.

Other Deception Salsa reviews:

This is the first in a series of the Deception Salsa reviews.
Be sure and check out our reviews of their other salsas: Girly Girl, Entice, Insanity and I Dare You, as they are posted.

Visit http://www.deceptionsalsa.com to get your hands on some of these great salsas.

Disclaimer: We purchased this product for our own personal use and review purposes. No compensation was received. The thoughts and opinions expressed are our own.

Slavo Salt Gourmet Seasoning review

by Brian Meagher : 06/20/2013

The Original Slavo Salt Gourmet Seasoning is a nice blend of garlic, Kosher salt and pepper. Sounds simple, right? It is. And in its simplicity lies its flavor. And the odd name comes from the nickname of the creator, Michael “Slavo” Stephens.

Slavo Salt Gourmet Seasoning

This “all purpose” seasoning is made with “all natural ingredients” and “no additives or preservatives”. And with a heavy dose of garlic and pepper, I was anxious to try this unusually named seasoning.

[Read more…]

Review of Hell Flakes – from Todd Wilbur’s Top Secret Recipes

by Brian Meagher : 03/21/2013

Hell Flakes is the latest seasoning from the kitchens of Todd Wilbur’s Top Secret Recipes. It’s a “fiery five-pepper blend that starts sweet and finishes hot.”

Don’t let the name HELL FLAKES scare you. What we have here is a flavorful and inventive blend of dried chile pods that you can shake onto any food to spice things up. Think crushed red pepper times 5 – five flavors that is.

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