Xerarchs Very Verde Green Sauce Review

In the world of gourmet, artisan-made hot sauces, you’ll find everything from jalapeño and habanero to the mouth numbing heat of the ghost chile and Trinidad Scorpion based sauces. And that super-hot trend continues, but lately, more and more companies are trying their hand at the relatively milder and very traditional chile flavor of Hatch Green Chiles, or New Mexico Green Chiles.

Next up is the newest release from the house of Xerarch’s Salsa and Spices – it’s their Very Verde Green Sauce. Notice they don’t call it a hot sauce? That’s because, and I’ll quote their label here:

“…because this mild sauce was designed not to burn, but to allow the true flavors of Hatch Green Chile and jalapeños to work together…”

What you end up with is a thick, chunky, bright green sauce that is perfect for any eggs (huevos rancheros anyone?), a bowl of chile, nachos out the ying-yang, tacos and burritos… this mild green sauce just works everywhere. Except pizza. I like to see red color (and flavor – red is a flavor, right?) in my sauces for pizza.

Ingredients: jalapeño slices (jalapeño, water, vinegar, salts, calcium chloride, garlic powder, spices), green chile, honey, lemon juice (lemon juice from concentrate (water, concentrated lemon juice), sodium benzoate, sodium metabisulfite, sodium sulfite (preservatives), lemon oil, black pepper, salt, granulated garlic

Aroma & Taste: – First up is the aroma of fresh, fire-roasted green chiles. Authentic Hatch New Mexican Chiles have a pungent aroma and taste that is like no other mild green chile. When you taste this sauce, you will enjoy those fire-roasted chiles – quickly followed by the mild heat of jalapeños. Oddly, the honey and lemon juice don’t seem to be big players here, rather they are supporting players that just help round out the flavor and balanced taste of this sauce.

Texture & Appearance: This stuff is THICK! Think relish thick. It takes some shaking to get it out of the bottle. I hope Xerarch’s finds a way to thin it down just a bit – to make it a more pourable sauce as opposed to how it currently glops out of the bottle.

Heat Level: – Very mild heat here – this sauce is all about the green chile flavor, not the heat. A nice change of pace for a sauce you would eat on the above mentioned foods.

Label/Graphics: You can’t get much simpler than this. I love the label. I would reach up to the shelf at a store and grab 2 of these based on the simplicity alone. Kudos to Xerarch’s for the balls to create a label that is what it is, and simple is better when the design just works.

Overall Rating (Taste on Food, Final Thoughts): – There’s not a lot of heat going on here, but it tastes great on egg dishes, chili, nachos, tacos – this is a good sauce that makes the best use of the New Mexican green chile. I wish it was a thinner sauce, but it does bring on some decent flavor once you coax it out of the bottle.

Get yourself at least 2 bottles of this sauce, it tends to go fast. You can purchase Xerarch’s Very Verde Green Sauce here, and be sure to check out all of Xerarch’s other sauces, salsas and spices at http://xerarchs.com/

~Enjoy!