Thursday, March 19, 2009

Review: Dave's Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce

So Hot It’s Spooky! That’s the catch phrase pasted across the top of the Dave’s Gourmet Ghost Pepper Sauce. You would think that would have been enough to have me steer clear of this torturous elixir. But something drew me in, something eerie and unexplainable. Perhaps it was the lost souls whom have succumbed to the ghost pepper itself?

Initial Impression: FEAR! While I ain’t ‘fraid of no ghost, I am afraid of the ghost pepper or Bhut Jolokia as it is known is the Tezpur region of India. This big daddy of hot pepper sauces looks harmless while trapped in its bottle, but even it slightly pinkish hue reminds me that something is wrong here!

Ingredients: Ghost pepper/Naga Jolokia peppers, hot pepper extract, salt, vegetable oil, roasted garlic pulp, acetic acid.

Extract??? Dave, are you trying to say that 1 million Scoville units of tongue blistering heat is not enough? This is a truly sadistic endevour!

Appearance: This is a very smooth reddish sauce with a slight pink hue. Upon closer inspection you can see tiny red globules of chile extract forming in the neck of the bottle, it’s hard to keep that extract in suspension so you had better shake this well before you use it!

Aroma: Wow. This is a really great smelling sauce. When I first uncap the bottle and take a slow smooth smell It makes my mouth water. The Jolokia peppers have super sweet melon like aroma. It is slightly smoky and has a little twang on the nostrils, something you would expect from vinegar. Interestingly, the is no vinegar in this sauce.

Taste: The very first flavor to hit me is uhhmm PAIN, no wait it’s sweet and smoky and you can actually taste the garlic in the back for a second, then the PAIN! Wow, this is some hot stuff! Interestingly enough you go from a few seconds of pain to completely numb. My gums are still tingling, but I guess the endorphins have kicked in and blocked the pain cuz’ it’s gone. I think this is actually one of the best tasting super hots I have tasted. The bitter extract taste is not present in this sauce as in other super hots. I think I can find a few uses for this super hot sauce.

The Food Test: Are you kidding? The food test is everything I eat until the fire in my face goes away.

Conclusion: This one is a doozy! I love the fragrant aroma and the smoky melon like flavor. This has more than enough heat for the serious Chile-head and is almost forgiving enough for a supervised beginner to bungee jump their tongue. Have your cream cheese or ice-cream ghost buster nearby just in case you need a rescue party. Who you gonna call?

Packaging 9/10 – Typical DG Packaging
Aroma 9/10 – Fragrant and Enticing
Appearance 9/10 – Thick and pinkish
Taste 9/10 – Smoky Melon Pain
Heat 10/10 – Respect the Ghost

Overall 9/10

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Acetic acid is an organic acid which gives vinegar its sour taste and pungent smell.

CastIronStomach said...

acetic acid is vinegar is acetic acid- actually vinegar is 95% water and 5% acetic acid.

RoJo's Gourmet Blog said...

I stand corrected! In fact I may have been slightly incapacitated by the Ghost Pepper to have completely overlooked your astute observation. I use this ingredient quite often in manufacturing and simply not reading the word vinegar on the label compounded with the searing pain in my mouth seemed to have rendered me semi-literate!

Unknown said...

Great review. I am a fan of Dave's Insanity and appreciate the sweet(er) and hotter nature of this sauce as compared to the original. I expect it to be more versatile (just got my bottle for Christmas), but I will still keep a bottle of Original in my fridge. I have tried it on cheese, french fries, onion rings, and pizza so far... All GOOD!

Anonymous said...

great review an I agree with everything you experienced as I just bought a bottle! a tiny drop smeared over chicken and then done in a crockpot is amazing!

Anonymous said...

Tried this last night on some french fries, WOW! It was the best hot sauce I have ever had (and by far the hottest). Eyes and nose was running like a train the real heat only lasted a few minutes, then the good taste came through.