It’s been a while since I have conducted a product review and looking at my shelf of awaiting items I figured tonight was as good a night as any to get one more done.Initial Impression: This looks like your typical hot sauce, and while I can’t say that any one thing jumps out at me and says “I’m special, eat me”, there is also nothing fundamentally wrong with the first glance of this hot sauce.
Ingredients: Habanero, Serrano and Red Peppers, Carrots, Onions, Garlic, Citrus Juice, Spices, and Salt. This ingredient list checks out A-OK with me. All natural, no preservatives, and peppers are the first ingredient in this list, what more could you want?
Appearance: A nice looking, reddish sauce with bits of black pepper and chili pepper skin. MOJO Hot Sauce has a thick appearance that coats the inside of the bottle so I was a little surprised to see that under the cap is one of those little plastic orifice restrictors. Getting this nice thick sauce out of the bottle was a pain with the plastic doohickey in place. Pull it off and throw it out.
Aroma: Ohh yeah. This is a really great smelling sauce. When I first uncap the bottle and take a healthy snort I get the aroma of toasted cumin and chili powder. The next to hit your nose is garlic and some smoky elements. It makes my mouth water.
Taste: The very first flavor to hit me is a citrus tang. I initially thought vinegar, but there is none in the ingredient list. Further tasting leads me to think lime juice. The sudden heat of the Habanero and Serrano chilies come next. The heat is short lived and does not ever actually get to a nice searing hot level. This is a medium heat at best, but this is a nice heat level for this sauce and it feels well balanced.
The Food Test: This sauce paired perfectly with tonight’s meal! Since the label says it works well with Caribbean dishes I figured the Cuban Sandwich Wraps we made would be a match made in heaven. All I can say is YES; the sauce IS a perfect match! The richness of the pork is cut by the acidity of the citrus juice in the sauce and the flavor of the spices elevates this sandwich. The MOJO Sauce could use a bit more heat as a good amount of it is lost to the food. I used a quarter of the bottle on my sandwich.Conclusion: Thick and tangy this hot sauce is a pleasure to eat. It doesn’t have a pile of heat but it’s enough for a regular dose of flavor so you can splash it on liberally without hurting yourself. I think I’ll bring this sauce to our local Cuban restaurant to test drive it some more.
Packaging 7/10 – Typical Hot Sauce
Aroma 9/10 – Fragrant and Enticing
Appearance 9/10 – Thick with Bits
Taste 9/10 – Tangy, Complex & Spicy
Heat 6/10 –Medium, Short Lived
Overall 8/10
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