Gindo’s Hot Sauce – Original Fresh And Spicy Review

Holy habanero, I found a hot sauce I want to drink!

Gindo’s Original is a fresh sauce, with crisp bell peppers, a tang of vinegar, and a mild habanero kick. This sauce is a real winner in my book, simply by how fresh it tastes. The amazing pepper flavor in this hot sauce keeps you pouring. The three (count ‘em) different salts used in this sauce add such an amazing taste and round out the heat in a lovely way. Let’s take a look at what makes Gindo’s Original tick.

Flavor:

If you’re a “flavor-first” type of hot sauce eater, then Gindo’s Original is your new best friend. The ingredients list is simple, and it belies a surprising amount of depth: sweet red bell pepper, distilled vinegar, water, habanero pepper, alaea salt, pink Himalayan salt, black lava salt, organic cane sugar, ground peppercorns, and xantham gum.

Those sweet red bell peppers provide a garden-fresh flavor on the first bite with a nice level of vinegar tang and salt – not overwhelming, to us a perfect amount. Then comes the mild kick provided by habanero. It’s just the right amount of low heat to have you coming back for more.

There’s also an undertone of sweetness through it all – not just from the cane sugar in the recipe, but also the use of mature red bells. Their natural sweetness is perfect here.

There’s a crazy amount of salt types here. And that actually is an interesting nuance to the flavor depth. Both alaea salt and black lava salt have a natural earthiness to their flavor profiles. It’s not intense and not a major flavor component here, but it all adds to the layers within the flavor.

Heat Balance:

Habanero is the chili pepper of choice here, but don’t expect intense heat. It’s tempered well down to a much milder heat. That’s all good as the habaneros add a nice natural sweetness here and Gindo’s doesn’t go promoting habanero (by word) on the label. There isn’t an expectation of extra-hot hab heat, so the balance is perfectly matched for a gourmet flavor experience.

Really you don’t have to be cautious with this sauce at all. I used about seven tablespoons on my burrito and it was the best burrito of my life. The only heat that lingered was slightly on my tongue, but it wasn’t overwhelming.

Usability:

You can literally use this on everything! I love it on eggs and I can imagine it being great out a lot of different breakfast foods. I tried this in a Bloody Mary, and it gave it just the right amount of flavor and spice. I also added this to my weekly pizza and it was a real winner there as well. In fact, it really brought out the flavors in the marinara.

The bottle is made of thick glass that I’m pretty sure would survive an accidental drop. It has some weight to it which adds to the gourmet feel of the sauce overall. The spout is the size of a pinky, which is great because you’ll want to pour this out… and quickly. It’s a thicker sauce so it doesn’t pour out as fast as I’d like, but I think they’re just doing me a favor so I don’t run out in two days.

Collectibility:

The label on Gindo’s Original Fresh and Spicy has a classic, fresh feel to it. It reads gourmet from across the room. I like their pictures of the red bell peppers with the habaneros, that highlight exactly the fresh taste you’re about to enjoy. Between that and the quality bottle (totally reusable for your own homemade sauces), it’s a good looking hot sauce. This is collectible for quality, not collectible for shock and awe like more extreme sauce.

And you may need a few bottles of Gindo’s Original in that collection at any time if you eat it the way I am. You’ll probably go through one of those bottles in seven to ten days. Yes, it’s that good.

The Score:

Gindo’s Hot Sauce – Original Fresh and Spicy is a delicious gourmet experience. There’s lots of depth here, plus it’s very versatile for uses. (Amazon)