Datil hot sauces are often known for their sweetness. And that’s certainly true in spades for Minorcan Mike’s Datil Pepper Sauce. It’s a “sweet heat” sauce at its core, but there’s a tasty catch with Minorcan Mike’s…it finishes with a heck of a lot more than simply sweet. There’s a garlicky and earthy tail-end to its taste that adds real delicious depth to this sauce. You’ll reach for it for everything from seafood to BBQ.
The flavor: More than sweet heat
Given the complexity of this hot sauce’s finish, it’s no surprise there’s a decently sized ingredients list behind this hot sauce. Certainly Minorcan Mike’s is sweet and lightly tangy, with the likes of honey and brown sugar taking predominant ingredient positions right behind its ketchup base and fruity concentrates of lemon and apple in the mix. The datil pepper heat comes quickly after the sweetness, and the pepper’s natural fruitiness really shines here. It’s immediate sweet/tangy flavor and heat is much like another datil pepper hot sauce: Dat’l Do It Hot Sauce.
But it’s the finish that really sets Minorcan Mike’s Datil Pepper Sauce apart from competitors. The Worcestershire sauce and garlic give this sauce an earthy and garlicky finish. It’s more than an undertone -the sauce really leans into it, tempering the sweetness and providing a real depth of flavor. It’s almost like a touch of Sriracha sauce – with its garlicky earthiness – is introduced into the flavor mix as you experience Minorcan Mike’s.
The heat: Upper end of family-friendly
Datil peppers are hot. They’re the same heat as their cousins, the habanero or scotch bonnet – 100,000 to 350,000 Scoville heat units, making it 12 to 120 times hotter than a jalapeño pepper.
That said, this intense heat is well-diluted in Minorcan Mike’s Hot Sauce. It’s much hotter than your typical Sriracha or Tabasco hot sauce, but anyone who enjoys even moderate spiciness can enjoy this sauce.
Usability: As a dipper, drizzler, and marinade sauce
You may be thinking “It’s a sweet hot sauce, how usable can it be?” But you’d be surprised how often Minorcan Mike’s can fit into your daily meals. It’s not a thin vinegar dasher-type hot sauce that can act as an everyday condiment in the kitchen, but when you think of it more like a dipper or cooking marinade, there’s a lot of culinary opportunity here.
Minorcan Mike’s will pair well with many seafood dishes. It can act as a more complex alternative to cocktail sauce for grilled and fried shrimp, oysters, and other shellfish. It’ll also work with grilled meats, especially grilled pork to provide a sweet punch to barbecue. It’s also great on scrambled and fried eggs for a little breakfast sweet heat.
Overall: Unexpected depth
This is a very tasty sweet hot sauce – with much more depth than you may expect – providing heat at the upper edge of family-friendly. You can learn more about it (and order a few bottles for yourself) over at Minorcan Mike’s website. Enjoy the sweet heat!