Can you experience schadenfreude on your own self?
That’s the first question we thought of when we tried Schadenfreude by JAR Hot Sauce. We took serious pleasure it the spicy pain it brought. It does drop the extreme heat hammer, quite quickly in fact. But the sauce’s smoky tang stands up well to the otherworldly spice, so there’s still a lot of flavor here to enjoy.
First, what is schadenfreude?
This is a big word to use for a hot sauce name, but its definition is certainly fitting. Schadenfreude is the satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else’s misfortune. It’s a German word and that’s simple to see when you break down its parts: Schaden meaning “harm” in German and Freude meaning “joy”.
Yeah, when you break it down, it’s an excellent descriptor for an extreme heat hot sauce.
The Heat: Schadenfreude Hot Sauce lives up to its name.
There’s one serious hit to the taste buds here. Schadenfreude hot sauce uses a mix of chilies: the super-hot ghost pepper, the very-hot habanero pepper, and the medium-heat jalapeño. If that wasn’t already enough to warrant the pleasure/pain moniker, JAR Hot Sauce dashes in some chili pepper extract that’s marked at 1,000,000 Scoville heat units.
The spiciness comes on surprisingly fast. The high heat ghost pepper typically is a slower burn, so this is likely due to the pure chili pepper extract used. It’s jarring (no pun intended), but in a good way because underneath there’s a whole lot of flavor bubbling up.
The Flavor: It’s surprisingly tasty, especially if you love smoky sauces.
We’ll be honest, with the fast first kick of this extreme -heat hot sauce we immediately assumed this was going to be an all heat, no flavor experience. We were certainly wrong. There’s a lot simmering underneath the immediate spiciness – enough big flavors to pair up well to the big spice. You’re first hit with the smokiness and it lingers for a good amount of time before the tang from the cider vinegar wraps things up.
What surprised us on the label is the first ingredient named is Teeccino – the herbal coffee alternative. We’ve never seen that in a hot sauce before. Chicory root is often an ingredient in Teeccino flavor varieties, so we’re thinking the smokiness of Schadenfreude is really enhanced through the Teeccino as well as the Worcestershire sauce used.
Usability: Schadenfreude is for extreme eaters…novice taste buds steer clear.
The extreme heat does limit Schadenfreude’s overall usability. You won’t go reaching for this as a daily driver hot sauce. But as an extreme marinade for steaks and chicken or as a topper to burgers, Schadenfreude, due to its strong smoky flavors, is a terrific choice. We tried it on steak nachos, and it was terrific.
It should, of course, be noted that those with moderate tastes should not go here. Schadenfreude is wicked hot.
Overall:
There’s a lot to like in Schadenfreude for those that love super-hot sauces, and we appreciate the use of unique ingredients like Teeccino. If you love smoky hot sauces and take pleasure in the pain of extreme chilies, you should give Schadenfreude a go. It’s a super-hot sauce that delivers on flavor too. See JAR Hot Sauce’s website to order.