REVIEW: Strawberry Scorpion Sting, by Red Hawk Premium Peppers

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Ingredients: Strawberries, hot peppers (Trinidad Scorpion & habanero type peppers), apple juice, sugar, sweet onion, vanilla, citric acid, corn starch.

And now for one of the most creative hot sauces out there: Strawberry Scorpion Sting, made by Red Hawk Premium Peppers.

Red Hawk is a company out of Spring Mills, PA, that’s making some really unique hot sauces and other chili products, combining unexpected ingredients in innovative ways. The company was founded by a guy who had been growing his own chilies for a decade and decided that it was time to start selling some. They’re also committed to environmental sustainability, using small-scale, organic agriculture to produce all-natural and wholesome products. So, I was excited to get my hands on a bottle of Strawberry Scorpion Sting.

The sauce definitely lived up to my expectations – in perhaps unexpected ways.

I mean, did you see the ingredient list above? Pretty cool, right? Notably, even though there’s no vinegar in there, the pH of the sauce is actually lower than most vinegar-based sauces due to all of the citric acid.

The packaging is very basic. And although the graphic design on the label could use some work, I like the idea of the scorpion with a strawberry for a tail.

The texture is very thin, almost watery at room temperature, with strawberry seeds and very fine bits of flesh from the berries and chilies adding just a little bit of body. It thickens up a bit and gets a little more syrupy when refrigerated, which I preferred. It has a better mouth-feel and a better pour that way. So even though the sauce has a low pH and should be shelf-stable for a good while when opened – and even though I hate refrigerating hot sauces in general – I recommend refrigerating this one for best results.

The sauce has a very distinctive aroma. And it caught me a bit off guard in what turned out to be a good way, after a few sniffs. It smells like strawberries and caramelized sweet onions with a hint of unidentifiable chilies. I think the scent of onion is what surprised me the most.

The sauce isn’t as hot as I expected to be. I think this is for two reasons: 1. the amount of sweet/sugary ingredients, which tend to zap a lot of heat, and 2. those Trinidad Scorpions must not be a high percentage of the “hot peppers” here. I had a spoonful but didn’t get the hiccups – nor any sweat, drool, snot, or tears. That’s not to say that the sauce is mild. It’s definitely pretty warm, but the heat peaks quickly, after 30 seconds or so, and subsides into a smooth burn that lasts for a few minutes. While it’s probably hotter than average folks may be used to, I think they’d find it to be quite usable.

I can’t say enough good things about the flavor of this sauce. The flavor is very complex and takes about 10 seconds to fully develop. Again, there’s a caramelized onion undertone, and there’s a hint of vanilla. But at base, it tastes like someone juiced the chilies and mixed that juice with fresh strawberry puree. The flavor was so good, I took another spoonful.

The sauce is also much more versatile than I thought it would be. The ingredients might lead you to believe that this is a dessert sauce, and indeed I think it would be nice drizzled over vanilla ice cream, but it works with savory dishes as well. I had it with several meals in the days after I recorded the video review, and it was great with the majority of applications. Notably, I had it with a tofu, seitan and spinach quiche, and I would definitely recommend it with any kind of savory pie. A warm, flaky crust benefits greatly from this sauce.

Finally, I’ll note that Red Hawk’s products are very reasonably priced, this sauce included.

Bottom line: Strawberry Scorpion Sting is a creative sauce that I highly recommend. There’s enough piquancy to satisfy chiliheads and other heat-seekers, but that’s not at all the focus of this sauce. This is a sauce with a complex flavor: dominated by strawberries, sweet onions, and habanero-type chilies. Delicious in its own right, it works well as a dessert sauce (as a spicy strawberry syrup) and as a complement to a surprising array of savory dishes.

REVIEW: Zombie Apocalypse, by Torchbearer Sauces

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Ingredients: Bhut Jolokia Peppers, Habanero Peppers, Carrot, Mandarin Orange, Tomatoes, Distilled White Vinegar, Vegetable Oil, Garlic, Sugar, and other all natural spices.

Torchbearer Sauces from Mechanicsburg, PA, has to be the best-looking sauce company out there right now. Whoever does their branding and graphic design is a gold mine. When I walked by their booth at the Bowers Chile Pepper Festival last year, I was immediately drawn in by the hip-but-homey vibe and quirky aesthetic that they’re cultivating. So I talked to the nice folks at the booth for a minute and picked up a few of their sauces, including Zombie Apocalypse.

First of all, the label for this sauce is fantastic. And it’s made even cooler by the fact that the zombies on the front are cartoon renderings of the guys who own the company. From the image, it’s clear that these zombies prefer a big vat of face-melting hot sauce instead of the flesh of the living. I can relate! Add to that the fact that this sauce combines two things that I love – chilies and Halloween – and my hopes for this product went through the roof!

The color is beautiful: bright orange overall with dark flecks of spices and deep red flecks of what must be bhut jolokia (“ghost pepper”) skin.

The sauce smells wonderful. The best word to describe it is “fresh.” It smells like someone cut open a fresh habanero and a fresh bhut jolokia and stuck them under your nose – or about as close to that as you can come with a bottled sauce. But there’s also something in there that’s smoothing out the aroma, taking away the sharpness of the bhuts. You just want to keep smelling it.

The texture is very thick, like chilies and carrots coarsely pureed with a small amount of liquid. While it’s not at all sticky (there’s not enough sugar in there for that), it has a nice stick-to-your-food consistency. This also means that the sauce doesn’t pour easily. It’s a hit-the-neck-of-the-bottle sort of deal. If you’re taking a spoonful of it, some chewing is necessary.

The heat hits you pretty much immediately. There isn’t a slow build. It’s like rounding a corner in a post-apocalyptic, zombie-infested urban area and coming upon a herd: “Oh shit.” But aren’t we all kind of excited about that? … This is a very hot sauce. I got a solid burn that enveloped my entire mouth but peaked rather quickly – after only a couple of minutes – and developed into a pleasantly intense afterglow.

This sauce tastes like fresh chilies. So basically, it tastes like it smells. And the flavor is pretty typical of bhut jolokia-based sauces. There isn’t much of a vinegar taste at all. In fact, I couldn’t really taste any of the other ingredients. I was pretty surprised by this, having expected the mandarin oranges and tomatoes to figure more prominently. I couldn’t specifically detect any garlic. Flavor-wise, the other ingredients seem to only serve the purpose of rounding out the sauce with a certain “je ne sais quois.” While I can’t pick out the flavor of the carrots, I can see and feel their texture adding body to the sauce.

It’s worth noting that for Zombie Apocalypse, Torchbearer uses chilies that are locally-grown in Pennsylvania. So it’s nice to have a sauce that features those chilies right up front.

Finally, a word about the price: At $20 a bottle, Zombie Apocalypse is pretty steep. But Torchbearer has produced a quality product, and they seem like a company that’s worth supporting. So I’ll let it slide.

Bottom line: Zombie Apocalypse smells and tastes fresh. It’s a thick, coarsely pureed sauce that features the chilies right up front. It’s hot as hell. And with the beautiful orange color of the sauce and the hip label, it’ll look great in your hot sauce collection. It’s a little expensive, but I’m willing to pay for the quality.