Bitter: ⭐⭐✰✰✰
Salty: ⭐✰✰✰✰
Sour/Tangy: ⭐⭐⭐✰✰
Sweet: ⭐⭐✰✰✰
Umami: ⭐⭐✰✰✰
Heat: ⭐⭐⭐✰✰✰✰✰✰✰
Quick Flavor Notes: Citrus, garlic, fruity, smoky, earthy
Recommended: Yes
Texture: Medium-thick, some nice chunks, semi-emulsified
Ingredients: Habanero, Peppers, White Vinegar, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Garlic, Sugars (maple syrup), 7-Pot Mash (peppers, vinegar), Grapefruit Juice, Dried Goji Berries, Blood Orange Juice, Sea Salt.
Heat Hot Sauce has been one of my favorite places to buy hot sauces from a variety of different sauce makers. Not only do they have a very nice selection with good prices and cheap shipping, they’ve created their own lines of sauces and seasonings many of which are great. I’ve been an especially big fan of their Dragon’s Breath and Habanero Umami seasonings. This sauce is a collaboration between the California based Heat Hot Sauce and Ontario, Canada based Dawson’s Hot Sauce. Blending habaneros and 7 Pot Primo peppers, one of my favorite super-hots, with a variety of citrus and other exotic ingredients I was excited to give this a try.
Sunny Citrus Habanero Reserve Edition begins with, as the label suggest, habanero peppers. Combined with vinegar and some extra virgin olive oil this sauce has a somewhat emulsified texture. Backing up the heat from the habaneros are 7 Pot peppers. Originally from Trinidad and related to the Trinidad Scorpion pepper I’ve found the flavor of 7 Pots to be superior, having less of the astringent nasal floral notes that the scorpion can have, and instead having a great mix of fruity notes and smoky earthy flavors. Sunny Citrus is sweetened both by maple syrup (from a Canadian brand this makes sense) and citrus with blood orange and grapefruit. A unique ingredient are goji berries. Native to China and being full of antioxidants gojis are considered a superfood and have a sweet-tart taste some liken to a combination of cranberries and cherries. I’ve only seen them included in a hot sauce once before with Bunster’s Shit the Bed (which also contained a lot of citrus). Despite all of the citrus in this sauce I didn’t pick it up in the aroma, which instead is very pepper forward. Texturally this sauce has some nice pepper chunks (and perhaps goji berry chunks as well) and is mostly emulsified as I mentioned before but also on the thicker side of medium.
While the citrus doesn’t come through in the aroma it does come through strongly in the flavor. I’ve been on somewhat of a kick with blood and red oranges lately as Publix has had bags of them on sale recently. They have a more complex flavor that traditional oranges – tangier and with a deeper richer flavor instead of just bright sweetness. I’ve also always loved grapefruit so the combination of the sour grapefruit and the rich blood orange juice gives this sauce a tangy sour fruity citrus flavor and brightness that goes beyond the simple syrupy sweetness you get from something like mandarins. The goji berries also bring a tartness to this sauce that’s perfect with the citrus flavor. It’s similar to a cranberry sauce with orange zest but much less sweet and less intense. Since habaneros are naturally fruity as well they’re a perfect match with the citrus and gojis, bridging the cap between the vegetal pepper flavor and the fruity pepper flavor. Despite all of the citrus and the maple syrup this sauce isn’t overwhelmingly sweet. The garlic and the earthier burnt smoke flavor elements of the 7 Pots give Heat Hot Sauce Sunny Citrus Habanero Reserve Edition a savory foundation that balances out the fruit and the brightness. In terms of heat this is the mildest 7 Pot hot sauce that I’ve yet tried. While Exhoressco and Swampadelic have amazing flavor they’re also so intense in heat they’re not every-day sauces. Sunny Citrus Reserve, on the other hand, manages to bring that great 7 Pot flavor to bear with a medium heat that can be used liberally when you don’t want to burn your mouth up.
My first thought after trying this sauce was that it would be amazing on seafood and, luckily for me, I have a freezer stuffed full of frozen shrimp right now. A quick sauté later this sauce does indeed match perfectly with shrimp, the bright citrusy fruity sweetness is a great match with seafood. This is also great for breakfast. It has enough heat to give a kick first thing in the morning but not enough to make you regret it as a choice. The sweetness seems to be more prominent with the first meal of the day, but this is great on fried ham steak and eggs. Finally I enjoyed this with pizza. While citrusy wouldn’t be my first thought of a flavor profile match with pizza it works surprisingly well and seems to bring out some of the fruitier notes of the tomato sauce as well. The only place I didn’t really care for this was with Mexican food, though I imagine it would probably work well with fish or shrimp tacos.
Heat Hot Sauce Shop Sunny Citrus Habanero Reserve Edition gets my recommendation. If you’re a fan of citrusy flavors and would like something more complex than a basic habanero mango or habanero orange sauce this one is for you. It does seem to be sold out at the moment but hopefully Heat Hot Sauce restocks soon. This sauce is also all natural with no artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, or thickeners.
by MagnusAlbusPater
2 Comments
Bitter: ⭐⭐✰✰✰
Salty: ⭐✰✰✰✰
Sour/Tangy: ⭐⭐⭐✰✰
Sweet: ⭐⭐✰✰✰
Umami: ⭐⭐✰✰✰
Heat: ⭐⭐⭐✰✰✰✰✰✰✰
Quick Flavor Notes: Citrus, garlic, fruity, smoky, earthy
Recommended: Yes
Texture: Medium-thick, some nice chunks, semi-emulsified
Ingredients: Habanero, Peppers, White Vinegar, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Garlic, Sugars (maple syrup), 7-Pot Mash (peppers, vinegar), Grapefruit Juice, Dried Goji Berries, Blood Orange Juice, Sea Salt.
Heat Hot Sauce has been one of my favorite places to buy hot sauces from a variety of different sauce makers. Not only do they have a very nice selection with good prices and cheap shipping, they’ve created their own lines of sauces and seasonings many of which are great. I’ve been an especially big fan of their Dragon’s Breath and Habanero Umami seasonings. This sauce is a collaboration between the California based Heat Hot Sauce and Ontario, Canada based Dawson’s Hot Sauce. Blending habaneros and 7 Pot Primo peppers, one of my favorite super-hots, with a variety of citrus and other exotic ingredients I was excited to give this a try.
Sunny Citrus Habanero Reserve Edition begins with, as the label suggest, habanero peppers. Combined with vinegar and some extra virgin olive oil this sauce has a somewhat emulsified texture. Backing up the heat from the habaneros are 7 Pot peppers. Originally from Trinidad and related to the Trinidad Scorpion pepper I’ve found the flavor of 7 Pots to be superior, having less of the astringent nasal floral notes that the scorpion can have, and instead having a great mix of fruity notes and smoky earthy flavors. Sunny Citrus is sweetened both by maple syrup (from a Canadian brand this makes sense) and citrus with blood orange and grapefruit. A unique ingredient are goji berries. Native to China and being full of antioxidants gojis are considered a superfood and have a sweet-tart taste some liken to a combination of cranberries and cherries. I’ve only seen them included in a hot sauce once before with Bunster’s Shit the Bed (which also contained a lot of citrus). Despite all of the citrus in this sauce I didn’t pick it up in the aroma, which instead is very pepper forward. Texturally this sauce has some nice pepper chunks (and perhaps goji berry chunks as well) and is mostly emulsified as I mentioned before but also on the thicker side of medium.
While the citrus doesn’t come through in the aroma it does come through strongly in the flavor. I’ve been on somewhat of a kick with blood and red oranges lately as Publix has had bags of them on sale recently. They have a more complex flavor that traditional oranges – tangier and with a deeper richer flavor instead of just bright sweetness. I’ve also always loved grapefruit so the combination of the sour grapefruit and the rich blood orange juice gives this sauce a tangy sour fruity citrus flavor and brightness that goes beyond the simple syrupy sweetness you get from something like mandarins. The goji berries also bring a tartness to this sauce that’s perfect with the citrus flavor. It’s similar to a cranberry sauce with orange zest but much less sweet and less intense. Since habaneros are naturally fruity as well they’re a perfect match with the citrus and gojis, bridging the cap between the vegetal pepper flavor and the fruity pepper flavor. Despite all of the citrus and the maple syrup this sauce isn’t overwhelmingly sweet. The garlic and the earthier burnt smoke flavor elements of the 7 Pots give Heat Hot Sauce Sunny Citrus Habanero Reserve Edition a savory foundation that balances out the fruit and the brightness. In terms of heat this is the mildest 7 Pot hot sauce that I’ve yet tried. While Exhoressco and Swampadelic have amazing flavor they’re also so intense in heat they’re not every-day sauces. Sunny Citrus Reserve, on the other hand, manages to bring that great 7 Pot flavor to bear with a medium heat that can be used liberally when you don’t want to burn your mouth up.
My first thought after trying this sauce was that it would be amazing on seafood and, luckily for me, I have a freezer stuffed full of frozen shrimp right now. A quick sauté later this sauce does indeed match perfectly with shrimp, the bright citrusy fruity sweetness is a great match with seafood. This is also great for breakfast. It has enough heat to give a kick first thing in the morning but not enough to make you regret it as a choice. The sweetness seems to be more prominent with the first meal of the day, but this is great on fried ham steak and eggs. Finally I enjoyed this with pizza. While citrusy wouldn’t be my first thought of a flavor profile match with pizza it works surprisingly well and seems to bring out some of the fruitier notes of the tomato sauce as well. The only place I didn’t really care for this was with Mexican food, though I imagine it would probably work well with fish or shrimp tacos.
Heat Hot Sauce Shop Sunny Citrus Habanero Reserve Edition gets my recommendation. If you’re a fan of citrusy flavors and would like something more complex than a basic habanero mango or habanero orange sauce this one is for you. It does seem to be sold out at the moment but hopefully Heat Hot Sauce restocks soon. This sauce is also all natural with no artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, or thickeners.
Have you tried their curry fennel hot sauce? Easily one of my favorites. I always try new sauces there, but that one always makes it into my order