Review - Intensity Academy Garlic Goodness
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What are your personal holidays? Well, it's always a festive day around Casa Del Roberts whenever a new Intensity Academy product arrives in the mail. Thus far, they've had a pretty spotless record when it comes to creating great tasting sauces, whether it be their Chai Thai Teriyaki sauce, their Chai Chipotle Chup ketchup, or the Hot Cubed, the last of which I recently declared one of my favorite hot sauces of all time. Will this new spicy offering, dubbed Garlic Goodness, continue this impressively good streak or fall flat on its face? Anticipation is high, so let's get to the review...
Ingredients:
Garlic, red bell pepper, red wine vinegar, onion, habanero pepper, Thai peppers, kosher salt, black pepper, natural smoke flavor.
Aroma:
3 out of 5. A whiff reveals a strong onion and garlic presence, with what smells like a supporting role from tomatoes - which, coincidentally, are not in this sauce.
Appearance and Texture:
3 out of 5. Carrots have been the "trademark" vegetable used in Intensity Academy hot sauces. Even though Garlic Goodness contains no carrots, if anything looked like pureed carrots, this would be it. The consistency's medium-thick and the texture is dotted with black pepper flakes and the occasional, tiny piece of red pepper.
Taste Straight Up:
2.5 out of 5. The fire from the peppers hit me before I was able to detect anything else. A split second later, there was the piquant sting from garlic, a bit of tartness from vinegar and a deep, base, veggie flavor guided by onions. The capsaicin fire lingered for dozens of seconds, and as it subsided I could swear the presence of black pepper remained on my tongue plus the expected and unpleasant odor of garlic stuck around.
As you could guess, this was a very powerful and potent mixture. And quite frankly not very good on its own.
Taste on Food:
4.5 out of 5.
Based on online photos Michele Northrup and Tom Was of Intensity Academy showed off, I reckoned shrimp would be a terrific candidate for a dish on which to try this. Since I thought Garlic Goodness might fare better as an additive than a solo sauce, I put margarine and oil in a sauce pan, threw in some Garlic Goodness, and sauteed several little shrimps until they were nice and pink.
I placed them atop a bed of pasta, splashed out a couple of extra shakes of Garlic Goodness for good measure, and went to business chowing down.
I was very, very pleased with the results. The flavor was vibrant and pungent. The fire from the peppers provided a white hot lift while the overall taste (with margarine) complimented the base characteristics of the seafood. It was intense on every level, and thankfully it was just as savory as it was mouth-scalding.
I also tried it on a thin slice of crusty, buttered French bread. Mmmmm...I bet I could eat a half of loaf with nothing on it but butter and Garlic Goodness hot sauce.
Suggested Uses:
Make make no mistake about it: this is a garlic sauce with chile peppers, not a hot sauce with a little garlic added. It should be treated as such.
All variations of pasta would be good with this Goodness, as would lighter meats such as chicken and seafood. Anything that one would normally put garlic and butter on could have this sauce applied to as well.
Heat:
2.5 out of 5. The ferocity of the strong garlic and onions build upon the medium-level heat of the habaneros and Thai peppers and made this sauce seem more fiery and potent than it actually was. You'll get some warmth on your tongue and the feeling you've gotta brush your teeth afterward. But if you're a garlic lover, this stuff with hit the proverbial spot.
Overall:
This is another winner from Intensity Academy. Thus far they're batting 1.000 with me, as they've never made a product so far that I haven't liked. Granted, not all have been perfect, but all bring a smile to my face.
Go to http://www.intensityacademy.com and grab a 5 oz. bottle of this for $5.49 for a dose of spicy deliciousness.
Related Articles:
Spicy Food Reviews - Hot Sauce Reviews, Hot Snacks, Hot Wings, Seasonings, BBQ Sauces, Condiments, and More
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2010-04-27 22:29:12
2010-04-29 21:08:27
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