Review - Jakk Hammer Hot Sauces
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Attempting to lay rest to the notion that anything hot and spicy has to originate from the South, the Jakk Hammer Hot Sauce Company hails from Ontario, Canada and proudly produce two sauces - the original Jakk Hammer Spicy Cayenne Sauce (a Louisiana-style condiment) and the Jakk Hammer XXX Habanero Sauce. I wanted to find out if these can both melt igloos from the Great White North AND taste great on a variety of dishes, so I doubled up this time for another dual review.
Labels:
I've got to mention the labels right off the bat. I love the cool design that is all part of the JK logo. But take a close look at the bottles...there is no sauce name on either one of these! Sure, one can guess that the brown labeled one is probably a Louisiana-style because of its look and viscosity, but is it simply titled "Hot Sauce"? And what of the other one, with it's thicker texture and seeds? The Jakk Hammer website lists "Jakk Hammer XXX Habanero Sauce" in simple text by an order button, so by conjecture this black labeled sauce must be that. But even on the website, the Flash video shows the two bottles bumping into one another with no names or explanation for either one. A word of advice to this relatively new hot sauce company: let your potential customers know what these are called to avoid any confusion, instead of just one simply having a brown label and the other a black label.
(Kelly Hale of the Jakk Hammer Hot Sauce Co. has kindly informed me that they are in the process of updating their website to clarify the names, so depending on when you read this review it might be already fixed.)
Ingredients:
Jakk Hammer Spicy Cayenne Sauce: Louisiana Hot Peppers, Distilled Vinegar, Salt and Vegetable Gum.
Jakk Hammer XXX Habanero Sauce: Habanero Peppers, Vinegar, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder and Salt.
Aroma:
Jakk Hammer Spicy Cayenne Sauce:4 out of 5. Not unlike a classic elixir that has its roots on the bayou, this is a refreshing blend of peppers and vinegar.
Jakk Hammer XXX Habanero Sauce:4 out of 5. Strikingly similar to Jakk Hammer's regular sauce, but with a more blustery smell with hints of garlic. It's mainly vinegary and peppery.
Appearance and Texture:
Jakk Hammer Spicy Cayenne Sauce:4 out of 5. Watery and splashable, just like you would expect a condiment of its kind would be. A nice reddish-orange hue with highly pureed pepper elements.
Jakk Hammer XXX Habanero Sauce:4.5 out of 5. This is a marginally deeper shade of red and is medium-thick in consistency. With it's whole chile seeds and larger shreds of habanero pepper flesh conjoining with the liquid (plus the odd black speck or two), it's oh-so-beautiful.
Taste Straight Up:
Jakk Hammer Spicy Cayenne Sauce:4.5 out of 5. Strong on vinegar and chiles, it's bright and tart and has a bit of underlying "creaminess", almost. This has a really terrific taste, and in my opinion can stand up against the Tabascos and the Trappeys of the world any ol' day of the week.
Jakk Hammer XXX Habanero Sauce:4 out of 5. Similar tartness from the vinegar, but this sauce differs by having the slamming presence of habaneros. Although the distinctive fruity taste of habs is masked somewhat, the full force of it's heat is there. This has a more complex taste than the Jakk Hammer Spicy Cayenne Sauce. I could not pick out garlic or onion powder individually out of the flavor even though it's in the ingredient list.
Taste on Food:
I wanted to make some hum-drum hashed brown potatoes come alive, so Jakk Hammer's sauces were put to the test.
4 out of 5. I think the flavor of the Spicy Cayenne Sauce had gotten buried a little by the potatoes but still spruced them up nicely. The XXX Habanero Sauce, on the other had, WOW! It perked up the food and then some. I felt that overall XXX Habanero Sauce had good taste despite the fact there may have been a tad too much bright vinegar flavor creeping through. If I could have turned it down the vinegar content one or two percentage points, this sauce would have been absolutely perfect. That's being nit-picky. On the grander scale, both sauces did very well.
Suggested Uses:
Anything you would put Tabasco on - eggs, tacos, wings, pizza, popcorn, chips, burritos or sandwiches. And this recommendation goes for BOTH of these sauces.
Heat:
Jakk Hammer Spicy Cayenne Sauce:1.5 out of 5, on a scale where 5 is the hottest. A good, warming sensation for foods and it's well within range of virtually all fans of spicy cuisine.
Jakk Hammer XXX Habanero Sauce:3 out of 5. Much hotter and has a delayed heat that hits the back of the mouth and tongue. If you can't handle extreme heat, then use very little of this or none at all and opt for regular Spicy Cayenne instead.
Overall:
Great stuff from a newer hot sauce maker. I hope to see them grow in their success.
Right now the way it it's presented on the Jakk Hammer website, it looks as though you can purchase only the Jakk Hammer XXX Habanero Sauce ( which is $7.00 CAD for a 5 oz bottle or $120 CAD for a case of 24). I suggest that you attempt to contact them at sales @ jakkhammer.com to inquire about the Louisiana-style Jakk Hammer Spicy Cayenne Sauce.
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Spicy Food Reviews - Hot Sauce Reviews, Hot Snacks, Hot Wings, Seasonings, BBQ Sauces, Condiments, and More
Comments
2009-08-14 10:04:47
2009-10-06 20:10:12
Well recommended!
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