Review - Texas Brew Salsas
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Any attendee of ZestFest or the Fiery Foods Show can tell you there is no shortage of salsas among the products sold by vendors. A few superb, some good, some mediocre...even if you're a diehard salsa devotee, you might suffer from salsa fatigue once you reach the back of the showroom floor. Therefore, if you're an exhibitor at one of those shows, you had better make sure your product is up to snuff or else you'll be quickly and easily forgotten.
One of the better salsa slingers I encountered at ZestFest 2012 was Texas Brew Salsa an outfit that uses honey roasted ingredients in the vast majority of their wares. If visions of the Zane & Zack's World Famous Honey Co. dance in your heads when you hear the word "honey", then you may be in for a surprise. The presence of honey merely gives the tomatoes, tomatillos, and other components found in their products a slight sweet edge, and certainly not the distinctive sugary honey flavor most people can detect right off the bat. It's because of this that they keep themselves from falling headfirst into the "dessert salsa" category (not that that distinction is a bad thing).
But who or what is Texas Brew? Here's what's list on their company profile page:
"Texas Brew Products is a San Antonio, Texas based company founded by Brenda Craig.
"THE innovative, versatile company opening doors and building bridges into culinary wonderlands. Why? Because only Texas Brew Products uniquely combines authentic, historic preparation techniques with the freshest and finest ingredients, creating a flavor explosion like never before experienced.
"We are focused on producing 'Simply Salsalicious' all natural, gluten free; gourmet salsas (condiments) made with fresh fire-roasted vegetables and smoked spices the old fashioned authentic Mexican way."
For this review I tried four of Texas Brew's products - Honey Roasted Peach Salsa, Hot Iron Habanero Salsa, Honey Roasted Pineapple Salsa, Honey Roasted Chipotle Salsa - No Heat Mild, Honey Roasted Chipotle Salsa - Slow Kick Medium, and Honey Roasted Chipotle Salsa - Slow Burn Hot.
Appearance and Texture:
2.5 out of 5. First off, I'd like to group all of these together because all six I'm reviewing have strikingly similar attributes. They're all brownish in color (with varying hues) with a well-blended medium texture. This is not bad for a lot of purposes, but I prefer my salsas a bit more on the thicker, chunkier side. In their defense, they do pour and spoon out easily without being too watery. And each bite is as consistent as the last.
Hot Iron Habanero Salsa
Ingredients:
Roasted Tomato, Water, Honey, Lemon Juice From Concentrate, Roasted Tomatillo, Chipotle Peppers (chipotles, tomatoes, salt, sesame oil, paprika, vinegar and spices), Roasted Onion, Habanero Pepper, Roasted Garlic, Roasted Poblano Chile Pepper, Cilantro, Vinegar, Salt, Sugar, Molasses (molasses and water), Cumin, Smoked Paprika, Capsicum Extract
Great sweetness with a little acidic kick from tomato, with only a hint of roasted flavor and smokiness from the other ingredients. It has a multi-dimensional presence on the tongue with savory and spicy elements that dazzle without pulling away too much from the core flavor. A sizable heat kick comes on the back end, and thank the Lord! No nasty extract taste abounds here to ruin the experience! Chileheads will find this to be a worthy dipping salsa for tortilla chips, but those of you with mild mouths may wish to steer clear of this one. A very good product! This gets a 4 out of 5.
Honey Roasted Pineapple Salsa
Ingredients:
Roasted Tomato, Roasted Pineapple, Tomato (fresh tomato, tomato juice, calcium chloride and citric acid), Water, Honey, Pineapple Tidbits (pineapple, clarified pineapple juice), Roasted Onion, Chipotle Peppers (chipotles, tomatoes, salt, sesame oil, paprika, vinegar and spices), Roasted Poblano Chile Pepper, Lime Juice Concentrate, Pineapple Juice Concentrate, Cilantro, Salt, Roasted Garlic, Xanthan Gum
This product is a slightly chunkier mix, much to my satisfaction; because if you're going to make a pineapple salsa, it had better not be runny. This is one of the better pineapple offerings I've had, although if you are used to a pineapple hot sauce, this may be a little light on the fruit for you. Not for me. There's the optimal amount of pineapple with a small bit of fruity flavor that easily harmonizes with the core Texas Brew roasted tomato/honey/pepper taste. Not much comes from the heat department; but then again, this isn't really geared to burn your tongue. Good effort. 3.5 out of 5.
Honey Roasted Chipotle Salsa - No Heat Mild
Ingredients:
Roasted Tomato, Roasted Tomatillo, Roasted Onion, Honey, Lime Juice from Concentrate, Roasted Garlic, Chipotle Peppers (chipotles, tomatoes, salt, sesame oil, paprika, vinegar and spices), Roasted Poblano Chile Pepper, Fresh Cilantro, Salt, Sugar, Spices, Molasses, and Water
A decent, basic salsa with some complex components - a bristle of onion, a tint of cilantro, a dash of smokiness, all held up on a bed of roasted tomato, honey and molasses sweetness. Nothing remotely offensive, but then again, nothing out of the ordinary spectacular. Nice dipping salsa for the whole family. If you are looking for something with a little more oomph, try the Slow Kick Medium. 3 out of 5.
Honey Roasted Chipotle Salsa - Slow Kick Medium
Ingredients:
Roasted Tomato, Roasted Tomatillo, Roasted Onion, Honey, Lime Juice from Concentrate, Roasted Garlic, Chipotle Peppers (chipotles, tomatoes, salt, sesame oil, paprika, vinegar and spices), Roasted Poblano Chile Pepper, Fresh Cilantro, Salt, Sugar, Spices, Molasses, and Water
Compared to Texas Brew Salsa's No Heat Mild, this little added burst of pepper-induced warmth make the other ingredients explode with boldness. This should be considered their basic salsa, as it contains all the goods to appeal to a lot of people - including me - while still not neglecting a group of foodies and chileheads who crave big flavors and a tiny bit of burn. Rich tomato flavor, dynamite roasted tones all throughout and just enough sweetness. Outstanding job! 4.5 out of 5.
Honey Roasted Chipotle Salsa - Slow Burn Hot
Ingredients:
Roasted Tomato, Honey, Roasted Onion, Roasted Tomatillo, Roasted Garlic, Chipotle Peppers (chipotles, tomatoes, salt, sesame oil, paprika, vinegar and spices), Habanero Pepper, Cilantro, Roasted Poblano Chile Pepper, Salt, Vinegar, Sugar, Lime Juice Concentrate, Molasses (molasses and water), Cumin, Smoked Paprika, and Capsicum Extract
Even though the ingredients list for Slow Burn Hot is slightly different or varies when it comes to the order in which they're placed when compared to the Medium, I still find this very similar. There is a substantial incendiary blast from the habanero chiles and the extract, yet doesn't rank up there in terms of heat when compared to ghost pepper or trinidad scorpions salsas. That having been said, this would be hot enough to please a large chunk of the heat-seeking crowd. Nice overall flavor, although I would prefer the Medium when it comes to an all-purpose salsa. 4 out of 5.
Honey Roasted Peach Salsa
Ingredients:
Roasted Tomato, Peach, Peach Juice Concentrate, Tomato (fresh tomato, tomato juice, calcium chloride and citric acid), Water, Honey, Lemon Juice From Concentrate, Roasted Onion, Chipotle Peppers (chipotles, tomatoes, salt, sesame oil, paprika, vinegar and spices), Roasted Poblano Chile Pepper , Sugar, Salt, Molasses (molasses and water), Habanero Pepper, Roasted Garlic, Vinegar, Cumin, Natural Peach Flavor and Xanthan Gum.
There's a pretty good peachiness slightly detectable in the middle of the center Texas Brew Salsa flavor. I do like a some peach notes in things like BBQ sauces - just as long as it's a natural taste and not anything that resembles anything artificial. Thankfully, this Honey Roasted Peach Salsa takes on the qualities of the former description and not the later. It blends well with the tomato, onion, cumin and garlic tones without being too annoying. While snacking with tortilla chips seemed a bit "off", this may find more of a home as a topper sauce for grilled pork or chicken.
Taste on Food:
As I mentioned above, I spooned some Texas Brew Honey Roasted Peach Salsa atop some grilled chicken. Nice and tasty! I think it found its calling.
Tacos anyone? Several of the Texas Brew Salsas were put through their paces with this staple of Mexican-American cuisine. I loved the Hot Iron Habanero Salsa the best with this application, with the Slow Kick Medium coming up from behind in a close second place.
One night I made some seasoned steak fries and covered them with some shredded cheddar, with a hefty amount of Slow Burn Hot poured on top. An offbeat put flavorful side to some chicken wings!
How are Texas Brew Salsa on tortilla chips? As mentioned above, I thought that Honey Roasted Peach Salsa might not be best suited as a snacking salsa in my humble opinion. The others fared from decent to great in this order: No Heat Mild Slow Burn Hot, Honey Roasted Pineapple Salsa, Honey Roasted Chipotle Salsa, Hot Iron Habanero Salsa, and finally Slow Kick Medium being the best with chips.
How about something off the beaten path, like some crusty Italian bread with butter, garlic, melted mozzarella cheese with salsa on top? Oh yeah! I loved the honey and chipotle tones the intermingled with the more traditional Italian flavors like tomatoes, onions and garlic. Delicious stuff!
Label:
4 out of 5. I like the fresh look of these labels. From the fonts used to the "torn" appearance of brown paper to the cartoon charactertures, these would be attractive and appealing on any brick and mortar store shelves. The faces featured are of the lovely Brenda Craig, while the male visage is that one one of Brenda's friends to denote a strong Texas cowboy.
Overall
Solid efforts with no real weak spots. For more information or to order, go to texasbrewproducts.com.
Comments
2012-05-24 19:38:39
Thanks so much and you are right...the peach and chicken are made for each other...I appreciate you taking the time to review my salsa and it was a pleasure meeting you at Zest Fest...Brenda
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