XOCHiTL Habanero Salsa (pronounced so’-cheel)

Finally, some hot salsa. Really hot salsa!

Ingredients: HABANERO PEPPER, ONIONS, WATER, SALT, HERBS, SPICES

I was thumbing through the hot sauce issue of Chile Pepper magazine when I noticed the section on “XXX” hot salsas. I had seen Xochitl products around for a long time but never tried them. I actually met Carlos Salinas at Zest Fest. He wanted to try my Ogoun sauce. He said he liked it but it was too hot. Hmmm…who’s he trying to kid?

So today I decided to try this when I saw it at Central Market. I like these short, squat little jars because you can dip your chips right in ‘em. Tonight I popped this little puppy open and beheld the deep red salsa within. The smell is of onions and the “spices”. I seemed to detect celery salt. This stuff looked hot. The habs are the main ingredient so this is almost a roasted habanero mash.

Tasting this … wow! Roasting the habaneros and onions give this a very rich flavor but very salty taste. That celery taste is very up front along with the onions. Strangely, the habanero taste is a little understated considering they are the first ingredient. Now the heat here is outstanding. It assaults the tongue mercilessly. After just a chip or two my mouth was watering and my nose was running. This stuff is really hot; belive me, I’m no shrinking violet when it comes to heat.

They only thing I didn’t like was how extremely salty this was. That and the strong spice mix ( mostly celery taste to me but it could be something else) seemed to overpower the taste of the habaneros. I think this salsa would be good to cook with…a nice addition to a meatloaf of pasta dish… just hold back the salt in the recipe and this would add salt and heat.

If most salsas seem to bore you chileheads, give this stuff a test drive. You will not be disappointed!

Heat 9/10 Taste 6/10