Ingredients: Red Rippened Jalapeno Peppers, Distilled Vinegar, Salt

My father, Richard, graciously sent me a $75 gift certificate to Trader Joes. This last weekend I visited TJ’s and to this chili-head’s surprise…they have their own hot sauce! I picked up a bottle, simply named Trader Joe’s Jalapeno Pepper Hot Sauce, for a stunningly cheap price of $1.19 (plus tax)!!!! Now, I have found very few sauces that are good at a price like that, so I was half expecting this to not meet my standards of a good sauce. Luckily, I was slightly wrong.

Right off the bat, I must point out that they used MATURE jalapenos. Most people use the green, unripe pods of the jalapeno. Those people are missing out. When left to ripen to its final color of red, a jalapeno is much sweeter and a little hotter. The folks at TJ’s must know this because that’s what they are using. The initial taste is sweet mixed with tart. Yes, sadly this has fallen pray to the overuse of vinegar. But the sweet is really nice and the tart vinegar taste is brief. I find nice warmth to this sauce, more so than most Jalapeno sauces, and is not overpowering at all. It just kind of hangs out in the background for a while and then leaves.

There is nothing too special about the label. The artwork represents the theme of their stores and they have a heat rating for the sauce on the side. It states that the sauce is almost toping the scale of heat…obviously they haven’t had Defcon Condition 1 (look for my MEGA review of all of Defcon’s sauces next week, folks!). This sauce goes great on eggs in the morning and splash some on your tacos.

Taste: 7, Heat: 5