A month or so ago the great guys over at Zane & Zack’s World Famous Honey Company sent me along their two products for review. It came with a great letter and an instruction set on how to use the sauces and on what to use them on. Right away they get high marks for presentation.

Honey-Jalapeno Gourmet Sauce Ingredients: Jalapeno peppers, honey, vinegar, garlic, salt, spices

Honey-Chipotle Gourmet Sauce Ingredients: Jalapeno peppers, honey, water, vinegar, garlic, salt, spices

While the ingredient lists are almost identical, these are two drastically different sauces. I’ll start off with the Honey-Jalapeno sauce first. This one is definitely more along the lines of a sauce. It has mashed up chunks of green Jalapenos, seeds included, floating in it and is suspended in vinegar. Even though there is a lot of vinegar in it, I really can’t taste it, that’s a large bonus in my book.

It has a very green, very fresh taste to it making it one of the great things about how they make their sauces. They only use fresh peppers and do small batches at a time allowing them to have strict quality in the product. The flavor of Jalapeno hits you right away and then comes the honey. I must say, I was totally taken aback by this. The honey complements the taste of the peppers so well and the thick feel to it mates brilliantly with the chunkiness. You really don’t get the taste of the garlic until after the heat dies down which is nice because it doesn’t distract you from the sweetness.

For a sauce that uses unrippened Jalapenos, this thing packs a great punch. The heat hits pretty quickly and hangs around for a bit. Oddly enough, it attacks the back of the throat, and area generally reserved for Serranos and Habaneros.

Taste: 9, Heat: 3

Now onto my favorite one of the bunch, the Honey-Chipotle Gourmet Sauce. This one is actually more along the lines of a jam than a sauce, which is odd because it has water and the other sauce doesn’t. Unlike it’s brother, the Honey-Chiptole has been blended more finely leaving it paste like, although I still see some seeds mixed in.

The taste is phenomenal! The Jalapeno flavor is very small and the smoky flavor is right up front. When the sweetness of the Honey hits, the two combine, dancing delicately on your taste buds. The garlic is more prominent in this one and I still can’t taste the vinegar. Once again, for using Jalapenos, the heat is very surprising. It hits you in the middle of the tongue which is where I expect Jalapenos to hit.

Taste: 10, Heat: 4

I find myself using the Honey-Chipotle more than the Honey-Jalapeno. It’s thickness lends very well to most cooking situations. Because of the liquidy nature of the Honey-Jalapeno, I had to keep reapplying it to the meat that I was grilling since the chunks kept sliding right off. I would suggest using this more as a marinade for it adds a nice sweetness but doesn’t overpower the taste of the meat.

The Honey-Chipotle basically stuck to anything I put it on making it perfect for the grill. Just slather some on and throw it on the grill. It won’t be as sweet as it is straight out of the bottle, but it leaves behind a very strong, smoky flavor that will heighten you consumption experience. I also recommend putting it on a bagel in the morning as well, one heck of a wake up that coffee generally won’t give you.

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