I had the please of meeting Ed Federovich of Sweet Sunshine Chili Sauce at the Fiery Foods show this year. After enthusiastically describing his sauces I was gifted the whole product line plus a very snazzy looking hat (which I am wearing as I type this review, thanks Ed!).

Sweet Ingredients: Sugar, water, tomatoes, vinegar, corn syrup solids, ancho peppers, mustard seed, salt, molasses, onion, spices, natural flavor.

Warm Ingredients: Water, sugar, vinegar, tomatoes, corn syrup solids, mustard seed, ancho peppers, salt, molasses, cayenne peppers, habanero peppers, onion, spices, natural flavor, citric acid, xanathan gum.

Roasted Shallot & Garlic Ingredients: Water, sugar, shallots, vinegar, roasted garlic, tomatoes, corn syrup solids, salt, mustard seed, ancho peppers, molasses, cayenne peppers, habanero peppers, onion, spices, natural flavor, citric acid, xanathan gum.

Jamaican Jerk Ingredients: Water, sugar, shallots, vinegar, tomatoes, scotch bonnet peppers, corn syrup solids, salt, mustard seed, ancho peppers, molasses, cayenne peppers, habanero peppers, onion, spices, natural flavor, citric acid, xanathan gum.

Hot Ingredients: Water, sugar, vinegar, tomatoes, red savina habanero peppers, corn syrup solids, salt, ancho peppers, mustard seed, molasses, cayenne peppers, habanero peppers, onion, spices, natural flavor, citric acid, xanathan gum.

Atomic Ingredients: Water, sugar, red savina habanero peppers, vinegar, tomatoes, corn syrup solids, salt, mustard seed, ancho peppers, molasses, cayenne peppers, habanero peppers, onion, spices, natural flavor, citric acid, xanathan gum.

From the texture to the taste, these sauces are extremely unique but the difference in the ingredients list from sauce to sauce doesn’t change much. As you go down the list from Sweet to Atomic you’ll notice that they have one or two new ingredients or one ingredient substituted for another. This basically makes each sauce like the last. Which isn’t completely a bad thing, but does make it a little harder for me to come up with new things to say about each sauce so bare with me folks.

The packaging on these sauces are great. The ribbed bottles and brightly colored labels do a great job of catching you eye. I especially like the Atomic label with the atom in place of the o in “atomic”, very nice touch. Another eye catcher was the shrink-wrap on the top of the unopened bottles. Each type of sauce had it’s own specific color.

We’ll start out with Sweet and move our way up the heat scale. Sweet has the basic taste and ingredients for the sauces that follow. The first thing to hit the taste buds is the tomato which is quickly overwhelmed by the raison like taste of the Ancho peppers. Then comes the combination of flavors that really make this line distinctive; molasses, sugar and corn syrup solids.

Now, I’m not a big supporter of corn syrup solids, but when combined with the molasses you get a really interesting texture. It’s thick, slightly slow to pour, and sticks to whatever you put it on making all of these perfect for grilling. The heat on this one is really low because it only uses Anchos which are only around 1,000 SHU.

Taste: 8.5, Heat: 1

Moving along, we have Warm. This one steps up the ingredient list a bit with the addition of Cayenne and Habaneros. The Ancho flavor is still very prevalent but the bite of Cayenne is definitely recognizable. The habanero on the other hand is buried by the molasses, sugar, and corn syrup solids. This really isn’t that much of a jump as far as heat goes so I’m going to have to give it a 1.57 in that department.

Taste: 8.5, Heat: 1.57

Next up is one of my favorites, Roasted Shallot & Garlic. The roasted shallots and garlic are right up front and last a while. Although shallots are listed first, I find that the garlic is the dominant flavor in this sauce. The best use for this one is to slather it over some chicken with a little rosemary and grill it. Guaranteed good eating (unless you burn it, then all bets are off). The heat has a longer linger and is a little higher on this one which is odd because it is not reflected by any changes in the ingredient list.

Taste: 9, Heat: 2.3

Jamaican Jerk is the most used sauce out of the whole list. It has Scotch Bonnet peppers (you can’t make a jerk sauce with out them) which are widely held to be the tastiest pepper. I really can’t tell you enough good things about the taste of this one. Both the flavor and back of the mouth kick of the Scotch Bonnets are right up front and pairs well with the shallots. Our usual flavor suspects also appear.

The heat, as mention in the previous paragraph, hits you in the back of the mouth. It’s got a nice long linger especially when consumed in large quantities. This is another sauce that is perfect with grilled chicken and oddly enough, beef.

Taste: 9.5, Heat: 4

Now we’re getting into the territory I like with Hot. This one has the added pleasure of the pervious holder of the World’s Hottest Pepper, the Red Savina. The fruity taste of the habanero is finally detectable in this sauce because it’s so high on the ingredient list. Unfortunately, it gets overwhelmed quickly by the molasses, corn syrup solids and sugar.

Taste: 8.8, Heat: 6.5

Closing out the set is Atomic. For all intensive purposes, this is basically the Hot version with more Red Savina peppers. For a non-extract sauce, it’s got a nice heat to it. The heat hits quickly, builds, and then lingers for about two minutes which is a nice feeling.

Taste: 8.5, Heat: 7.687

The companies motto is “Flavor Before Fire” and that’s basically the best way to sum up these sauces. Loads of unique flavor without completely burning out your taste buds. I can see why these won some Scovie Awards. Keep up the good work guys!

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