It is seldom that I take the opportunity to rave about a jalapeno hot sauce. I’ve always considered myself a quintessential habanero sauce kinda guy, but this sauce has me seriously reconsidering my own self-view. The sauce? It’s called Green Scream by Monty’s Gourmet Foods. I’ve been on a roll with jalapeno sauces in the past few weeks, and this sauce highlighted exactly that point. Monty’s description of the sauce goes like this:

We Use Only The Finest Green Jalapeno Peppers In This Gourmet Blend Of Peppers & Spices To Ensure Our Great Customers Get The Best Hot Sauce Possible.

Not the most unique mission statement in the hot sauce world by any stretch, but you get the idea that Monty wanted to do something great with this sauce. His original stable of products included a chipotle sauce amongst his three habanero sauces, but no pure jalapeno sauce. This sauce lists these ingredients:

Ingredients: jalapeno peppers, tomatillo, onions, vinegar, garlic, cilantro, spices, salt, xanthan gum

All fresh, all-natural ingredients there…and there’s a lot to like. Being a huge fan of the taste of garlic, cilantro, and tomatillo in the hot sauces I’ve tasted, this one has a pre-ordained recipe for success with me as a reviewer before I even opened the bottle. The bottle itself features the same sleek, new graphics that I’ve mentioned with Monty’s revamped line of products. Well-drawn, neat, and professional-looking, this sauce will look great sitting on your shelf or when you show it off to people when bragging about it. I couldn’t get it to photograph well on a flat plate, so I tried a picture of a little poured into my tasting spoon:

To me, the aroma is more tomatillo than anything else, with just a hint of the vinegar base. It is actually of medium thickness, but not chunky, and pours easily from the bottle onto your food. Despite any perceived level of thinness, it has a nice “cling” factor that lets it stick to your food rather than ending up in a puddle on your plate.

Taste: My first thought when trying this was, “Wow, this tastes pretty fresh for a bottled sauce!” The jalapeno is the star of the show, and the tomatillo is a good compliment to this very green sauce. The cilantro isn’t as prominent a taste as expected, but I can’t ding this sauce that much since cilantro is a flavor that can fade over time once the bottle has been opened. The spices, such as garlic, onion, and cilantro, add a nice touch without overwhelming the flavor too much. I don’t know how he did it, but Monty made a sauce that is almost creamy in both flavor and appearance, and that’s a compliment as well. The heat is as you would expect for a jalapeno sauce, about 5/10. Just about perfect for a mix of flavor and heat…with perhaps a little more emphasis on flavor.

I tried this on a fairly decent variety of foods, and I definitely enjoyed this sauce more on foods than mixed in. I just hated to dilute the flavor with the complexities of certain foods. As a condiment, dipping sauce, or simply slathered over food, that was the uses I enjoyed most. Go figure, but it was a great add to our Mexican food choices like fish tacos and enchiladas. There were few items that I tried it with that were made as anything less than outstanding when using this sauce.

Overall recommendation: It’s tough for me to say anything critical about this sauce. The proof of my endorsement being that there is nary a drop left in my original bottle, and given how much sauce I have laying around to use…is a pretty glowing endorsement. Mildly hot and supremely tasty, this jalapeno sauce is utilitarian enough to use on the widest variety of foods, be they solid, liquid or otherwise. The jalapeno taste is top-notch and I love the freshness of the sauce in general. Monty may have hotter sauces in his repertoire, but none have tasted as good as a stand-alone sauce as this one. You’ll likely scream with joy when you give the “Green Scream” a try. As jalapeno sauces go, it’s a winner by my estimation. See what you think when you try it. Enjoy!

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