Ah yes, Fire Foods. I got to see this company start up way back when via The Hot Pepper forums. I’ve watched it grow and I must say they are really starting to grow fast. I’m finally getting a taste of what this fine company has to offer, thanks Woody!

Fire Foods Reserve Ingredients: Fruit juice, carrot, vinegar, Black Treacle Chilli (11.9%), mustard (water, mustard seed, spirit vinegar, salt), water, Bih Jolokia Chilli powder.

Woody sent me their Reserve hot sauce which, coincidentally, is the one I’ve been wanting to try for a while now. One of the things I noticed right off the bat was the label. I was going to comment on the lack of glossy label stock, the slightly fuzzy logo and one or two other things. But just last month they came out with an absolutely beautiful label with a nice die cut, bright colors, and pristine overall design so I’ll keep the inner graphic designer in me quite. To see their new label, just visit their site via the link in the first paragraph.

The texture of this sauce is the first thing I’ll talk about. It’s interesting in the way that it’s both liquidy and chunky at the same time. Not a bad thing but it does cause some vinegar separation when used. The sauce does have a really nice look to it with it’s tree bark brown color and star like dots of seeds and skin suspended in it’s celestial body.

Now, onto the taste. Mmmm….sweet, fruity, and spicy, always a good combination. The first thing that hits is the fruit juice. I think this might be the first time I’ve seen fruit juice used in a sauce and it definitely helps to accent the taste of the Bih Jolokias (which is slightly subtle in this sauce). Next comes the black treacle which has a nice molasses sweetness. Following that is the vinegar which is noticeable but also joins up with the Jolokia’s heat to add an extra punch to the back of your throat.

After the vinegar is the carrots which come in and out of focus on the palate and continues through as a slight after taste. It’s a little hard to separate the Jolokia flavor from all of the other sweet and fruity tastes in this sauce but if you shift through the flavors you can find it hiding in there. I do taste mustard but it’s not to horrifying in this sauce (sorry folks, I hate mustard, ‘tis an evil colored product with a contempt for humanities taste receptors).

The heat on this is great! You’ll get a nice little kick with a small taste and a runny noise with a large dose. Not quite enough to get an endorphin rush from but enough to start your heart beating faster. All in all, a very excellent sauce from a very excellent company.

Taste: 8, Heat: 8

RSS feed for comments on this post.