Picked up one of CaJohn’s latest sauces at the Fiery Foods Show in Columbus just last month. Mongoose is being called The Black Mamba killer in regards to both the taste and heat. This thing is hot, tasty, and just plain beautiful.

CaJohn’s Mongoose Hot Sauce Ingredients: Bhut Jolokia, Fatalii, vinegar, natural flavors.

The front label displays a Mongoose with the snake from CaJohn’s Black Mamba in it’s mouth, symbolizing that he has topped one of his hottest sauce. It’s also a nice representation of what Mongooses (Mongeese? Mongi? What’s the plural for a Mongoose?) can actually do (they eat venomous snakes for fun and probably for the taste too. Heck, throw some Jolokia hot sauce on it and I bet a viper tastes fantastic!). It also comes in a 2 ounce bottle which is kinda small for my tastes, but for the heat contained within, it should last you a bit.

Now onto the tastes! Instantly, the sweetness from the Jolokias mix with the slightly citrus taste of the Fataliis. Then the extract flows over those tastes and recedes. It’s not a keytone extract taste (read: bitter metallic) but a slightly earthy, sour taste, not bad, but definitely extract. Up next is a brief vinegar flavor which fades away to a pleasant numbing from the Jolokias.

According to Sue Hard (CaJohn’s wife), this contains 3 million SHU extract and boy does the burn show! It’s really interesting though. At first the heat hits hard and fast then dies down. After you think you are in the clear, a second wave of heat ramps way up and gets you dorfin’ (a new word invented to describe the state you are in when the endorphin rush is going on) pretty hard.

I also cooked with this product pretty thoroughly (mainly made Famous Passow’s Pizza with it mixed into the sauce) and some interesting things happen. The extract seeps into every pore but doesn’t burn as hard. You can feel it tingling all the way down your throat and there’s a big gum burn that I’ve only had with one other sauce. Also, a ominous all over mouth glow occurs but I wouldn’t call it an intense burn. Really interesting! Definitely one to pick up and have fun with!

Taste: 6.971, Heat: 8.9

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