Chuck Evens from Montezuma ^[1] was a bit pleased with his new creation when I spoke with him at The North Market just a few months ago. The product in question is his Smokey Salt. Not being that much of a salt fan I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to give this a fair review, but after a few months of testing, I feel I have this review qualified in it’s objectivity.

Montezuma: Smokey Salt Ingredients: Salt, Chile, Chipotle, Red Chilie powders, garlic, onion, spices, paprika, orange peel, green Bell Pepper.

The first thing I have to comment on is the size. For the price and the amount of product you receive, this thing is a bargain! It’s a whopping 5 ounces and in 3 months of usage I’ve only consumed 1/32 of the bottle!! It is also nice to see all the ingredients through the clear plastic and the pour holes are just big enough to let the ingredients out at an appropriate speed.

The first taste is, of course, salt. Like I said, I’m not too keen on that, but this is what the product is supposed to taste like. Up next comes some garlic (which weaves in and out of all the flavors) then the taste of chipotle mixed with the orange peel. I do detect a slight hint of rosemary and paprika and I can taste the green Bell Pepper (why he used that I’ll never know). As for the heat, there really isn’t any. It’s flavor over flame this time.

Now, I cooked with this….a lot. What I’ve learned is you have to be careful with the products usage. Too little and it doesn’t do much. Too much and your screwed, it’s too salty to eat (I did that on two separate occasions when making Famous Passow Pizza). You have to work with it to find that right balance and when you hit it, this really makes things shine with flavor.

Pairs quite well with pork tenderloin and kicks the flavor into overdrive in burrito/taco meat (ground beef). Definitely cook with this, skip using it as a table salt type product. Nicely done, Chuck.

Taste: 6.7, Heat: 0.03