Linda here with another review of Dave’s Gourmet Pasta Sauces. A while back you read about the butternut squash sauce that is new for the company. This is more of a traditional tomato pasta sauce. Traditional, but not boring.

Ingredients: Organic tomatoes (heirloom and other varieties), water, organic carrots, organic onions, organic tomato paste, organic extra virgin olive oil, organic evaporated cane juice, organic chilies, organic garlic, organic spices (including basil and oregano) and sea salt.

One of the first things I have to say about this sauce is that it was a bit sweeter than I thought it was going to be. Also, considering this is the spicy version and this comes from the insane Dave, I expected it to be spicier. Now, admittedly my tolerance for heat has increased a bit, but I still would have liked it to be more powerful. It’s very hard to find an actual spicy pasta sauce out there and I think that if he is going to have this one, there should be an extra-spicy version as well for us people who can take the heat.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let me say that I don’t think I’ve tried a sauce that had such a wonderful tomato richness. It really is the “wow factor” of this sauce. It is complex in the tomato department.

Much like the Butternut Squash sauce, this was a product I sought out as well, but for a very different reason. The reason for trying this sauce was its organic content. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been hearing some horrifying things about high fructose corn syrup and when you start reading labels you realize it’s in almost everything we eat. Nature is finding a way out of our diets and the next thing you know we’ll be having solely chemically created foods. Going organic and going unprocessed sugar gives your body what it needs without all of the stuff it doesn’t need. I personally adore products that have moved toward using cane sugar instead of corn syrup. Sure, corn syrup is cheaper, but with more studies coming out about how horrible it is nutritionally, it makes sense to keep it simple and keep it healthy, while keeping the flavor. It can be done and this sauce is proof of that. There are limited ingredients. All of the ingredients are organic, which means no pesticides are used. It uses unrefined sugar which your body breaks down more easily. And, finally, it’s just good sauce.

Somehow in the change-over of cameras we lost the picture of the meal I made with this sauce. I used hot Italian sausage sauteed with onions and red peppers, which was added to the sauce. That was used over penne pasta. It was the perfect use for the sauce. As I said originally, this is a traditional sauce, but certainly not boring. I had no problem using it traditionally and neither should you. That said, I think I would be tempted to use it as a sauce for hors d’oeuvres. Perhaps a bit of the sauce on toasted focaccia with some fresh mozzarella and a shaving of Parmesan cheese. Similarly, I think it would make a good pizza sauce. Either way, this is a very good sauce at very good quality.