Heat Hot Sauce Shop – Hot Paper Lantern Roasted Habanero and Garlic
After sampling some of Heat Hot Sauce’s custom spice blends and garlic crunch toppings I decided to purchase some of their in-house brand sauces to give them a go. They have two versions of their Roasted Habanero and Garlic sauce, one using traditional habanero peppers, and the other using a type of pepper I hadn’t tasted yet, the Hot Paper Lantern.
Looking up some information regarding it, the Hot Paper Lantern is a special cultivar of habanero. The pods are longer, the heat level is slightly higher, and they’re known for a fruitier flavor. They’re also a quicker-maturing variant, so are appropriate for growing in cooler climates compared to traditional warm-weather habaneros. Heat Hot Sauce mentioned that they grew the peppers for this sauce themselves.
Another all-natural sauce, organic apple cider vinegar leads the ingredient list on this, followed by the organic roasted hot paper lantern peppers and roasted garlic. I’m not positive that I’m in love with apple cider vinegar as the choice here, or at least not in greater quantities than the peppers themselves. The consistency of the sauce is very nice, smooth and easy to pour, but apple cider vinegar imparts its own strong and distinctively sweet flavor that was distracting in this sauce in some applications. A more neutral flavored vinegar option would improve flexibility.
The flavor of the paper lantern habaneros is subtle. There’s a pepper fruitiness and a mild heat from this sauce. The roasted garlic is sweeter and more mellow than raw garlic, which adds a fullness and backbone. The brown sugar combined with the roasted garlic and apple cider vinegar does trend the sauce into sweeter than average territory, but it doesn’t become cloying.
For certain applications this sauce is amazing. I found it especially delicious in soups. Adding a few glugs to a bowl of ramen or wonton soup added the acid these often need, and just a little bit of heat to help wake up the palate. The sweetness of this sauce also pairs well with intensely savory foods like roasted meats or as a means of deglazing a pan to make a quick pan sauce.
If you’re looking for a uniquely flavored habanero garlic sauce with a low heat level and a distinct sweetness this is a great sauce to check out.
Ingredients: Organic Apple Cider Vinegar, Organic Roasted Red Paper Lantern Habanero, Roasted Garlic, Brown Sugar, Salt
Heat Level: 2/10. There’s a slight warmth of heat on this sauce, but it’s more about flavor than burn. This can easily be enjoyed by anyone regardless of heat tolerance.
