Zesti – XXX Hot Freshly Grated Parmesan Garlic Hot Sauce

Zesti started out as a brand because of the founder’s boredom with the commercially available hot sauces and condiments available locally. Desiring to make new flavor combinations he worked with chefs to develop recipes and launched his own line.

I purchased a box of their various sauces months ago and due to my backlog and life I hadn’t gotten around to trying one until recently, though I certainly wish I’d done so sooner.

This sauce, their XXX Hot Parmesan Garlic, tastes just like what the label says, though I personally wouldn’t call it ‘XXX Hot’. There is a strong parmesan taste and the garlic packs a big punch. Aside from that cheesy umami flavor of the parmesan, the cheese also imparts a unique texture to the sauce. You can really taste and feel the little cheese bits in the sauce.

The sauce has a typical Louisiana style cayenne and vinegar base, but adds a tiny bit of ghost pepper as well, which I suppose is what separates the XXX Hot version from the regular version. Interestingly it also includes skim milk, which adds a bit of that creaminess to the cheese content.

Pizza is a natural pairing for this sauce, and I found it excellent on sandwiches as well. When it comes to pasta the flavors combine well, though the vinegar and cayenne base doesn’t completely disappear into red sauce the way that Firelli Italian Hot Sauce does.

I believe this may be the first hot sauce I’ve tried that contains cheese, and it makes me wonder why others don’t try it. It packs a great flavor punch and does make this sauce stand apart from the crowd. I’d say the heat level is still on the lower side of medium, but it does add a lot of zest to foods, so is absolutely worth checking out.

As of this writing the company’s website is showing out of stock of everything, so hopefully they get their supply chain in order because it’s certainly worth trying out.

Ingredients: Aged Red Cayenne Peppers, Distilled Vinegar, Salt, Xanthan Gum, Garlic, Black Pepper, Parmesan Cheese, Ghost Peppers, Skim Milk (contains milk)

Heat Level: 3/10. There’s a little kick here but overall this is still quite a mild sauce.