Salsa Sinaloa – XXX Hot Sauce
Sinaloa, located in northwest Mexico due east of the Baja Peninsula on the Sea of Cortez, is unfortunately most well known in the USA for the Sinaloa Cartel and the horrific acts of violence that they perpetrate. Beyond that negative association however the area is also known for delicious seafood and the birthplace of the popular Mexican music style of Banda. Salsa Sinaloa isn’t made in Sinaloa, Mexico but rather in Los Angeles. The company was founded by Mexican Americans of Sinaloan heritage who wanted to share the unique flavors of their region.
This XXX Hot Sauce from Salsa Sinaloa isn’t actually a sauce that I ordered from the company. I’d previously ordered a number of their other sauces, and then later during their Cyber Monday sale a number of their dry spices and rubs. When that box arrived it had a bonus box filled with several of their other sauces and products including this one, their chamoy sauce, and their michelada mix (reviews of those coming in the future as well). I have to give big props to the people at Salsa Sinaloa for excellent customer service, I’ll absolutely be a repeat customer of theirs.
While not on the label in text by the photos and ingredients you can see this is a habanero based sauce. The ingredients list is pretty simple as well – just water, vinegar, habaneros, and some onion and garlic powder. Unfortunately they did decide to add artificial preservatives in the form of Sodium Benzoate and Potassium Sorbate. With a low enough pH from the vinegar these wouldn’t be necessary and I do wish it’s something sauce makers would get away from. Water as a first ingredient is also something that I generally see as a red flag for a sauce. Ideally sauces shouldn’t require extra water as it brings nothing in terms of flavor to the table. This sauce does have a rather thin consistency, perhaps a smidge thicker than Tabasco Original. It does have a nice habanero aroma when opening the bottle.
Salsa Sinaloa XXX Hot is all about the habanero when it comes to flavor. The full fruity and vegetal flavor of the pepper comes through. The onion and garlic powders used don’t assert themselves much but do likely round out the flavor of the pepper even if not being major taste players themselves. There is a sharpness to the taste, something I’ve associated with sauces that use artificial preservatives, a flavor that can be referred to as somewhat chemically, though it’s not as strong as I’ve tasted with some other sauces, and it is masked well by food. While the label says XXX Hot the overall heat level on this sauce is more medium-low. This is a little milder than the El Yucateco XXX Hot Mayan Style. Compared to El Yucateco XXX Hot in terms of flavor I feel that the El Yucateco comes out on top through its use of charred peppers to give the sauce additional depth, but this is a different style focusing more on the fresh habanero flavor, and I would easily pick this sauce over the El Yucateco Red or Green habanero sauces.
The natural pairing for this sauce is Mexican food, and since I usually enjoy Mexican cuisine at least a few times per week I had plenty of opportunities to check this sauce out with a variety of dishes. This gives a nice vibrancy to nachos and burritos and goes well with fish tacos where the freshness of this sauce plays well with the fresher flavors of that style. I also enjoyed this with some wings and it has a neutral enough habanero flavor profile that it isn’t limited to only Mexican cuisine. This is a solid option if you’re looking for a hot sauce that has a habanero-forward flavor profile.
I can recommend Salsa Sinaloa XXX Hot. I do wish that the company would reconfigure their recipe to eliminate the artificial preservatives and perhaps release a spicier version of this sauce that eliminates the water in favor of additional peppers. A thicker version of this sauce with more peppers, more heat, and no artificial preservatives would be a very compelling product.
Ingredients: Water, Habanero Peppers, Distilled Vinegar, Sea Salt, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Xanthan Gum, Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Sorbate (as a preservative), Citric Acid
Heat Level: 3/10. This has a little bit of a quick sting of heat and a small amount of lingering burn but still lower-medium level heat overall.
