La Pimenterie x Dawson’s Hot Sauce – Mycelium

Bitter: ⭐✰✰✰✰

Salty: ⭐⭐✰✰✰

Sour: ⭐✰✰✰✰

Sweet: ⭐⭐✰✰✰

Umami: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✰

Heat: ⭐⭐✰✰✰✰✰✰✰✰

Quick Flavor Notes: Earthy, autumnal, maple, mushrooms, fruity

Texture: Medium-thick and creamy

Recommended: Yes

Ingredients: Butternut squash. Water, Cedar infused white wine vinegar, Red bell peppers, Onions, Habanero peppers, Miso (water, soybean, rice, salt), Dehydrated hot peppers (Ancho, Arbol, Guajillo), Garlic, Brown sugar, Salt, Canola oil, Dehydrated maple syrup milky cap mushrooms, Spices.

Introduction

Mycelium is a collaboration between two Canadian hot sauce makers – Montreal’s La Pimenterie, and Ontario’s Dawson’s Hot Sauce. I’ve enjoyed Dawson’s Sichuan Ghost hot sauce in the past (though unfortunately before I started this site so I’ll have to eventually correct that and review one of their others) but this was my first experience with a sauce from La Pimenterie. Based out of Montreal La Pimenterie was founded in 2016 by documentary filmmaker Julien Fréchette. While filming his documentary on western volunteers joining Kurdish forces to fight ISIS he found himself in a war zone and mentally developed hot sauce recipes as a means of calming his nerves. When he returned home to Canada he put those ideas to practice and La Pimenterie was born.

Notable Ingredients Aroma and Texture

The name of this sauce is due to the presence of the Maple Milky Cap Mushroom, or Lactarius helvus, a North American variant of what’s known in Europe as the Fenugreek Milk Cap. While the European version is said to taste like celery or Maggi instant noodle seasoning the North American version has a distinct odor and flavor of maple syrup. In addition to the maple flavors milky cap mushrooms have deep earthy and nutty flavors. Cedar smoked white wine vinegar is also something new to me – cedar smoke known for being woodsy, piney, and a little bit spicy – should add an interesting element. The pepper base is fresh habaneros plus a trio of dried Mexican chiles – arbol, guajillo, and ancho, and as an added umami boost this sauce also employs miso. La Pimenterie describes this sauce as having forest flavors and the aroma certainly evokes a forest after rainfall with a pleasantly musky sweetness and the distinct aroma of maple. Being medium thick this sauce is mostly smooth and with the oil present it creates an emulsion that gives it a creamy consistency.

Flavor

La Pimenterie Mycelium is very umami-forward. There’s some immediate sweetness from the butternut squash and brown sugar and the maple aroma of the maple milky caps comes forward as well. The interesting thing about the maple milky cap aroma is that it brings that maple syrup flavor without adding additional sweetness so while this sauce does have a sweet element it’s mainly from the squash and the aroma of the mushroom so it never becomes distracting. The cedar smoked vinegar does bring a subtle smoky element both to the aroma and flavor of the sauce. The peppers come in after the initial wave of umami and sweet and there is a little bit of a quick habanero sting plus some fruitiness that helps add a brightness to contrast with the darker flavors at play elsewhere. The combination of the mushrooms and the miso give this sauce an almost truffle-like quality, but lighter, and without some of the danker truffle flavors. While I can’t taste the individual dried Mexican chiles in this sauce they do add to the earthy umami background and bring a bit of extra heat and fruitiness to the sauce. Overall I’d characterize this sauce as a great balance between earthy, umami, sweet, savory, bright, and dank with a complex flavor and a very rich mouthfeel.

Pairing

Given the autumnal flavors in this sauce I thought it would be a great match for meats, and since I had a frozen turkey breast I’d never gotten around to cooking this past Thanksgiving I decided to do a combo pan and oven roast on it with some rosemary and thyme. La Pimenterie Mycelium is a perfect match for roast turkey with those fall flavors melding to give me a bit of Thanksgiving in June. With the miso content this sauce also pairs surprisingly well with Asian foods. It’s excellent when used as a dipping sauce for fried dumplings and added a good umami punch to some fried rice. I also liked this sauce on steak, with steak and mushrooms being a classic combination.

Concluding Thoughts

I’m happy to recommend La Pimenterie Mycelium. It’s a flavorful sauce made with high quality ingredients and packs a big umami punch while also being delicious. If you’ve tried truffle hot sauces and found them a bit too funky this may be a great option as well as it has many of the same flavor profiles but in a lighter more approachable way. This sauce is a limited edition however, while it’s currently available on La Pimenterie’s website, if you’re interested I’d grab a bottle quickly as it’s selling out other places. This sauce is also all natural with no artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, or thickeners.