CaJohn’s – Small Batch Cayenne Garlic Pepper Sauce

Bitter: ⭐✰✰✰✰

Salty: ⭐⭐✰✰✰

Sour/Tangy: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✰

Sweet: ⭐⭐✰✰✰

Umami: ⭐✰✰✰✰

Heat: ⭐✰✰✰✰✰✰✰✰✰

Quick Flavor Notes: Cayenne, tangy, sweet

Recommended: Yes

Texture: Medium-thin with some small bits

Ingredients: Distilled Vinegar, Chile Peppers, Sugar, Salt, Garlic, Lemon Extract, Xanthan Gum

Having opened a number of more ‘out there’ hot sauces as well as a couple of super-hots lately I was in the mood for something more along the lines of a classic formula. I’d also really been craving buffalo shrimp and as luck would have it Publix was having a BOGO on frozen breaded shrimp. According to the bottle blurb this is one of John Hard’s (CaJohn) first recipes from back near the company’s founding in 1997 and one that won him multiple awards. It also mentions it’s his take on a century-old recipe from Louisiana. I figured you can’t get much more classic than that so decided to give it a whirl.

Being a Louisiana style hot sauce, or at least based on one, there’s not a lot of complexity going on in the ingredients. In fact the first sauce I reviewed from CaJohn’s, their Select Serrano Puree, was also very simple. The style is typically very vinegary and in this sauce the first ingredient is indeed vinegar followed by chile peppers (I assume the cayenne). Interestingly despite garlic getting billing on the front of the bottom there’s both more sugar and salt than garlic, and the sodium is only 50mg per teaspoon so this sauce isn’t particularly salty, disappointing to see so little garlic. Sugar isn’t a common addition for a Louisiana style sauce but I have seen it before with Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Magic Pepper Sauce where I thought it actually worked well. The lemon extract, apparently made by soaking lemon peels in alcohol to concentrate their essential oils, is another unexpected ingredient. Texturally this sauce is mostly smooth but does have some small bits of something inside. It’s on the thinner side in consistency despite the presence of xanthan gum which they claim is a “natural thickener”. The aroma is reminiscent of Louisiana style hot sauce.

While CaJohns Small Batch Cayenne Garlic Pepper Sauce isn’t an objectively sweet sauce the sugar is very noticeable on the first taste. It may just be that because cayenne sauces are such a familiar flavor profile that deviations stick out more. The sauce is extremely tangy, as expected, and the lemon extract provides an additional interesting pucker to the vinegar. There is good cayenne flavor that we’re all familiar with which does go well with the tangy vinegar. The garlic is a bit more prominent than its presence on the label would suggest. Perhaps they’re using granulated garlic or garlic powder but I thought I could see some garlic bits in the sauce, albeit very small ones and few in number. It’s not a garlic heavy sauce but it’s there in the background. What surprised me is that I could have sworn there was a black pepper element in this sauce, but in flavor and visually, but it’s not listed anywhere in the ingredients. The cayenne peppers used do taste a bit fresher than what you get in the various $2-or-less Louisiana style sauces on grocery store shelves. Overall it’s the familiar Louisiana style profile but sweeter, with a little garlic, and with an extra pucker from the lemon.

As I mentioned above I opened this with the goal of making some buffalo shrimp and while it worked well in that context I found the sweetness of the sauce amplified more when I tossed the shrimp in it, and I found myself wishing it was a purely savory experience. Switching it up to having it with some eggs and bacon the next morning it was a better fit and somehow the sweetness didn’t come across as strongly in that context. Adding a bit to some leftover reheated clam chowder again the sweetness reared its head. What’s also interesting is that depending on the time of day I tasted the sauce straight it seemed less sweet sometimes and more sweet others.

While I don’t love the idea of sugar in a Louisiana style (or Louisiana style inspired) sauce, overall this one is still good so I’ll recommend it, though if you like some sweetness in your sauces you may especially love it. I do wish they’d omitted the sugar and added more garlic so this won’t be a re-buy for me, but I don’t regret my purchase and enjoyed the bottle I had.