Gindo’s – Batavia Community Hot Sauce Fire on the Fox
Bitter: 🟡○○○○
Salty: 🟡🟡○○○
Sour/Tangy:🟡🟡🟡🟡○
Sweet: 🟡🟡○○○
Umami: 🟡○○○○
Heat: 🟡🟡○○○○○○○○
Quick Flavor Notes: Tangy, fruity, subtly sweet
Recommended: Yes
Texture: Medium-thin with small seeds and bits
Ingredients: Batavia Community Pepper Blend, Distilled Vinegar, Water, Tomato, Sea Salt, Organic Cane Sugar, Ground Peppercorn Blend (Black, White, Green Peppercorn), Xanthan Gum
Some of the coolest types of hot sauces in my opinion are those made from local and community gardens or farms. Not only do you get a great quality of peppers from small-time growers but these types of sauces are often like wines in that each yearly release has subtle (or not-so-subtle) differences based on the growing conditions that year, the actual peppers grown, and the general terroir. Fire on the Fox is a collaboration between Gindo’s Spice of Life and the Batavia Interfaith Food Pantry and Clothes Closet. Batavia is another suburb of Chicago in what’s known as the Fox Valley, hence the name. This sauce is made from peppers grown in home gardens throughout the area with proceeds going to benefit the Interfaith Food Pantry.
I would normally cry foul over a hot sauce not disclosing the peppers used but this is a case where I can completely understand having it listed as “Batavia Community Pepper Blend”. With the peppers all coming from home gardens I’m sure there was a wide variety of different varietals. Gindo’s did the same thing with their Wasco Garden Center Hot Sauce. Aside from the home-grown peppers the rest of this sauce is fairly straightforward. Distilled vinegar, black pepper, salt, sugar, and tomato are all common enough ingredients in any hot sauce. I’m always a fan of tomatoes in hot sauce as I find they add considerable richness and a complementary acidity to the vinegar. The most unique element in this sauce other than the peppers is the trio of peppercorns. Black pepper is common enough, and I’ve seen white pepper in hot sauces before, but green peppercorns are much more rare. Green, black, and white peppercorns are all the same berry from the same plant, just treated differently. All peppercorns start out as green. When they mature they can be sun-dried to create black peppercorns. Those peppercorns can also be soaked in water to remove their outer skin and then sun-dried, creating white peppercorns. Compared to the more mature white and black peppercorns green ones have a fresher grassier flavor though still that hint of pepper spice.
Gindo’s Fire on the Fox (technically this is the second generation of the sauce, 2 Hot 2 Handle) has a tangy aroma with the peppers and vinegar mixing in the nose. It’s medium-thin in consistency and mostly smooth with only small seeds and bits. I was concerned with the sugar in this sauce that it may be too sweet but after the first taste I find the sweetness to be very subtle. Fire on the Fox is extremely tangy and the strong vinegar and tomato flavors do a great job of offsetting any sweetness in the sauce to keep it from tasting like a “sweet heat” type of hot sauce. In terms of the actual peppers I can’t readily identify which area used but there is a nice blend of fruity and vegetal pepper flavors. I’d assume there are some habaneros, jalapenos, cayenne, and a variety of sweet and semi-hot peppers in the mix, though the overall heat level is just above mild. The peppercorn trio does add that characteristic black pepper spice with a little funk and maybe a little extra green tang from the white and green. Overall this sauce is straightforward – tangy, good pepper flavor, nice tomato richness, and just a little bit of subtle sweetness and interesting spice from the peppercorns.
Since Fire on the Fox doesn’t have any crazy flavor combinations I found this very flexible in terms of pairing. I loved this on a cheesesteak. I always find vinegar-forward extra tangy hot sauces to be the perfect pairing for sandwiches. This is also great with macaroni and cheese. It’s not a dish I usually go for but when I do get the craving I’m usually bored with it after two bites, but with a nice tangy hot sauce it makes it interesting enough to finish. Finally this sauce is excellent with grilled meats. That little bit of sweetness and the pepper flavor makes this a great dipping sauce for picanha and linguiça.
Not only is Fire on the Fox delicious it also help support a great cause so of course this sauce gets my recommendation. The bottle I have from the 2nd iteration is no longer available, but as of the time of this review you can purchase the 3rd iteration “Fire on the Fox: Three Peat Heat” from Gindo’s website.
