Butterfly Bakery of Vermont – Pink Peppercorn Pear Hot Sauce
Bitter: 🟡🟡○○○
Salty: 🟡🟡🟡○○
Sour/Tangy:🟡🟡🟡○○
Sweet: 🟡🟡🟡○○
Umami: 🟡🟡○○○
Heat: 🟡○○○○○○○○○
Quick Flavor Notes: Floral, sweet, citrusy
Recommended: Yes
Texture: Medium with some seeds and small bits
Ingredients: Champlain Orchards pears, Familia Farm red serranos, distilled white vinegar, Northwoods Apiaries honey, salt, water, fresh ground pink peppercorns.
There are likely to be an increased number of Butterfly Bakery of Vermont hot sauce reviews in the near future just because I realized I have a huge number of their sauces sitting the wings. I end up ordering a lot of sauces from them for a number of reasons. The first and primary is that I just love the taste of them, they always use high quality ingredients and you can taste the quality of the peppers and produce in their sauces. The second, which is likely a big contributor to the first, is that they make a point at working with local small farms and artisan food producers. Third and finally, and the reason I’m going to try to up my tempo on their reviews, is that they’re always coming out with creative new microbatch hot sauce releases and I get into a bit of a Pokémon “gotta catch ’em all” mindset. Unfortunately many times by the time I get around to the sauce for review it’s no longer available. While I will continue to review those (if for no other reason than to leave an internet presence that it existed) this particular sauce IS still available, so if it sounds good to you, you can actually buy it.
Pink Peppercorn Pear Hot Sauce’s most unique ingredient is, of course, the pink peppercorns. Pink peppercorns aren’t actually true peppercorns, that is, they don’t come from the Piper Nigrum plant that gives us black, green, and white peppercorns. I’ve mentioned it in previous reviews but black, green, and white peppercorns are all the same berry at different stages of life or treated differently. They all start as green, can be sun-dried to become black peppercorns, or can be soaked in water and semi-fermented so that the out husk falls off to become white peppercorns. Pink peppercorns on the other hand are actually members of the cashew family and can come from one of three sources. The most common, and what I believe are used here, are from the Peruvian Peppertree and have a very floral and citrusy flavor with some dried fruit undertones. The next most common are from the Brazilian Pepper plant which have a flavor more similar to black pepper with more resiny notes. The final version comes from the Chinese Baies Rose which I believe is not common in the USA, it’s said to have a more piney flavor. Pink peppercorns are often used in desserts and this sauce leans into the sweet with Champlain Orchards pears and honey from Northwood Apiaries. The heat comes from red serranos from Familia Farms, always one of my favorite peppers.
Like most of their microbatches this one is kept more rustic in texture with the seeds and some pepper bits left in, something I love. The consistency is medium with the honey and pear making this a little bit thicker than some of their sauces. The pink peppercorns give this a delightful aroma along with the sweet undertones from the pears and honey. Despite the number of sweet ingredients this sauce comes across as well balanced. The sweetness is present but balanced against the flavor of the serranos and the vinegar plus the salt. This sauce is a tad saltier than most craft hot sauces at 80mg per teaspoon, but in my opinion it’s necessary to give it more of a savory edge. I’ve tried one other hot sauce that’s used pink peppercorns, Gindo’s Spicy Cranberry, but it also used black green and white so this sauce is unique in featuring only the pink. The pink peppercorns really are the magic in this sauce. They have a bit of traditional spicy pepper flavor but the floral and citrus notes come through the sweetness along with just a hint of resiny piney flavor. There’s harmony between those pink peppercorns and the fruity ripe red serranos with the pink peppercorns seeming to bring out the fruity floral notes of the pepper. Heat level is minimal, no real burn here but there is chile flavor.
The bottle recommends this as a sandwich sauce and I do love sandwiches. I tried this with turkey and swiss as well as ham and cheddar and I can confirm this is amazing on both. The little bit of sweetness, the balanced tanginess, and the complex spice of the pink peppercorns all really elevate lunch meat to new heights. I also really enjoyed this as a dip for some prosciutto-wrapped sticks of mozzarella that I impulse bought at Costco. Too salty on their own, this sauce didn’t cover the flavors of the cured meat or mild cheese but instead elevated both. I believe this would be an amazing sauce for any charcuterie board. The bottle also suggested its use on ice cream. I’d loved a previous Butterfly Bakery of Vermont microbatch, their Maple Strawberry Rhubarb, on ice cream so went in with high hopes and was rewarded. Interestingly on cold vanilla ice cream the pink peppercorn flavor came out even more.
Butterfly Bakery of Vermont Pink Peppercorn Pear Hot Sauce gets my full recommendation. It’s a great hot sauce to try to experience a spice not often used in hot sauces plus it’s delicious as well. As an added bonus as of the time of this writing this is one you can actually still buy. This sauce is all natural with no artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, or thickeners.
