Crispy Kytti’s Cauldron – Ko’s Adventure

Bitter: 🟡🟡○○○

Salty: 🟡🟡○○○

Sour/Tangy:🟡🟡🟡○○

Sweet: 🟡🟡🟡○○

Umami: 🟡🟡○○○

Heat: ○○○○○○○○○○

Quick Flavor Notes: Mustard, vegetal, sweet

Recommended: Conditional

Texture: Medium and smooth

Ingredients: Pepper mash (yellow bell, pink lady apple, red bell, orange bell, salt), apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, cane sugar, water, spices, spicy brown mustard, yellow mustard, garlic powder, minced garlic, salt, xanthan gum

Crispy Kytti’s Cauldron out of Sioux City, IA is one of the first ultra-small-batch hot sauce companies I purchased a bunch of sauces from. Unfortunately it’s been a bit since I’ve done a review of one of them as I try to spread things around and sometimes I just get blind to sauces sitting right in front of me so I decided it was time to open another one up. This time I decided to go with Ko’s Adventure which brings up the question of “what is a hot sauce?” I tend to be pretty open minded in terms of heat levels (or lack thereof) so I was excited to give it a try.

What brought my “what is a hot sauce” question up about this sauce is that it doesn’t actually contain any peppers that contain capsaicin, so there’s no heat here. I have had other hot sauces designed to be zero heat and they can still be tasty. Some Caribbean hot sauce brands use the term “pepper sauce” so perhaps that would be more accurate as this does indeed contain peppers, several varieties of bell peppers to be exact. In addition this also has Pink Lady apples which are an Australian cultivar and a cross between the Golden Delicious and the Lady Williams apple. Crispy Kytti’s Cauldron mentions that their hot sauces are fermented which does add additional flavor and the acidity is boosted by apple cider vinegar and lemon juice. Garlic and some unnamed spices contribute towards flavor and the sauce is finished off with both spicy brown and yellow mustard. The consistency is medium with a smooth texture. The mustard aroma is the most prominent in this sauce with some hints of sweetness below.

The mustard dominates in the flavor of Crispy Kytti’s Cauldron Ko’s Adventure as well. In fact I’d also most classify this as a fancy mustard sauce more than a hot sauce. I happen to love mustard so that’s not a problem for me, but as bell peppers tend to have a relatively mild flavor compared to the more assertive mustard all that they contribute here is some bulk and a slight sweet vegetal background. With the garlic and the spicy brown mustard there’s just the tiniest bit of that brief nasal heat that can come from garlic and mustard seeds. The apples and the sugar in the sauce both give it a slightly-more-than-subtle sweetness without taking it all the way into sweet mustard or honey-mustard type of sweet territory. The acidity level is good, more than a standard mustard, and the lemon juice gives it a pleasant tartness. Ko’s Adventure also has a certain richness to it, perhaps the fermentation of the apples and bell peppers created some umami compounds which combined with the silky texture of this sauce give it a meaty indulgent finish.

As the mustard is so prominent in this sauce I predominantly used it as I would a mustard. It’s delicious on bratwursts and hamburgers, it adds depth and tang when added to macaroni and cheese, and it’s perfect spread on the bread for ham or turkey sandwiches. I did try it as a sauce for wings as well and while delicious wings with no heat did leave me wanting. It has convinced me to try adding some mustard to my next batch of homemade wing sauce however.

All of this brings up the questions – who is Ko’s Adventure for? If you’re the type that needs intense burn from all of your sauces and scoffs and anything that doesn’t list super-hot chiles at the first ingredient, this sauce won’t be for you. If you love mustard I think you’ll enjoy this one. This could also be a great sauce to have around if you have small children who want to copy you and use hot sauce but can’t handle heat yet, or if you need something for relatives who stop by with zero heat tolerance as well. Since this is a hot sauce without heat I’ll give this a conditional recommendation. The flavor is excellent, but as I know many people do look for some heat it may be disappointing to those of you who want that.