Close your eyes. Imagine the year is 1300 BCE, and you are Moses, a humble Egyptian shepherd.
You wake up on a day like any other, and put your pants on one leg at a time.
You eat a quick breakfast of bread and fruits.
After gathering up the herd, you head out into the desert. Now, bear with me- image the shock, dismay, even bewilderment
you feel as your eyes fall upon a burning bush. Ablaze, but not consumed by the fire.
Alright. Now image me- a humble shepherd, herding my dozen eggs and a bag of peanut butter pretzels through the land of Trader Joe’s. Just as Moses observed the burning bush, I gaze with astonishment as a hot sauce pokes it’s head out from the shelf. A hotsauce!? in Trader Joe’s?? the stomping grounds of white soccer moms? What was this doing here- Was it lost?
Well, if it was lost, it has now been re homed into my pantry.
Today’s sauce is an interesting one. I first noticed the consistency: it much more watery than many of the sauces I frequent. No more viscous than a Greek dressing. The similarity to salad dressing doesn’t stop there; Upon first taste, the main profile is a punchy salt and vinegar, followed up by a refreshing wave of citrus.
Looking at the ingredients, the story starts to tell itself:
Yuzu hot sauce is a lively confection of Yuzu Kosho, a salt cured condiment of yuzu citrus peel and chiles combined with small batch vinegar
The salt and citrus complement each other very nicely. The taste is very comparable to preserved lemons- the salt and acid bind together into a very sharp tang. The yuzu brings a bit of it’s own character, but nothing crazy. “small batch” vinegar rounds out the flavor, whatever that is. The end result is a tidy package, but I’m sure I could call it well balanced with salt-forward it is.
As you might have noticed- I haven’t really talked about the “hot” part yet. Maybe because there isn’t a ton of it. The ingredient list only names “chili peppers”. If I had to guess, between the taste and the color I would say it’s probably Jalapenos. After consuming, I felt a slight throat tingle, but calling it spicy would certainly be a stretch. The salt and citrus certainly cut through whatever is there. I’d be curious to try this again with half as much salt as it has now, and see if it feels spicier.
Overall it’s a really interesting sauce. A lot more character than I’d expect from something from Trader Joe’s. You couldn’t use this as you’d use any another hot sauce though; This certainly shouldn’t be drizzled on a burrito. With that said, I think this would be a really good acid substitute, especially in something like a salad dressing, or a stir-fry sauce.
Overall: 67/100