McIlhenny Habanero Sauce

I’m a native born New Mexican whose family goes back for generations (the area was known as New Spain at the time), so I it’s very fair for y’all to assume that chile and I have been friends since I was a wee lad. All my life I’ve enjoyed the New Mexico varieties of both green and red chiles which, if I may be so bold to say, are the best all-around chiles in the world. That said, I’m not a snob about it. A large variety of commercial hot sauces and salsas find space in my pantry. As of late, my favorite has been McIlhenny Habanero Sauce.

As most people know, habanero chiles can be among the hottest in the world. Just the very mention of them can make large and otherwise fearless men tremble with the anticipation of great pain. With this incarnation, you don’t need to fear. It’s just about the least scary of the habanero sauces. If you can tolerate the staple of The McIlhenny Co.: Tabasco Sauce; then you’ll really enjoy this offering (in fact, tabasco sauce is one of the ingredients).

Since you’re likely most concerned about heat, we’ll start with that. The habanero sauce is about 2- (maybe 3-)times hotter than regular tabasco. This is good for those times that you want a little more tingle on the tongue. The heat is more of a whole-mouth heat with a slow attack and a nice, but not too lengthy, denouement. But heat isn’t the main reason for using this sauce, it’s flavor.

While tabasco sauce can come off as sort of vinegary, this habanero sauce is more complex. First off, it’s a little thicker, indicative of the sugar, mango, and papaya added to add a Caribbean feel to the sauce. It adds a complex but mild sweetness to the mild smokey flavor of the mix (not nearly as smokey as chipotle). This sauce is a good match for many foods especially if you don’t want it to draw attention away from the main ingredients.

Still, the contents of this product in the familiar McIlhenny bottle can pack a punch to those who don’t regularly down capsicum-heated dishes. For example, I’ll spritz about 10 drops onto a half-slice of American cheese and down it with glee. My mom sampled 1/3 of a drop on a piece of tortilla with some cheese and she felt the burn (painfully) for about twenty minutes (but she typically thinks our everyday chile is hot when it so isn’t). Her brother (my uncle) totally agreed with my assessment of its heat and flavor.

This has become my go-to sauce for snacks and recipes. It adds a nice little spice to a gnosh while not being too painful. When you want to add heat to a dish without making it taste like vinegar, use 1/3-1/2 as much as you would tabasco and you’ll probably be very happy with the result (but test first).

If you like to spice up your meals quemoso, then I highly recommend you give this sauce a try. At just $2-3 for a 2oz bottle (at the time of this writing), what have you got to lose?