11/9/24 Hot Sauce Review: Pup & the Pepper

It's taken me forever to actually get around to this, but this will be my first hot sauce review. It was supposed to be done and posted some weeks ago, but it was delayed by my birthday and a hurricane. I've decided to review most of the sauces from one company since I've put off doing reviews for so long and think this format makes it more consumable. Hopefully, you all like it.

Pup & The Pepper is a brand out of Indianapolis that was launched in 2021. They have partnerships with multiple animal rescue charities in their local community. Furthermore, all of their sauces are vegetarian, with some vegan options as well. At the time I had tried the sauces, they had five flavors to select from. However, they recently added a new flavor, Smokin' Ube Blueberry. I may review that one in the future, but I will for now stick with the original five.

• Eleanor's Everything Sauce - 6/10, Above Average: This sauce is one of the mildest of the five, with a strong front flavor of roasted tomatoes and red peppers. These primary ingredients give the sauce a peppery, sweet taste that rolls out into the slight garlicky taste that it finishes with. As far as sweet sauces go, I think this bottle has a good baseline recipe. However, I think some of the elements of the sauce don't shine through. The most striking flavor that gets lost in the sweetness is the savory taste of the shiitake mushrooms. There was absolutely no umami flavor that I could find. The taste of the main hot pepper, the habanero, is also absent as well. While this sauce is a pleasant entry for those that want a sweet sauce to put on sandwiches and fish, this sauce falls short in creating a unique flavor experience.

• Jalapeno Lime Time - 6/10, Above Average: There's not much to say about this sauce that differs from many of the other jalapeno sauces on the market right now. Of course, jalapenos are the stars of the show with this sauce, adding a little bit more heat than the Everything Sauce. There is a hint of citrus taste with it coming from the lime juice and apple cider vinegar that are part of the base. There is also a nice finish of garlic and onion that compliment the bright and slightly earthy taste of the jalapeno. While this is a solid sauce, this entry suffers from being too close to other jalapeno sauces made by most other brands. Safe bet, but not unique. It has a solid use for tacos and chicken.

• Cilantro Verde - 7/10, Good: I was surprised that I liked this sauce as much as I did. I'm generally not a fan of poblano sauces because of how low-heat the pepper is. For this sauce, the poblano taste is complimented well with the other ingredients to really let it hit above its weight. The cilantro, along with the combo of poblano and morita peppers, gives the sauce a nice earthy taste. This is then accented by a dual closer of sweet and citrus twang. This comes from the use of honey and lime juice which successfully gives the sauce a complex flavor. I also think the use of rice vinegar for the base was a solid choice, as it kept the vinegar from muting the full flavor of the peppers. While it's not the best verde sauce I've had, it was certainly a notable entry worth checking out. I like using this with steak sandwiches and beef nachos.

• PawPaw Peach Habanero - 7/10, Good: Like Jalapeno Lime Time, this sauce isn't anything too unique. The sauce leads with a strong peach taste comes from peach nectar that is assisted by the primary taste of bell pepper. Luckily, this sauce avoids the trappings of the Everything Sauce, with the habanero pepper taste coming through behind the sweetness. It also carries a bit more heat than the previous three sauces. Other than that, I didn't detect so much of the lime and onion as the others. That keeps the flavor profile simple, but effective. While this sauce isn't the most artisan crafted as other fruity hot sauces, it gives an interesting shakeup in a sea of mango-habanero sauces that handles its core elements well. This sauce is killer on all things fish, especially salmon and scallops.

• Scarlet Reaper - 6/10, Above Average: As a fan of reaper pepper sauces, this entry has an uphill battle as far as stacking points on the board. There is a plethora of reaper sauces with complex flavors and strong ingredients. This sauce, while being unique from other reaper sauces I've tried, falls short of the pack in being a go-to bottle. The red bell peppers take over the flavor, giving it a strong sweet taste. Meanwhile, you do get a small hint of the fruity reaper taste, with a strong heat to follow. While the heat is the most notable of the five, it is nowhere near as hot as some reaper sauces, which makes it more accessible to more mild lovers. Another flavor that rounds out the sweet and fruity taste is that of cayenne pepper, which helps to balance the two elements and give more of a pepper taste to the strong sweetness. This sauce manages to distinguish itself from the others, but just doesn't hit the parts of the palate that other sweet reaper sauces do. When I get around to covering them, you'll know why. This sauce can be used general purpose if you like a strong bit of sweet. However, I think this bottle kills on a chicken salad.

While Pup & the Pepper doesn't field the strongest list of sauces compared to other brands, it certainly tries to do something unique and manages to succeed in some areas that I think is worthy of checking out. I'd recommend picking up a bottle of Cilantro Verde or PawPaw Peach Habanero if you're looking for something earthy or sweet next time your shopping online for sauces. Plus, some of the money goes to pups in need. Nothing beats a sauce that pleases the heart as much as it pleases the mouth.