I love spicy food. The spicier the better. Since having Covid in 2020 and losing my senses of taste and smell for over a year, and never having those senses completely return, I took my love of a little spice on my food to the next level.
Over the course of the past few years, I have developed an infatuation with super hot peppers… you know, the ones that break one million on the Scoville scale. Ghost Peppers, Scorpion Peppers, 7-Pot Peppers, Carolina Reapers… these are the things of my food-fueled dreams! And, to be honest, living in Iowa makes satisfying my desires a bit… difficult. Iowa seems to be one of those places where many people feel that black peppercorn is too spicy; this pretty much sums up most (but not all) the Midwest.
When I moved here, I almost instantly researched hot sauces made right here in Iowa. I found three companies that are local to Iowa and give access to an easy way to purchase their products online. I’ve ordered a sampling of sauces from each of them, and I’m going to give a little review of each sauce.
First up, Brown Dogs Farm.
On Brown Dogs Farm’s website, they were selling a set of mini bottles (1.76oz each) that I thought would be a great way to sample all of their sauces. The only regret I ended up having over ordering this set was the fact that I went through the small bottles way too fast!
The folks at Brown Dogs Farm seem to think that spicy sauces need some fruit to complete them… and for them, it seems to work. Even their standard “Hot Sauce” gives off fruity vibes… although the only “fruit” in this sauce is green and hot peppers and tomatoes; maybe it’s the brown sugar and lime juice?
The only two of these sauces that I didn’t love instantly were the mild Jalapeno Green Apple and the hot Cherry Rhubarb Reaper… but my feelings toward those sauces changed by the ends of the bottles. I’m going to give a little breakdown of each sauce.
I’m going to start with the one simply called “Hot Sauce.” This is actually just a really good table sauce – you know, the kind of sauce that kind of goes with anything. It has a nice low-level of heat. One of the things that I really like about the sauces from Brown Dogs Farm is they aren’t overly vinegary. I like vinegary sauce on occasion, like Buffalo or Louisiana sauces (or Tabasco especially the scorpion version); these sauces are great in bloody marys or in red beers or on the occasional wing. For most foods, I prefer a sauce where the taste of the peppers or other ingredients aren’t overpowered by vinegar, and Brown Dog Farm’s Hot Sauce fits that bill. This sauce (like all of BDF’s sauces), leans into being fruity tasting. It’s a slightly sweet sauce with nice tomato accents and a little heat.
The first time I tasted the Jalapeno Green Apple Sauce, I thought it tasted like apple sauce with a little bit of jalapeno blended in. I didn’t really care for it in a hot sauce kind of way. By the time I finished the small bottle, I thought it tasted like apple sauce with a little bit of jalapeno blended in… and I liked it. The flavor combination works, and it works well. When I first tried the sauce, I wondered where the use of this sauce makes sense. At the end of the bottle, I came to the realization that any savory food that goes well with apples is a great thing to use this sauce with. Roasted pork or pork chops, fried potatoes, chicken, sausages… there are a lot of foods out there that would pair well with this lightly sweet, slightly spicy sauce.
I’m pretty sure the next three sauces are what Brown Dogs Farms is hanging its hat on. Habanero Peach was a very pleasant surprise… as were the Ghost Pear and Ghost Pineapple sauces. What I really liked about the Habanero Peach Sauce isn’t just the nice sweetness that comes from the peach, but the incredible savory kick I got from this sauce. The habanero pepper gives this sauce a nice heat… I’d say medium to low-level hot on a typical hot sauce scale. I love habanero sauces when mixed with a nice, sweet fruit, but the savory undertones in this sauce really make it stand out. Scouring the ingredients to see what could make this sauce so good to me, I discovered that mustard is on that ingredients list and may be the reason this sauce makes me so happy.
The Ghost Pear and Ghost Pineapple are quite similar to each other. Although both sauces are pretty sweet, and neither of these sauces really seem significantly hotter that the Peach Habanero, the pineapple version did have a slightly savory component as well… but this sauce doesn’t have the mustard of the habanero sauce, so I’m clueless where that component comes from. I really didn’t get nearly as much pear and pineapple from these two sauces as I got just “sweet”. The Peach Habanero, on the other hand, really did taste like peach. All three sauces are well worth a try.
Finally, we come to the Cherry Rhubarb Reaper Sauce. Here we are at the second sauce in Brown Dogs Farm’s lineup that I was like, “What in the hell would you use this sauce on?!?” This sauce has a really nice heat! Carolina Reaper in just about anything will give a really nice heat. I wouldn’t even consider thinking of this sauce as a “super hot”, but it does have a nice burn that builds with each bite. What kind of threw me off with this sauce wasn’t the heat or the smidge of sweetness. What kind of threw me off with this sauce was the incredible tartness of the cherries and rhubarb. I was really struggling to imagine foods this sauce would go well with. And yet again, by the end of the bottle and after giving this sauce a go with some different foods, this is actually a sauce I’d keep around for regular use. It’s amazing on a burger with cream cheese. It rocks on any fruit-based dessert… think apple pie or peach cobbler. If you can’t imagine adding a nice sweet, tart heat to a dessert, you probably shouldn’t be reading my blog. If a hot sauce you could easily use on desserts (slather some on vanilla ice cream and you won’t be disappointed) is something you are looking for, or can at least imagine, this may be the sauce for you. I’m not saying that Cherry Rhubarb Reaper Sauce is just a dessert hot sauce, though, because this sauce would be amazing in small amounts on grilled cod or as a dip for fried shrimp (or even chicken tenders or nuggets). I added a little to some ranch dressing and went to town on an order of French fries.
I really don’t know anything about the folks at Brown Dogs Farm, and I’m definitely got getting anything compensation-wise for doing this review, but if you’re looking for something new in the way of hot sauces and your regular sauces are starting to get a little boring, the sauces from this place are definitely worth a try. There are some Iowans who did right at Brown Dogs Farm. Check out what they have to offer at Brown Dogs Farm. If you do give these sauces a try, I’d love to know what you think. Comments on my posts are always open… except to spambots, which I remove when I can. I may not always respond, but I almost always see them and appreciate the feedback.
Now, on to another hot sauces that I want to try and review. There’s like seven or eight sauces from the next Iowa company I’m going to review. Seven or eight hot sauces that I have to try… yes, sometimes things in life go just a little bit right…