Whoa, this stuff is smokin hot. And it’s been hot with the judges too, winning a Golden Chile award and numerous other industry accolades. It comes in my favorite form-factor the 16 oz wide mouth glass jar, it has a great, professional-looking label, and it tastes great too. It’s got a strong natural vibe with a puree like consistency and an unfiltered habanero flavor – not watered down or masked by other flavors in the bottle (which could be a turn-off for more traditional garden-variety sauce lovers but I’m a fan). Ingredients are also great – Jake’s does not include MSG, artificial sweeteners, gluten, or corn-syrup.
Aroma
Nice habanero infused tomato puree flavor. I like that it smells nothing like ketchup (as many sauces do).
Taste
Sweet, hot, and spicy. Again, habanero is the dominant flavor. Secondary flavor is a sweet BBQ sauce base (I bet their mild sauce is good too), and spices. Smoke flavor is listed but I didn’t really taste that in here. Nor did I taste the vinegar, which is good for this kind of sauce.
Consistency
Interesting puree-like style. My wife looked at the sauce in the jar and asked if it went bad. She just hadn’t seen unique consistency in sauces as I’ve tried before (such as Saint A’s, Grandville, and Brushfire BBQ. I like that sauces offer some variation to the typical ketchup-like smoothness.
Ingredients
Tomato Puree, Brown Sugar, Jalapeno Puree (Jalapeno Pepper, Water, Citric Acid), Molasses, Habanero Puree (Habanero Peppers, Water, Citric Acid), Apple Cider Vinegar, Ginger, Honey, Modified Food Starch, Smoke Flavor, Worcestershire Sauce (Water, Distilled Vinegar, Sugar, Salt, Hydrogenated Soy Protein, Caramel Color, Dehydrated Garlic and Onion, Tamarind Extract, Spices, Anchovy Paste, Flavorings), Salt, Onion, Dijon Mustard (Mustard Seed, Vinegar, Salt, Spices), Olive Oil, Lemon Juice Concentrate, Garlic, Crushed Red Pepper, Chili Powder, Spices, Celery, Natural Flavor.
Sauce Score: 5
Stay Tuned! I’ll be giving away some of this tomorrow!
Site Editor, BBQ Sauce Lover, Family Guy, Hi Tech Marketer by Day. He recently wrote the Ebook “How to Market Your BBQ Sauce” which can be purchased on this site.
Jake’s Ingredients are also great – Jake’s does not include MSG, artificial sweeteners, gluten, or corn-syrup.
But Worcestershire Sauce is made with corn-syrup, so this is not right, look it up.
North America
In Canada, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce is identical to the standard British version. It is imported from England and has the same bottle. The label is similar to the British version, but modified to include French text.
Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce sold in the USA differs from the British recipe. Its ingredients are listed as: vinegar, molasses, high-fructose corn syrup, anchovies, water, onions, salt, garlic, tamarind concentrate, cloves, natural flavourings and chili pepper extract. The main differences are the use of distilled white vinegar in place of malt vinegar, and high fructose corn syrup in place of sugar. Nonetheless, the American version tastes almost exactly the same as the British recipe, although some people[who?] claim the American version is slightly sweeter, less spicy, and has less depth. A thicker variety is also sold for the American market. The American version is packaged differently from the British version, coming in a dark bottle with a beige label and wrapped in paper. Lea & Perrins USA claims that this practice is a vestige of shipping practices from the 19th century when the product was imported from England as a measure of protection for the bottles.