D'ELidas Picante Chombo

Category: Hot Sauce Style: Panamanian Hot Sauce Commercial Product: Yes Product of: Panama Manufacturer: D'ELidas USA Website: Visit Ingredients: Selected Habanero Pepper, Mustard, Vinegar, Water, Salt, Onion, Xanthan Gum, Sodium Benzoate.

JayT's Rating:  4.3  (0)

Label/Packaging: This bottle jumps out at me. I don't know if it is the bright yellow background or the fresh pods in the center. Maybe it's the fact that it has a Spanish name. Maybe it's because it is from Panama. Whatever it is, the label works.

Appearance/Aroma: As far as the appearance of the sauce, it is pourable, but chunky. Full of bits of pepper flesh and skins. I like a sauce to have some texture. Reading the ingredients I am expecting it to be vinegary and runny, but it has a nice consitency. Hmmm it has an orifice reducer the top. Not a good sign. Threw that away. Now I can get down to business. The aroma is interesting. I can smell the pungency of the peppers, the bite of the vinegar (I wonder what kind of vinegar it is?), but the overwhelming smell is mustard. I don't know that I have had a hot sauce that has mustard as a top ingredient. At least not one that claims to be a habanero sauce. This is going to be interesting. You know what this smells like? A jar of pepperocini. Cool aroma.

Some of the best sauces I have had were gifts from family or friends on vacation in Mexico, Barbados, and other Caribbean destinations. I absolutely love trying sauces from other countries especially when I have NEVER had a sauce from them before. Panama is one country that I have not had, or even seen a sauce from. From what I have read, this is commonly used as a table sauce in Panama, and has just recently become available in the USA by D'ELidas USA in St. Louis and Florida.

If the aroma and look of the sauce are any indication this is going to be fun. First taste of the sauce is pleasant. You know how you have a salsa with a lot of ingredients going on and you let it sit in the fridge for few hours to let the flavors marry? That is what I am getting here. I can taste each ingredient, but none overpowers the other. There is a vinegary kind of tart beginning, then the mustard and onion flavors take over and the bite of the habanero finishes up.

The heat of this sauce is a tiny bite on the tip of the tongue followed by a building warm heat on your throat. It is what I would call warm. Not a burner by any means. It is more of a mellow, enjoy the taste, but feel the warmth building, and don't forget I AM a hot sauce kind of heat. I have had many habanero sauces and some hotter, but this one has a distinctive flavor that I will remember. Now, let's try it on some food.

Heat Level: 5 From Nada to Naga (0-10, 10+ being Extreme) Suggested Uses: Since wings are my favorite thing to try hot sauces on I got a big bag and cooked them in my smoker. I added the sauce toward the end and even poured some on as I ate them. Great on wings. I also liked it on quesadillas, a pastrami sandwich, and even in a salad. I see why they use it as a table sauce. It is VERY versatile.