Marie Sharps Grapefruit Pulp Habanero Pepper Sauce
Right, where do i start?? let me begin by telling you a little bit about “Marie Sharp” and her company..yes thats a good start, I’ll quote directly from their website as it explains it wayyyyyyy better than i ever could!
“In 1980, in Belize, Central America, Marie Sharp came up with some recipes for sauces, jams, and jellies while experimenting with fresh Habanero peppers, vegetables, and fruits from her farm. She was overwhelmed with positive feedback and encouragement when neighbors and friends tasted them. That was when she decided to turn it into a family business.”
So “Marie Sharp” as a brand has been going for nearly 30 years, and in that time they have grown from being just Marie herself in her small kitchen with one other employee and some relatives, to a 20 strong team based in a factory in Dangriga, Belize. “Marie Sharp” makes sauces for both the local and international markets, and today i have one such sauce in front of me just itching to be reviewed, and bugger me is it an odd one!!
Ingredients: Select Yellow Habanero Peppers, Gapefruit Pulp, Onions, Key Lime Juice, Vinegar, Garlic and Salt.
(Review bottle kindly supplied by www.Scorchio.co.uk)
“Marie Sharps Grapefruit Pulp Habanero Pepper Sauce” is a sauce unlike ANY other i have ever tried..it uses an ingredient i never would have thought would work with chilli’s of any variety ever, at all , EVER..so in case that was’nt clear enough, i’ve never thought of grapefruit being used in conjunction with chilli’s to make a hotsauce. The bottle is a typical US standard 150ml bottle with a white lid and a beautiful silver foil label wrapped around it with a picture of most of the sauces ingredients proudly splashed across it along with “Marie Sharps” logo and “Proud products of belize”, you can tell from the bottle and the website that these people are very proud of their heritage and products!
The sauce inside looks exactly how i would imagine any sauce with yellow habs and grapefruit in would look…yellow! A kind of iced lemon yellow, quite subdued if that makes any sense? with flecks of green and some white seeds suspended in the mixture for all to see, i twisted off the top and gave the sauce the once over with my snout, SURPRISE!! It smelled of grapefruit and habaneros, its lucky that i am a fan of grapefruit, its bitter fruitiness really hits the spot sometimes, i dunno why!
I took out my spoon and poured some on, put it straight into my mouth and savoured the mix of flavours and heat before gulping it down and i must say i’m impressed! The flavour is as you would expect, very “grapefruity” (my word, i invented it!!) with a strong fruity but savoury aftertaste brought on by the habaneros coupled with the onions and garlic, so its safe to say you can actually taste most of the ingredients in this one! There is a certain bitterness about it that just seems to enhance the flavour rather than hinder it. The heat is nothing to write home about but it does cause alot of warmth mainly on the middle on the tongue that is very noticeable after a couple of spoonfuls of the stuff, in fact while typing this i noticed i have actually broken a slight sweat!!
I can imagine this sauce to go very well with vegetable dishes and fish mainly, but by all means give it a try on other things, the only downside to this sauce is that its aimed at people who like grapefruit, if you don’t like grapefruit then DO NOT buy this as i can’t be held responsible for your tastebuds LOL! As i have said i like grapefruit and for me this sauce will be used in several fish and veg related experiments over the next few weeks, this sauce costs a mere £3.99 a bottle from www.scorchio.co.uk and if you like grapefruit then please give it a whirl as it could very well be just the sauce you’re looking for!!
Till next time my spicy titans, may the sauce be with you, always!!
