Recently, the zesty foods website Taste the Fear selected three of its members to review  ‘Citizen Cajun’ Hot and Very Hot mango habanero salsas. Here are a few excerpts from the reviews:

Reviewer #1:

“I quickly grabbed a bag of my faithful salsa feeding utensils, the trusty Tostitos tortilla chip and a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos. I grabbed several handfuls of each and tossed them into a bowl. I nabbed a spatula and another bowl, and scooped out Big O’s concoction. Mr. Tostito went into the bowl and scooped up about a third of a chip worth of salsa. I prefer a ratio of between a third to a half salsa/dip to chip ratio. I threw the chip to the back of my nutritional intake mechanism and began chewing. The first chip went down without an understanding of what just happened. Chip number two was prepared and fired into the mouth keeping in mind to chew and note taste. I thought to myself, “Holy **** you have to be kidding!” The symphony of sweet and heat were beyond my expectations. I prepared chip three and almost took off the tips of my thumb and index finger as I put it into my mouth. This time the remarkable freshness surprised me.

I ate five more chips, trying the Doritos along the way. Each bite brought something different. Amazingly, nearly every bite tasted different than its predecessors. The salsa was fresh, sweet, had some heat, and was original. I couldn’t believe how good this salsa was. I’m simply not used to salsa coming out of a jar that tasted as though I had made it myself. Big Orson has done something wonderful here. He truly has accomplished combining the sweet taste of mango, while delivering the excellent bounty of flavor within the habanero. I devoured the bottle by the end of the day.”

Reviewer #2:

“After diligently trying each of these for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and schnacks, I feel pretty comfortable giving these salsas the thumbs-up. As an admitted foodie, it’s about more than just the scovie-factor for me, and these salsas have a sweet, refreshing flavor that is a great break from typical tomato tastes. The hint of ginger ties all the flavors together and helps the habanero to linger on the tongue for longer than it normally would. I recommend trying it on some huevos rancheros, instead of pasta sauce, and straight out of the jar with some blue corn tortilla chips - anything salty will accentuate the sweetness that characterizes these salsas.”

Reviewer #3:

“Both straight out of the jar have this sweet start and the only flavors that stands out is garlic and ginger. The only difference is the heat level. The hot is not so hot..maybe a 2 the very hot is maybe a 4 on heat. The label says to enjoy this “sweet heat” with beef, pork, chicken, seafood or just on your favorite chip.

For the chip test, neither salsa works. It’s just to sweet for the salty of any chip. And I tried a few from corn chips to just Yukon chips. However it does work really well when you dip veggies in it. Broccoli, carrots and cucumbers just pick up the ginger/garlic sweet. I haven’t tried it yet, but I could see this making a great dip if mixed with some sour cream and mayo.

The next was to try it on beef. We had made some steak kabobs and decided to make some tacos with the leftovers. For me this salsa added the perfect sweet and heat to the dish, especially the hotter version. No need for extra sauces!

Since then I have used in on chicken as a dip and also on just rice. The ginger taste just works for that. If there were a sushi bar here I bet it would really work for that also. Something else that comes to mind is rumaki. Not a lot of people are into it, but it would work great as the liver marinade. I’ll let you know when I try it.”

UPDATE:  Apparently the Pirates either abandoned their domain ship or it was eaten by beasties.  So, you can’t read the original review there.  As we say in post-Katrina New Orleans, “Ain’t dere no mo’”.