Recently, The fine folks at The Hot Zone Online decided to run a feature article on ‘Citizen Cajun’ and to share their thoughts on the salsa after an interview with Yours Truly.  Here’s some of what they said about the salsa:

Trying to create a new and exciting salsa in the marketplace can be about as challenging as trying to recreate the wheel. Skeptics will tell you that there are only a finite number of potential ingredients and their combinations are also similarly limited. Such nay-saying is totally lost on the fine folks at the Big Orson Sauce & Salsa Factory, Inc. who have dedicated themselves to making salsa that is both tasty and a lot unique. Jason Clabaugh is their stogie-chompin’ pitchman and all-around Cajun salsa guru who offers up some interesting facts about the origins of the company, life in New Orleans (or as some would say, N’awlins), and how mango salsa can be as good or better than tomato salsa.”

‘Citizen Cajun’ Hot Review: Let me start out by saying that I adore the taste of this salsa. The ‘hot’ version of this salsa has a nearly perfect blend of heat and flavor…so much so that I actually forgot that it was a fruit-based salsa rather than a tomato one. Just enough heat to get your attention (to me, about a 5/10 or so at best), this salsa is incredible well balanced. Not too chunky but not too blended either, it is a perfect consistency for either chip n’ dip eating or for culinary uses. I cannot use the word “balanced” too much with this product, as the mixture of sweetness and heat are simply outstanding.

It was hard to get this jar away from me and the tortilla chip bowl, as I felt this was the better of the two salsas for snacking. However, this was my jar of choice for my egg scramble as well as for use with grilled meats, especially chicken and fish. No matter how I used it, I liked it.”

‘Citizen Cajun’ Very Hot Review: Almost without fail, cranking up the heat in a given lineup of products almost guarantees that I will like them more. Not true with this salsa, as I thought the taste was a better balance with the hot version. However, this salsa is no slouch and will carry a wider appeal to those who just plain like their salsas with enough heat to make ‘em sweat. The heat is further up the scale, perhaps a 7/10, and reaches a nice simmer on your tongue after a few mouthfuls. The mouth feel of this salsa was different than the hot, and in some ways I did like this salsa better, but rather with cooking as opposed to snacking. Heck, I used this salsa like a condiment…poured over or dipped into by lots of food. See the picture below? While salsa ain’t mustard as far as hot dogs go, this Extra Hot salsa made one heck of an addition to our Memorial Day hot dog cookout with our Hebrew National franks! I could easily see this used with ribs or other strong meats, and mixing into something like egg or tuna salad would finally give those bland concoctions a little sweetness and heat to make you really crave them.”

High praise, indeed!  Interesting how both the reviews from Taste The Fear and The Hot Zone Online picked up on the versatility of the salsa as an ingredient in other recipes. We have a lot more of them on our Recipes page.