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2016 State of Mexican Hot Sauce / Chili Sauce in Thai stores


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There have been, over the past several years, a series of TV threads on the subject of the various Mexican-style hot sauces / chili sauces / salsas that have been-are available in various Thai grocery stores. I found a half dozen or so threads just looking last night, but all of the ones I found have been archived and are at least a year or two old.

So, I'm thinking there needs to be a new thread to take a current, updated look at the state of salsas / sauces available in the stores here, since many of us love them dearly and consume them regularly, but they're quite expensive if you start trying to mail/ship them into Thailand from sources in the U.S. or elsewhere. In beginning to look around the supermarkets in BKK today, with a focused eye toward Mexican-style hot sauces, I was actually surprised at how many different brands are on the shelves, many imported, some locally made. I hadn't expected to find such a variety.

But what's difficult is trying to sort out the ones that are actually good, or at least half-way decent to consume in Thailand vs. those that are little more that glorified ketchup. And of course, the prices are all over the map, from relatively inexpensive to pretty pricey. So it becomes a matter of trying to find ones that taste pretty good, are made with good ingredients instead of tons of salt and sugar, and are offered at reasonable price.

Everyone's tastes in hot sauces may vary. For me, I'm not interested in the ketchup-y type sauces, nor those that are little more than spiced up tomato pasta sauces. I want mine with chilis and chili flavor. But I don't buy or select my hot sauces based on whatever one(s) have the highest heat/spice rating whereby one drop and your mouth is burning. I want something with some kick that's going to add to zest and spice to my food, but not leave me crying and my eyes watering. Ideally, something that's a good condiment for things like scrambled eggs, omelettes, frijoles, etc.

My favorite over the past couple years has been Don's Food Chipotle sauce, which used to be available at some Foodlands, in 90 ml bottles for 55 baht. Really had a great flavor, more strong on flavor than spice, and not too expensive. But Don has retired from the sauce-making business, AFAIK, and although I gather some Thais have taken over the operation in some form or another, the Chipotle sauce has become increasingly hard to find on the shelves here in BKK. Thus, my search begins to find what's out there now in 2016 as a suitable "favorites" replacement.

Here's what Don's Chipotle sauce looked like under his reign:

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Here's the post-Don version that has become pretty hard to find:

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If you've tried something that's available in the stores here in Thailand and want to recommend it, do so, and please give some kind of description of what kind of sauce it is, since there are many different chili ingredients, etc.

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The American brand Pain is Good makes some decent hot sauces. I buy both, the Harbenaro and the Jalapeño......The Harbenaro one is pretty hot. I use it in chilli and bbq sauces. There bbq sauce line is ok as well. Not cheap. but a little goes along way.

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When I went looking around Tops and the Central Food Halls in BKK such as at CentralWorld and Central Chidlom, I was surprised to see a name and a brand that's I'd never heard of before -- Pain Is Good from the U.S. -- and in particular the Jalapeno Sauce bottles, 7 oz./198g that are on sale right now for for 155b, regular price 199b. The label says "all natural" and if you peel off the Thai ingredients paste-on label to see the English original ingredients label underneath, you'll see that jalapeno peppers, water and vinegar are the top 3 ingredients, and the salt content is only 5 mg per teaspoon, which is pretty low. And I do love my jalapenos, in all forms!

I brought home about 10 different brands/bottles to try over a period of time during my shopping today, but I think it's safe to say that the PIG Jalapeno Sauce is going to be the first one I open.

post-58284-0-15608000-1468670639_thumb.j post-58284-0-54557000-1468670655_thumb.j

post-58284-0-72324200-1468670668_thumb.j post-58284-0-82324600-1468670694_thumb.j

Meanwhile, Tops and the Central Food Halls are also stocking a half dozen or so other products by the same company, a few other chili sauces, and quite a few flavored BBQ sauces. I bought one of the BBQ sauces to try as well, the Smoked Chipotle flavor in a 20.5 oz./581g bottle for 249b reg, sale 199b. But as might be expected from a BBQ sauce as opposed to a chili sauce, the ingredients list is heavy with corn syrup, sugar, honey, etc. So I'll plan to give it a try for the flavor and just to see, but BBQ sauces really are a different thing from chili / hot sauces.

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And here's a look at the broader range of Pain is Good sauces that are on the store shelves right now.

post-58284-0-22554000-1468671222_thumb.j

The thinner, whisky-flask type bottles to the right are their chili/hot sauces. The bigger, round bottles to the left are their BBQ sauces.

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The American brand Pain is Good makes some decent hot sauces. I buy both, the Harbenaro and the Jalapeño......The Harbenaro one is pretty hot. I use it in chilli and bbq sauces. There bbq sauce line is ok as well. Not cheap. but a little goes along way.

Funny you should mention that!!!

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The other brand from KC is not bad for a Bbq sauce. I think it was named something Night of the living dead sauce or something. The hot version was decent. No HFC in it. I make most of my own sauces but bought three bottles of it.

Try the PIG Harbenaro for the heat.

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Here's a pair of what have got to be the most expensive hot sauces I saw during my travels today, U.S. imports with interesting branding and labels, and gold prices. Another brand I'd never seen before. But I didn't stop to check the labels and see exactly what was on offer, especially at these prices, offered on the shelves at CentralWorld.

Da'Bomb Beyond Insanity Hot Sauce - 113ml for 379b regular, 315b on sale.

post-58284-0-86129200-1468672093_thumb.j

Da'Bomb Ground Zero Hot Sauce - 113 ml for 429b

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With my taste buds having grown up in the southwest U.S., two of my favorite hot sauces from the old days are the traditional Cholula and Tapatio sauces.

Never seen Tapatio in Thailand, though I have purchased and shipped it in through Amazon. But Cholula is here in limited fashion. The Villa Market near me in BKK often has the 5 oz. / 150ml bottles of Cholula for 179b. And the nearby Margarita Storm restaurant at the corner of Suk Road and Soi 13 also offers Cholula as a condiment with their Mexican dishes, as still do perhaps some other bigger outlets of the related Sunrise Tacos chain.

I could live with Cholula or Tapatio as my day-to-day hot sauce, although it's nice to throw in a jalapeno or chipotle-based sauce for variety.

But at Villa's price for the 5 oz bottle, I'm not going to be drinking it like water. Still, it's great to have Cholula here, even if in limited fashion.

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I would buy that one. Im in Rayong for awhile so only get what comes to Tops....Will keep an eye out for it though

Thanks.

You wanna go for Da'Bomb??? I saw it at CentralWorld, but not at Central Chidlom or the regular Tops closest to me. But if it's at CentralWorld, it's probably at least somewhere else in the Central/Tops store lineup.

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When I was browsing the shelves of Central Chidlom and Central World, I was excited to have thought I found a deal.

Here were bottles of Louisiana brand chipotle, jalapeno and habanero hot sauces in 3 oz., 88ml bottles for 60b on sale, regular price 65b. Turns out Louisiana is a brand of Bruce Foods, which is a U.S. company that's also behind the Casa Fiesta brand of canned Mexican beans, sauces, etc found in some stores in Thailand.

So I bought a couple of bottles to take home and try. Haven't opened them yet, but I did peel off the Thai label to reveal the English label underneath. And there to my dismay, I find that each of their sauces have a pretty heavy salt content, to the tune of 240 mg per teaspoon serving, that 10% of one's recommended salt intake for the entire day, just per one teaspoon of their sauce. In contrast, as I noted above, the PIG Jalapeno hot sauce has 5 mg salt per teaspoon.

So, the Louisiana brand hot sauces may taste great and certainly are affordably priced. But I really don't think I need or want that much salt per teaspoon of my hot sauce. I like to pour my hot sauces on pretty thick.

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BTW, at CentralWorld, I bought the last couple bottles still on their shelves to try, and only the chipotle and jalapeno varieties. But Central Chidlom had a pretty full shelve stock of them in all 3 flavors.

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One Thailand-based brand that's available in at least the Villa markets around BKK is El Sapo, which comes in both jalapeno and picante flavors, 350g jars for 85 baht, which is a reasonable price.

They're made by the same Chainat-based company that produces the Nana brand pasta sauces. And I buy and use the El Sapo sauces, usually for use in cooking/flavoring, as opposed to using as a topping.

But over time, they've begun tasting increasingly bland to me. I don't think they've changed their recipe. I just think regaining access to sauces like Tapatio and Cholula reminded me what a more traditional Mexican hot sauce is going to taste like.

The top two ingredients listed for the El Sapo Jalapeno sauce are tomatoes and onions, with jalapenos coming third. Overall I'd say it's a nice sauce, but one without much of a kick. Still, I keep buying it to use as a flavoring in cooked dishes, good for that purpose.

post-58284-0-96429900-1468675949_thumb.j post-58284-0-68886700-1468675966_thumb.j

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Meanwhile, I'm not quite sure what the Brits are doing producing what are labeled as Mexican salsas, but there's a pair of Santa Maria brand salsas on the shelves at Central Chidlom, 300g bottles of a hot and medium variety, both listed as having been imported from the UK. Regular price 165b, sale price right now for at least the hot variety, 135b. Never heard of the brand before, and not sure they're going to be high on my list to try. But they are there...

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Not to be outdone by the Brits, Thailand's Central conglomerate has their own MyChoice brand of "Mexican Style Salsas" in jalapeno and picante varieties. 99b for 360ml jars. Never tried them as yet. Found them on the shelves at Central Chidlom, but have seen them at other Central and Tops stores.

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Last entry for today... over in a running thread on Thai-style sriracha sauces, a couple folks mentioned Frank's Red Hot Original cayenne pepper sauce. It's not a Mexican hot sauce, but it is a hot sauce from the U.S. and available here. Found it at my local Villa Market for 219b for a 12 oz. bottle. I'm guessing, it's HOT! Anyone tried it? Anyone use it?

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looks more like kimchi

for $3 dubious?

Not to be outdone by the Brits, Thailand's Central conglomerate has their own MyChoice brand of "Mexican Style Salsas" in jalapeno and picante varieties. 99b for 360ml jars. Never tried them as yet. Found them on the shelves at Central Chidlom, but have seen them at other Central and Tops stores.

attachicon.gifMy Choice Picante Salsa 360ml-Cen Chid-99b.jpg

attachicon.gifMy Choice Salsa Jalapeno 360ml-Cen Chid-99b.jpg

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My Choice salsas are made by El Sapo and are the same.

Central seems to contract with local suppliers when possible for their my choice line.

Rick, I'm not doubting what you said, since it's fairly specific information.

But I am curious, how you come to know that that's the case re Central and El Sapo?

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My Choice salsas are made by El Sapo and are the same.

Central seems to contract with local suppliers when possible for their my choice line.

Rick, I'm not doubting what you said, since it's fairly specific information.

But I am curious, how you come to know that that's the case re Central and El Sapo?

My Choice salsa has the same products (jalapeno, spicy etc.) same jars and exact same ingredients as El Sapo.

My Choice pasta sauces has the same products, same bottles,and exact same ingredients as Nana pasta sauce.

Nana Products makes both the El Sapo salsas and the Nana pasta sauces so, although I guess their might be some other explanation, it seems clear.

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I have a big bottle of this Frank's Red Hot Original cayenne pepper sauce

but haven't cracked it yet, I'm guessing it would be fine, similar to tabasco

I stopped buying salsa to save money for a long time, and just bought large bottles of hot sauce, but am starting to go back to salsa, or using hummus as my dip now

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When I went looking around Tops and the Central Food Halls in BKK such as at CentralWorld and Central Chidlom, I was surprised to see a name and a brand that's I'd never heard of before -- Pain Is Good from the U.S. -- and in particular the Jalapeno Sauce bottles, 7 oz./198g that are on sale right now for for 155b, regular price 199b. The label says "all natural" and if you peel off the Thai ingredients paste-on label to see the English original ingredients label underneath, you'll see that jalapeno peppers, water and vinegar are the top 3 ingredients, and the salt content is only 5 mg per teaspoon, which is pretty low. And I do love my jalapenos, in all forms!

I cracked my first bottle of this for breakfast this morning over an omelette and rice. Used a standardized portion of 1 oz. / 2 tbps.

Took a swig out of the bottle first -- nice clean, fresh, flavorful taste. Not overly hot or vinegary. I think it would do well as a dip for tortilla chips and such. PAIN is exaggerating quite a bit, though.

However, because of the relative thickness of the sauce, it doesn't spread very well. When I tried to mix it into the rice with my omelette, the sauce pretty much disappeared and most of the flavor with it -- unlike a more liquid sauce like Cholula or Tapatio.

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My Choice salsas are made by El Sapo and are the same.

Central seems to contract with local suppliers when possible for their my choice line.

They are sponsers here and when I ran out of Pace, I bought from him direct for a case

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When I went looking around Tops and the Central Food Halls in BKK such as at CentralWorld and Central Chidlom, I was surprised to see a name and a brand that's I'd never heard of before -- Pain Is Good from the U.S. -- and in particular the Jalapeno Sauce bottles, 7 oz./198g that are on sale right now for for 155b, regular price 199b. The label says "all natural" and if you peel off the Thai ingredients paste-on label to see the English original ingredients label underneath, you'll see that jalapeno peppers, water and vinegar are the top 3 ingredients, and the salt content is only 5 mg per teaspoon, which is pretty low. And I do love my jalapenos, in all forms!

I brought home about 10 different brands/bottles to try over a period of time during my shopping today, but I think it's safe to say that the PIG Jalapeno Sauce is going to be the first one I open.

attachicon.gifPIG Jalapeno Pepper Sauce 7oz 198g - Tops-199b reg, sale 159b.jpg attachicon.gifPIG Jalapeno Pepper Sauce-Tops-198g - 7 oz.jpg

attachicon.gifPIG Jalapeno Pepper Sauce-Tops-ingredients.jpg attachicon.gifPIG Jalapeno Sauce-Tops-198ml, 199b reg, sale 155b.jpg

Meanwhile, Tops and the Central Food Halls are also stocking a half dozen or so other products by the same company, a few other chili sauces, and quite a few flavored BBQ sauces. I bought one of the BBQ sauces to try as well, the Smoked Chipotle flavor in a 20.5 oz./581g bottle for 249b reg, sale 199b. But as might be expected from a BBQ sauce as opposed to a chili sauce, the ingredients list is heavy with corn syrup, sugar, honey, etc. So I'll plan to give it a try for the flavor and just to see, but BBQ sauces really are a different thing from chili / hot sauces.

attachicon.gifPain is Good Smokes Chipotle BBQ Sauce 20.5oz 581g a-Tops-249b reg, 199b sale.jpg

attachicon.gifPain is Good Smokes Chipotle BBQ Sauce 581g b-Tops-249b reg, 199b sale.jpg

And here's a look at the broader range of Pain is Good sauces that are on the store shelves right now.

attachicon.gifPain is Good Sauces-CW.jpg

The thinner, whisky-flask type bottles to the right are their chili/hot sauces. The bigger, round bottles to the left are their BBQ sauces.

They also a 5oz bottles of Da Bomb in Ghost pepper and beyond insanity, and you really want some heat, be care full, put a toothpick in and try it, as full strength will take your breath away, and I eat some really ho peppers, but these make Habeneros taste like candy!

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Here's a pair of what have got to be the most expensive hot sauces I saw during my travels today, U.S. imports with interesting branding and labels, and gold prices. Another brand I'd never seen before. But I didn't stop to check the labels and see exactly what was on offer, especially at these prices, offered on the shelves at CentralWorld.

Da'Bomb Beyond Insanity Hot Sauce - 113ml for 379b regular, 315b on sale.

attachicon.gifDa'Bomb Insanity Hot Sauce 113ml-CW-379b reg, 315b sale.jpg

Da'Bomb Ground Zero Hot Sauce - 113 ml for 429b

attachicon.gifDa'Bomb Ground Zero Hot Sauce 113ml-CW-429b.jpg

I believe, this is what you're referring to, already posted on earlier in this thread.

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Glad you mentioned El Charro.

One of the options/brands I missed mentioning in the round-up I posted above was El Charro's "Mexican Red Sauce (Hot)" that they also call "Salsa Roja", which Villa sells in 16 oz/400g jars for 116 baht (3.4g per baht).

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That makes the El Charro red sauce better priced compared to anything imported, and close in price to the smaller 350g jars of El Sapo salsa that sell for about 85 baht (4.1g per baht).

The ingredients on the El Charro sauce are listed as 62% tomato, 20% onion, 10% chilli, 3% spices, 2% each of vinegar and garlic, and 1% salt.

This week, I've been eating/using the El Charro red hot sauce on my food, and I must say, I like it a lot. It has a similar taste and consistency to the sauces like Cholula and Tapatio, and even a very similar color to Cholula. I'd say it can work well as a dipping sauce for tortilla chips, but also as a covering sauce to pour over enchiladas or, in my cause, omelettes with rice.

I've got a pantry shelf full of other locally sourced sauces to work my way through. But as someone who likes a bit of a spicy kick in my sauces, it's better than El Sapo, although thinner and more liquid in consistency. And I could see myself continuing to use it as an affordable day-to-day Mexican sauce.

Just a note: El Charro makes several different varieties of Mexican sauces, including if memory serves, a plain red taco sauce that I thought in the past was pretty unremarkable. I much prefer the flavor of the Mexican Red Sauce (Hot).

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