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

[migrant]

I make my own red salsa, but can't find tomatillos for green so thanks for the green recommendations!

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I'd say one needs to be cautious about using a lot of local, commercially grown Thai chillis -- if that's what you are using.

When independent pesticide tests have been done in the past on Thai produce, Thai chilis have been some of the worst offenders in terms of having multiple pesticide residues at levels far above those allowed by health authorities in the EU and elsewhere.

Though the Thai authorities basically don't have their own local rules for such things, and probably wouldn't effectively enforce them even if they did actually have them.

.

[chubby]

so, el sapo, doesn't use thai chilis?

is there a "dirty dozen" type list for vege's in thailand with highest pesticide and to avoid as able?

[chubby]

seems to me the red chili sauce, (el charro)  should , if anything , be cheaper than the salsa is (el sapo),  perhaps because it's imported?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

El Charro and El Sapo products are both made locally in Thailand, and generally speaking, are less expensive per ounce than any of the imported similar products I've seen.

 

El Sapo makes I believe 3 different varieties of their salsa. I only have a jar (the yellow color) of their jalapeno salsa here at home right now. It doesn't really have much of a jalapeno flavor to it, in fact, I'd say you really couldn't tell by taste if you didn't see the name on the label.

 

But in regard to the health question above, I don't know where El Sapo and El Charro are sourcing their chili ingredients for their products, though presumably it's Thailand. In the case of El Sapo, the chili ingredient seems to be a pretty small element in their salsas, ranking below the main ingredients of tomatoes and onion. Also, jalapenos are not really a mass produced local produce product, so I'm hoping they don't get the same pesticides dousing as the mass produced Thai chilis.

 

The past health concerns about produce have specifically focused on mass produced Thai style chilis, so that's where I'd be concerned. And my original comment was more aimed at the poster who was talking about making homemade salsa here where, perhaps because of price and availability, there might be a greater likelihood to use Thai chilis in the preparation.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Here's some of the past reports on Thai produce, and specifically Thai bird chili peppers, that I was referring to above:

 

 

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The other day, I sat down and tried to figure some pricing calculations on the various hot sauces, to at least get some sense of comparison. Which is not easy, because they come in all different size bottles and jars, and are measured different ways (ounces, grams, ml, etc.). So I did the conversions, and came up with the following:

 

Local:

El Sapo Salsa 350g from Villa -- 20 cents per ounce

El Charro Red Sauce Hot 16 oz from Villa -- 21 cents per ounce

 

Imported:

Encona Peri Peri Sauce 145g from Villa -- 45 cents per ounce

Don's Foods Chipotle Sauce 3 oz from Foodland -- 52 cents per ounce

Pain is Good Jalapeno Sauce 7 oz from Tops/Central (sale) -- 63 cents per ounce

Pain is Good Jalapeno Sauce 7 oz from Tops/Central (reg. price) -- 81 cents per ounce

Tapatio 100 ct 1/4 oz packets bought from Amazon U.S. and shipped -- 84 cents per ounce

Cholula Hot sauce 5 oz from Villa -- $1.02 per ounce

 

I dearly love the Tapatio and Cholula sauces. And I always bring bottles back when I travel back to the U.S. and even order them separately for shipping sometimes. But on a month to month basis, it's kind of hard to justify paying 4-5 times the price for those vs. El Charro's Red Sauce Hot.

 

BTW, this past week, I've been trying/using the Encona African Peri Peri sauce, and it's OK as a hot sauce. Good flavor, reasonably spicy but not sour. However, as could be expected, its flavor isn't Mexican, so it's really in a different kind of category from the others.

[chubby]

so, do you avoid "yard beans" or cabbages or have any strategy?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I probably approach the subject of pesticide contamination in Thai produce more sensitively than most here. But in my view, that's warranted because of the government's failure to do anything to ensure public health in this area.

 

Whenever possible, I simply avoid Thai produced veggies, and opt to buy Waitrose frozen veggies from the UK.

 

Unfortunately, the kinds of veggie pesticide testing I posted above have shown that the Thai growers and government have made a mockery of anything labeled "organic" or "pesticide free" here. There's no validity to those terms when used on the labels of Thai domestic produce.

 

 

[chubby]

wow, thats very interesting. with the huge khlong toey market, and low cost vege's/fruit there. 

what about just trying to avoid the "dirty dozen" type vege's .  and being open to eating the "clean 15"

 

or perhaps those type of pesticides list may not be relevent to SEA/southeast asia?

 

I wonder if something that can be peeled makes any difference, when it comes to pesticides......... 

 

you must buy quite a bit of frozen veges, if you only get vege's this way ......

[chubby]

actually i looked at amazon don't see any packages of 100 

have a link?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

12 hours ago, chubby said:

actually i looked at amazon don't see any packages of 100 

have a link?

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FDGEIRC/

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GZHF1Y2/

 

[Minnehaha]

On 7/16/2016 at 8:51 PM, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

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.

 

The wife found this and bought it. 

OUTSTANDING !

Finally, an excellent hot salsa (very hot actually) that has no preservatives or additives. 

It has more of a Thai flavor than others, but that is okay with me. If it is too hot, add some sugar and it will mellow it out. Delicious. And the price cannot be beat for a bottle this size! 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

32 minutes ago, Minnehaha said:

 

The wife found this and bought it. 

OUTSTANDING !

Finally, an excellent hot salsa (very hot actually) that has no preservatives or additives. 

It has more of a Thai flavor than others, but that is okay with me. If it is too hot, add some sugar and it will mellow it out. Delicious. And the price cannot be beat for a bottle this size! 

 

One of the prior posters in this thread indicated that the My Choice salsas are re-packaged versions of the El Sapo brand, which is Thai produced. I have no basis for confirming that, one way or the other.

 

 

[ricklev]

15 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

One of the prior posters in this thread indicated that the My Choice salsas are re-packaged versions of the El Sapo brand, which is Thai produced. I have no basis for confirming that, one way or the other.

 

It shall forever remain a mystery........

 

By the way, after being served Nam Prik Num with my Mexican food at a restaurant in Chiang Mai I've been using it in my own Mexican cooking.  Available at Tops with the Issan food and at Paragon in the Nam Prik bar.  Damn good!  Give it a try.

 

 

 

[Gumballl]

On 7/16/2016 at 10:09 AM, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

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?

 

When my (Thai) wife prepares Buffalo Wings for me, she uses Frank's.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Just an update here re Don's jalapeno and chipotle sauces in the 90 ml bottles for those living in the lower Sukhumvit area.

 

Quite a while back, one of the two older female managers at Foodland Sukhumvit Soi 5 told me that the reason they had suddenly stopped stocking the two bottled Don's sauces was that they were no longer being produced. And believing her (unfortunately), I stopped looking around elsewhere for those sauces.

 

Now fast forward to a couple months back, I'm shopping instead at the Foodland on Suk Soi 16 and happen across their shelf of Don's sauces with lots of bottles of both jalapeno and chipotle. So I buy a cartful, and then head home pissed that the Foodland Soi 5 manager had given me the wrong info in the past.

 

Now recently before Christmas, I went back to the Foodland Soi 5 branch and showed the manager there some of the bottles that I had just purchased from their Soi 16 branch, and after a lot of hemming and hawing, they apparently discovered that Don's sauces ARE still available and they could order and stock them, which they began doing again lately at my urging.

 

So I'm mentioning this because, if you happen to shop in the area and like Don's sauces, next time you're in Foodland Soi 5, stop and chat up one of the two older lady managers who sit in the little side office there adjoining the customer service counter, and let them know that you're interesting in buying the products and that they should try to keep up with ordering to keep them in stock....

 

I don't think either of the Thai lady managers there have a clue what the sauces are, what they're used for, or why they're popular. But it's enough for them to know, that their customers want them to keep the sauces in stock. I know other folks out there are buying them because every time they get a new supply in, the bottles seem to disappear off the shelf pretty quickly...

 

Cheers!

 

 

 

[madisongy]

I brought this one from the US, but since have seen it in some of the local markets.   I'd say it's fairly hot, although not as much as some of the Thai chiles I've had.   I don't use the original Tabasco, but found this Habanero variety to be pretty tasty.

 

 

[ricklev]

22 minutes ago, madisongy said:

I brought this one from the US, but since have seen it in some of the local markets.   I'd say it's fairly hot, although not as much as some of the Thai chiles I've had.   I don't use the original Tabasco, but found this Habanero variety to be pretty tasty.

 

 

All of the varieties of Tabasco including the Habanero are now buy one get one free at the Paragon supermarket.  They are in the back left corner with other promotional items.  As of yesterday there was still a pretty good supply.  So it's two small bottles for 79 baht.  

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 hour ago, ricklev said:

All of the varieties of Tabasco including the Habanero are now buy one get one free at the Paragon supermarket.  They are in the back left corner with other promotional items.  As of yesterday there was still a pretty good supply.  So it's two small bottles for 79 baht.  

 

Thanks for that info!

 

Curiously, Foodland had an identical promotion within the past few months (now ended), and I used that as an opportunity to pick up a half dozen bottles of their chipotle sauce, some of which I enjoyed with my lunch today!  I think Foodland's price at the time was 72b or so.

 

BTW, the Foodland in Suk Soi 5 lately has once again been totally sold out of the (former) Don's sauces. I had bugged the managers there, and in the past couple months they managed to get a more couple cases, which now are all gone. A couple days ago, I was bugging them again, and they insisted after checking that they could not get anymore period.

 

Of course, the Soi 5 managers told me that same thing a year or so ago when they first ran out of Don's sauces (jalapeno and chipotle), and I later found them in plentiful supply at the Foodland Suk Soi 16.  So I guess I'm going to need to make another trip over to 16 to see if they have any bottles of Don's still on the shelves.

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

BTW, Tops Online and some of their stores, probably in farang areas, are stocking this sauce from the U.S. on sale right now. It's a pretty good and savory sauce for my taste, but has the consistency and sweetness of a BBQ sauce as opposed to a chili sauce. Goes pretty good with meats, rice, etc.