Australia has long had a terrible record for its offering of hot sauce varieties. And – sorry to sound insufferable here – but after living in the States for a couple of years, the abysmal selection available in Aussie supermarkets has become something of a bugbear of mine.
Tabasco can serve as a suitable replacement in some settings, Sriracha is delightful on Asian dishes but it’s not for every meal, and aside from those options the only brand you’ll often see is Nando’s Peri-Peri sauce which just doesn’t quite do the job for me.
Personal favourites sauce varieties of mine like El Yucateco, Valentina, Small Axe Peppers and Cholula, can be found here in Aus but you’ll have to dig a little to find them. And for a lover of hot sauce, that can be pretty frustrating.
The good news is that this is slowly improving. Hot sauce spots have begun to pop up (mostly in Victoria) and TRUFF, a brand made famous for making Oprah’s list of favourite things, has recently dropped on Aussie shores, too.
Since becoming available to Aussies in 2019, TRUFF has turned a few heads so I thought I’d give the range a try.
Here’s how the experience went.
What’s good?
As the name indicates, this hot sauce range is a blend of red chilli peppers and truffle. On first hearing that there would be truffle in the sauce, I was concerned the flavour would be overly rich and too heavy.
I was wrong. Each of the three sauces in the range (hot, hotter and white) are incredibly well balanced in flavour and the truffle quality is super delicate. It’s damn delicious. All three sauces are also gluten-free and vegan-friendly.
The classic or ‘hot’ sauce option sits at about 2,500 – 3,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU), so it has a little bit of a kick but I have no issue pouring a generous serve on my eggs – it won’t blow your head off. The sauce is categorised as mild to medium. It’s also got a nice level of sweetness to it.
I quite literally add this to almost every meal now.
Moving across to the ‘hotter’ sauce, the flavour profile is super similar to the ‘hot’ just a little less sweet and noticeably spicer – it features jalapeños and red habanero powder. This sauce sits at 5,000 – 7,500 SHU. As a comparison, Cholula Original has a SHU rating of 1000 – 2000.
The hotter sauce isn’t the spiciest sauce on the market by any means, but you’ll feel a bit of heat there. It’s really delicious if you ask me.
The limited-edition White TRUFF sauce may be my favourite of the bunch, though. The flavour combo includes chilli peppers, agave nectar, white truffle and coriander – the result is sort of creamy and indulgent and super moreish.
This option is in the low to medium heat range at 2,500 – 3,000 SHU, like the ‘hot’ sauce.
What’s not so good?
These sauces are pricey. You can get all three in a set for $99.95 or individual bottles for $31.95. I suppose that’s what happens when you add truffle to a product, hey?
The other thing I find a little annoying is that the mouth of the bottle is kind of wide so once you start pouring, the sauce will kind of flow out in a wave. It gets quite messy. I’d prefer a smaller bottle opening so you can have a little more control there. But this is hardly a deal-breaker.
The verdict
I am genuinely addicted to these hot sauces. I use them on eggs, in salads, on sandwiches, I’ll even pour them on top of sautéed vegetables. There is rarely a meal where I don’t feel the need to reach for them, so I’m clearly won over. I’ve gone through two sets with little effort.
Whether you’re looking to treat yourself to something new, or maybe want to find a fun gift idea, I really can’t recommend this range of hot sauces enough.
If you’d like to shop the sauces or find some recipes to help you put them to good use, keep reading on the TRUFF website.
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