Valentina Hot Sauce Black Label Scoville

Valentina Hot Sauce is adored by many for its bold chili pepper flavor and thicker consistency, especially compared to other popular “daily driver” mass-market hot sauces. It’s marketed as “The Mexican Hot Sauce” So, does its flavor meet those high expectations? Is the heat well-balanced? And is as usable as other hot sauces (Mexican or not) that you find on supermarket shelves? Let’s dive into a bottle and see what it’s all about. SUMMARY

Valentina Hot Sauce is a classic Mexican hot sauce — with a simple ingredient list that’s packed full of flavor. It’s a sweet chili pepper forward flavor with a slight tang on the backend. And the heat is very family-friendly.

Let’s start with the Valentina Hot Sauce’s ingredients. It’s a simple list, but the order speaks a lot to the chili pepper to vinegar balance in this sauce: water, chili peppers, vinegar, salt, spices, and.1% sodium benzoate (as preservative.)

That order (water and those chili peppers ahead of the vinegar) is your clue to what to expect on first bite. Immediately you taste those sweet chili peppers (puya peppers here, which have a delicious fruitiness to them) and salt. Then after a vinegar tang comes to play. The vinegar really only hits you on the back-end, after the delicious taste of chilies and spices hits your tongue. It’s a simple, though tasty, hot sauce that leans heavily into the natural chili pepper flavor. And, like other Mexican hot sauces, it’s thicker than the “dasher” Cajun hot sauces they often share shelf space with. And that means you get to enjoy the full flavor and texture that the spices provide.

The salt flavor is there and well-balanced. Valentina Hot Sauce rings in at 64 mg of sodium per teaspoon, 3% of your daily value. Granted, you may find yourself using quite a few teaspoons in a sitting, so that can add up fast. That’s especially true compared to a dasher sauce like Tabasco Original Red that’s lower in sodium and takes quite a few dashes to equal a teaspoon.

As mentioned, puya pepper is the chili pepper in Valentina Hot Sauce. And these chilies have a jalapeño level heat, just with a higher floor: 5,000 to 8,000 Scoville heat units.

Though, that heat is well diluted with the water and vinegar here. Valentina Hot Sauce sits at 900 Scoville heat units, which is pretty mild. That puts it roughly like eating a fresh poblano pepper (1,000 to 1,500 SHU.) It’s much milder than its Mexican hot sauce competitor, Tapatio (3,000 SHU), but just slightly hotter than the likes of Texas Pete’s (340 to 740 SHU.)

That mild kick dissipates pretty quickly, too. The chili pepper heat hits the tip of your tongue and heads to the back of the throat with that vinegar tang. But it’s very low-key and ends soon as it starts.

Just like most mass-market hot sauces, Valentina is an extremely usable. The heat is family-friendly, and the flavor is tasty, yet simple — so it doesn’t (easily) overtake the flavors of your dishes.

I love this sauce on hot dogs, eggs, all Mexican dishes (duh), and even seafood. I tried it on ceviche, and it gave just the right amount of spice kick without ruining the eating experience.

If you love a meal that combines, tomatoes, chicken, and potatoes, Valentina is always the sauce I grab for that combo as well. I also tried this with watermelon the other day (you know, for the sake of “science”), and it was actually fantastic.

The spout is perfect on Valentina Hot Sauce, too. It’s the size of a pencil eraser, so you can easily get a decent amount out. And you’ll want that. Valentina is the kind of sauce that you’ll find you’re pouring on everything. It goes real fast in my house.

Valentina is pretty easy to find, as it’s a staple hot sauce in many grocery stores. But there’s more here than meets the eye.

Valentina’s factory is located in Guadalajara, Mexico, and is generating employment for over 125 families in the area. While, yes, this is a mass market hot sauce, there are strong family roots here, and the company has been going strong since 1960.

The label is bold in its color: bright yellow with reds and greens that tie in colors from the Mexican flag. It’s full of tradition. And the colors help this bottle stand out from a pack of hot sauces. Valentina also announces right on the front of the label “Mexican hot sauce”, so you have a good idea of where to start with it once you pick it up.

Valentina Hot Sauce is a classic Mexican hot sauce — with a simple ingredient list that’s packed full of flavor. It’s a sweet chili pepper forward flavor with a slight tang on the backend. And the heat is very family-friendly.

Valentina is named for a brave woman who fought during the Mexican Revolution

Valentinas bold flavor has a bold icon to match. The hot sauces founder, Don Manuel Maciel Mendez, named his brand after Valentina Ramirez Avitia, who is often called “the Mexican Mulan,” according to YouTube show The Americano.

Avitia was born in 1893 in the Mexican state of Durangol, in a town called El Norotal, writes Mexico Meal. During the Mexican Revolution, she wanted to fight for freedom, especially after her father died in battle. Women, however, were not allowed to be soldiers at the time. So Avitia dressed as a man and joined the army as “Juan Ramirez.” She fought bravely for a year and was even promoted to lieutenant before one of her fellow soldiers spotted her long braids. She was “admirably discharged,” since she had been a strong soldier but couldnt remain fighting due to the strict policies.

Avitia lived a long life after her time spent in the army, but sadly her final years were marred by a car accident that disabled her and finally a fire in her home, and she passed away in 1979. Its a small tribute, but Valentina hot sauce is one way to keep Avitias inspiring story alive in an everyday way.

Valentina’s dry seasoning offers even more cooking options

Sure, you could consider adding Valentina as a topping to just about anything. After all, youre instantly transforming whatever dish is at hand with both flavor and heat, and thats enough of a meal boost right there.

Of course, you could also get more creative, and the options are limitless as theres so much you can do with a straightforward, sweet and sour hot sauce like Valentina. You can make a bold chicken wing sauce or whip up a spicy citrus meat marinade for throwing on the grill, to just about anything in between.

Valentina has made those endless options even more infinite by introducing Valentina Seasoning, basically a dry powder form of Valentina sauce packed with all the same flavor. Like the sauce, this seasoning is as easy as sprinkling it over truly anything for an immediate transformation — like popcorn, fries, or elote. But its also a game-changer for dry rubs, and you can even make dessert, like some mango-chili paletas (via Muy Bueno Cookbook).

I love this sauce on hot dogs, eggs, all Mexican dishes (duh), and even seafood. I tried it on ceviche, and it gave just the right amount of spice kick without ruining the eating experience.

Valentina Hot Sauce is a classic Mexican hot sauce — with a simple ingredient list that’s packed full of flavor. It’s a sweet chili pepper forward flavor with a slight tang on the backend. And the heat is very family-friendly.

As mentioned, puya pepper is the chili pepper in Valentina Hot Sauce. And these chilies have a jalapeño level heat, just with a higher floor: 5,000 to 8,000 Scoville heat units.

That mild kick dissipates pretty quickly, too. The chili pepper heat hits the tip of your tongue and heads to the back of the throat with that vinegar tang. But it’s very low-key and ends soon as it starts.

That order (water and those chili peppers ahead of the vinegar) is your clue to what to expect on first bite. Immediately you taste those sweet chili peppers (puya peppers here, which have a delicious fruitiness to them) and salt. Then after a vinegar tang comes to play. The vinegar really only hits you on the back-end, after the delicious taste of chilies and spices hits your tongue. It’s a simple, though tasty, hot sauce that leans heavily into the natural chili pepper flavor. And, like other Mexican hot sauces, it’s thicker than the “dasher” Cajun hot sauces they often share shelf space with. And that means you get to enjoy the full flavor and texture that the spices provide.

FAQ

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