The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Harmony among hot, sour, salty and sweet
Discover flavor sensation in food and drink recipes.
When “Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet” by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid was published over 20 years ago, it quickly became my favorite cookbook. Drawing on their travels through Southeast Asia, the authors explained that the food in that region is designed to play off the harmonies between the four flavors in the title.
It could be argued that Southern barbecue sauces play off those same elements. What’s a barbecue sauce without a little heat (maybe from cayenne), a little sour (that’s the vinegar), definitely some salt and sweet (molasses or brown sugar or even cane syrup)?
And pepper jelly, with its combination of hot and sweet? We’ve been eating pepper jelly, from a platter of sweet/hot pepper jelly-topped cream cheese surrounded by crackers, to pepper jelly-glazed chicken wings and meatballs, for decades.
Fast-forward to 2021 when spicy/hot/sweet flavors are crowding the market. The venerable Tabasco company came out with a sweet and spicy sauce with ginger, red pepper, and pear concentrate among its ingredients. Honey harvesters like Gainesville, Georgia-based Bee Wild are producing infused hot honeys; as are hot sauce makers like Charleston, South Carolina-based Red Clay Hot Sauce.
I talked with Christina Pearson, global category merchant at Whole Foods Market, whose work focuses on hot sauces and condiments. Based in Austin, Texas, Pearson helps determine what products will be carried in most of Whole Foods’ stores.
There’s a trend for what she calls “sweet heat” in both condiments (sauces, marinades, mustard and other table condiments) and in the products in their “global flavors” category.
“Sweet heat is something that’s always evolving,” she told me.
“And it usually includes fruit . ... For a long time, we saw sweet heat mostly in our barbecue sauces, but now hot honey is a big trend. Here in Austin, there’s a pizza place that has hot honey as a permanent condiment . ... And we’re working with Red Clay Hot Sauce on a few other flavor innovations. We’d really like to add a new sweet heat item that incorporates peach.”
She’s excited about Ricante, a Costa Rican company with sauces in tropical flavors such as tamarind, pineapple, mango-coconut, and guanabana (soursop), all with some heat.
She also really likes Brooklyn Delhi’s Curry Ketchup. “The tomato is the sweet fruit, but this is really savory. It’s something you could use on a hot dog, but you could add it to a pizza.”
To get back to those barbecue sauce roots, I talked with Aubrey Lenyard, founder of Aubsauce. His Strawberry Balsamic and Rosemary and Spicy Peach barbecue sauces have both won the University of Georgia Flavors of Georgia competition.
He started his line of sauces with the peach sauce and one he called “original.” “It’s a very Southern barbecue sauce. I like to say it’s the kind your grandmother would have made at home.”
When he was creating the peach flavor, he wanted a sauce that reminded the user of peach
cobbler, but with a little heat at the back of it. “I knew cayenne was the right pepper to go with the peach. The two just work together.”
When he created his Fiery Pineapple Mango sauce, he started with his favorite smoothie recipe and took it savory. “It just took adding serrano peppers. You get the sweet fruit up front, and then the serrano to balance it.” The sauce includes cilantro and mint as well. It’s such a fresh flavor that he’s heard from customers who use the pineapple sauce as part of their vinaigrettes.
He uses mustard, lemon or vinegar for the tart element of his sauces, and often uses molasses for the sweet. As with the peppers, it’s about finding the balance between hot, sour, salty and sweet.
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