San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
The best and worst chile-lime salts.
The chile salts best for foods, fruit and drinks
Chile, lime, salt: it’s a trinity of so much flavor in San Antonio, where lively blends of those three ingredients get liberally used to rim margarita glasses and to top fruit and just about anything else.
This week I undertook a massive and critical operation: tasting every variety of chile and lime salt I could get my hands on in area grocery stores. Food editor Emily Spicer and I sampled nine varieties of chile-lime salts you’re likely to find while shopping to find out which ones are the best for cocktails, for fruit and for cooking — and which are the ones to avoid.
Perhaps the most surprising thing we learned tasting these side-by-side is just how much variation there is in these products. Most of us are familiar with the timeless taste of Tajín Clásico Seasoning, but what that product brings to the table is completely different from, for example, the Chile Lime Seasoning made by San Antonio-based spice company Fiesta. They’re both delicious, but they are best suited for very different uses despite a remarkably similar ingredient list.
Here’s how they ranked..
Best overall
Trechas Spicy Powder: Unlike it’s milder sibling, this chile salt is a standout. It has a fairly pale color, but man, does it bring the flavor. The first thing we noticed was an intense chile burn that hit the sinuses a second before the tongue, and it was among the spiciest chile salts we tasted, about a three on a five-point scale. And that heat was perfectly balanced with salt and acid.
The hot take: While this wasn’t the best for cocktails or the best for fruit, it’s really good. If you have limited pantry space, this is the one bottle to get.
Best for fruit
Tajín Clásico Seasoning Low Sodium:
If you like getting sucker-punched by the bright tang of lime (and who doesn’t, really?) this is the one for you. It’s remarkably acidic, and the reduced quantity of salt was a refreshing alternative to the other products we tested.
The hot take: While this blend of spices has plenty of potential uses, it’s our top pick for sprinkling over sweet, ripe fruits — think mango or watermelon — where that extra burst of citrus will enliven the whole experience.
Best for cocktails with lime
Tajín Clásico Seasoning: It’s
a classic for a reason. This is a huge salt bomb up front, with lime and mild chile as accents.
The hot take: The salt forward-flavor makes this a nice contrast for limey drinks, so this is our pick to rim a margarita glass or dress a cold beer.
Best for cocktails without lime
Trader Joe's Chile Lime Seasoning Blend: This product has a notably clean flavor and was the only one devoid of silicon dioxide or other anticaking chemicals designed to keep the salts free-flowing. While the heat is fairly tame, the lime flavor here creates a mouthwatering
cravability.
The hot take: The lime-forward flavor makes this our favorite chile salt for garnishing or rimming the glass of cocktails that could use a hint of lime.
And the darker color means it will look great, too.
Best for cooking
Fiesta Chile Lime Seasoning:
You’ll find this product in the cooking spices aisle of area grocery stores, and it can be a flavorful powerhouse in the kitchen. While the basic ingredients are the same as the other products we tasted, this blend has a far deeper red color with moister flecks of chile throughout. With less lime flavor and a
touch of sweetness and a slowburn chile fire, it’s reminiscent of the spicy coating found on Mexican tamarind candies.
The hot take: This would make a fantastic rub on sauteed or grilled shrimp, as well as a great seasoning for rice.
Best to avoid
El Venado Chile Frutas: This blend of spices immediately struck us with an unpleasant funkiness. It was one of two products we tried that included lime oil in the mixture — a thing we consistently found off-putting.
Klass Chilito: This chile salt tastes the way an old-school chalkboard smells. There’s a
strong chemical note that clouds the core ingredients of chile, lime and salt.
Lawry’s Casero Chili & Lime Seasoning: The immediate reaction to this chile salt (which also contains lime oil) was a painful astringency on the palate. Once that faded, all that remained was intense salinity with little tang or spice.
Trechas Chile Powder: This product looks pale and sandy, and sadly, the flavor isn’t much better. For starters, it’s too sweet, and the chile doesn’t make much of a showing.