Saturday, July 24, 2010

When new ( Cholula ) is not improved

I really love Cholula hot sauce. For one thing, it's still made in Mexico. And it has that cute little wooden cap. And it's made from arbol and piquin peppers, not Tabasco or habanero. Not that there's anything wrong with the others; it's just my personal taste.

And for years, the bottle has never changed, never updated. I thought it was frozen in time, with the woman on the front always looking a bit weary, but managing a Mona-Lisa smile.

Yet on the shelves this week, next to the original bottles, was something NEW: chili-lime. With a GREEN wooden cap. I had to try it.

Disappointment to the max. Did you ever pick up a packet of Limón at gas station in an area with a high Latino population? It's a lemon-lime salt that you can lick off your hand (and at a bar, you follow it with a shot of tequila). Well, the chili-lime flavor of Cholula tastes like they took the original recipe and dumped in several packets of Limón in it.

At least they didn't mess with the original.