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Multi Review: Big Orson’s Citizen Cajun Mango Habanero Salsas (Hot & Very Hot)
By DK | May 21, 2009 |
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Reviewer #1 – RJ Nord
I have long been a fan of salsa. I prefer my salsa hot and fresh as I’m sure most chileheads do. I look for salsas that provide flavor outside the traditional tomato and jalapeno variety. I’ve tried many fruit and bean salsas. I’ve tried salsas with assorted vegetables such as carrots, corn, and artichokes. Some of these have been accommodating and satisfied my immediate desire for a snack, but few provided a “WOW!” moment.
When I received my package from Big Orson and discovered two bottles of Citizen Cajun Mango Habanero Salsa (one bottle each of Hot and Extra Hot) I was delighted to say the least. The bottles were attractively labeled despite the close-up of Big Orson (wink wink). I glanced inside the bottle to see 12 ounces of salsa containing large chunks of mango, peppers, onions, and tomatoes. I had a feeling I was about to sample something different than many of the store bought mass produced clones so many settle for. I opened the bottle of Hot faster than a rabbit in heat. The familiar “Pop!” went off as I twisted the lid. The sweet scent that found its way to my nostrils triggered a salivating reflex that would have made Pavlov proud.
I quickly grabbed a bag of my faithful salsa feeding utensils, the trusty Tostitos tortilla chip and a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos. I grabbed several handfuls of each and tossed them into a bowl. I nabbed a spatula and another bowl, and scooped out Big O’s concoction. Mr. Tostito went into the bowl and scooped up about a third of a chip worth of salsa. I prefer a ratio of between a third to a half salsa/dip to chip ratio. I threw the chip to the back of my nutritional intake mechanism and began chewing. The first chip went down without an understanding of what just happened. Chip number two was prepared and fired into the mouth keeping in mind to chew and note taste. I thought to myself, “Holy **** you have to be kidding!” The symphony of sweet and heat were beyond my expectations. I prepared chip three and almost took off the tips of my thumb and index finger as I put it into my mouth. This time the remarkable freshness surprised me.
I ate five more chips, trying the Doritos along the way. Each bite brought something different. Amazingly, nearly every bite tasted different than its predecessors. The salsa was fresh, sweet, had some heat, and was original. I couldn’t believe how good this salsa was. I’m simply not used to salsa coming out of a jar that tasted as though I had made it myself. Big Orson has done something wonderful here. He truly has accomplished combining the sweet taste of mango, while delivering the excellent bounty of flavor within the habanero. I devoured the bottle by the end of the day.
What to do with the Extra Hot bottle? Cautious of one man’s opinion, that being my own, I brought the Extra Hot bottle to a friend’s House Warming party. My friend who I will call Ming is also a chilehead, and is never bashful about sharing a truthful, even if critical opinion. I presented him this bottle as a house warming gift and he popped the top. Drip, drip…”Let the drooling hit the floor! Let the drooling hit the floor!” He poured into a bowl. His Mother had made homemade eggrolls for dinner. They would be the first sampling mechanism. Many eager hands reached in to sample Big O’s finest. I was anxious to see how much hotter the “Extra Hot” was. After Ming and his wife had taken their very first taste, they quickly and discretely put away the remainder of the bottle, but brought out a bag of Doritos. Hand after hand lined up to dip egg rolls and chips into Big Orson’s salsa. Young and old, chileheads and mellowheads alike. Nobody could resist the flavor and freshness. I ribbed Ming and his wife to bring out the rest of the bottle, and was essentially told “Hell No, that’s our house warming gift”. We never saw the bottle again. Everyone at the party agreed that the salsa was fabulous. Given the diversity of the crowd this was high praise. My only constructive feedback with Big Orson’s Citizen Cajun Salsa, is that the Very Hot was not what I would consider very hot. I would consider it Hot, and that may even be a stretch. Given that my friends who think Taco Bell Medium is too hot, had no problem scooping the extra hot as fast as they could, I think there is some opportunity to make the Extra Hot even hotter.
This salsa was a vacation for my senses. I found it refreshing, light, and perfectly balanced for a salsa mixing sweet and hot. I’ve found my way out to Big Orson’s website (www.bigorson.com) to order more. My only hope is that I don’t become an addict and end up searching for a job just to support my craving for his Citizen Cajun salsa.
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Topics: Hot Product Reviews, Reviews | 26 Comments »
Great job with the reviews everyone.
Let me know what you guys think of the multi-page layout.
L8R G8R’s
I really like the layout of this review. It’s much easier to read, I think…rather than having all the reviews in a row
Thank you for the gracious reviews. THere are plenty more recipes at my website (www.bigorson.com).
To answer reviewer #2′s questions, the onions were in fact Vidalias (my co-packer is in the Vidalia growing district). Because peppers vary in terms of heat depending on their growing conditions, time of year, sub-species, etc. I used habanero powder simply for the sake of consistency.
I realize that for this crowd, the Very Hot likely isn’t more than a 5 on a 10 point scale. For the non-chilehead general public, it’s plenty hot.
If anyone has other questions, I’ll be happy to answer them. Thanks for the support!
Man, i’m used to everything being in a row but now you’ve got me going all sideways and sh*t. Way to confuse the drunken guy and screw up his equilibrium, folks.
But seriously, nicely done review.
Sideways?
That’s the floor, not a wall that you’re leaning against. Get your drunk
up! 
DK, it’s RJ not JR, just to correct that part. Thanks all for the reviews, they were good, especially from the 2 newbies. I will have to disagree with Sandi, I think the salt offsets the mango sweetness really nice and goes really good with the Multigrain Tostitos which are my go to salsa chip. I am a big fan of sweet and salty together. Other than that I like your experimentation especially with the kabobs.
Welcome to TTF Jason!
The sideways view is cool, but not with my cell phone.
Ok, JR is now RJ.
So :nerd:, what do mean by “sideways view”? It’s the same as always, you just gotta click a link to see the next review on the next page.
There’s nothing sideways that I can see.
I was just going by what was said before me. On the phone its just another page that has to be added rather than scrolling so it takes longer. Its okay though its not like I can wait to I get home to read it all the way through.
Yeah what she just said. I think.
Something about this review makes me want to visit the “Big Chicken”!
Mr Orson knows what I’m talkin about.
Jason’s right, for those of us that don’t like a tremendous amount of heat, these salsas are perfect. The flavors are amazing because they come at you from different directions at different times, sort of like little surprises around each corner of your journey through the jar. They really are a nice change from everything else at the supermarket.
Truthfully, I prefer the Popeye’s a couple of blocks south of the Big Chicken on 41.
Of course, I need to try some of that Kentucky Grilled Chicken, too…
Good reviews. I’ve had this salsa and, well, I’ll tell you what I think about it when the W.O.F. salsa contest is over.
As far as the multiple pages – please ditch it. Unless the pages are 10 miles long, there’s no need to break the reviews up. It’s considered to be a bad practice in web usability terms, and a lot of sites notoriously do it to “falsely” increase the number of ad impressions.
Thanks for the input Scott. Some of the multi-reviews get rather lengthy, especially when you add in the pics. That was the reasoning for paging the article. It’s worked well with the comments, that’s for sure.
Great reviews! I will keep an eye out for this stuff, I think it sounds great.
Welcome to TTF gui_tarzan!
From the reviews, this stuff sounds really tasty. I noticed that a couple of the reviewers mentioned ginger. I’m not a ginger person myself, so I’m wondering just how noticeable the ginger is? I can deal with it if it’s not overwhelming, which is how it seems here.
The heat sounds like it falls just where I like it with a salsa, especially a sweet fruit based salsa.
Again, great reviews everyone. Between Sandi’s cooking, MeltMyFace’s straight to the point simplicity, and RJ’s highly descriptive writing, this is one of my favorite reviews I’ve read. I’m really looking forward to reading more from these guys.
Thanks DK. I have to say I really tried to pick out the individual flavors but my palate isn’t quite refined enough in some areas to be certain. What I can say is I’m reminded of certain flavors and I obviously can taste certain ingredients. I don’t recall tasting ginger the last time I had this but I have a new jar so I’ll have to try to figure it out again this weekend.
When I was younger I loved it as hot as it could get. Now that I’m older (46) and have had stomach issues, I like it mild but with tons of flavor and just a hint of a kick. Jason’s products fit my tastes very well and they’re a LOT better than anything else I can get around here on the commercial side.
I’m not much of a Ginger fan either, but MaryAnn was HOT!!
I love me some heat, but with salsa, especially the sweet fruit based ones, I would rather have it on the milder side of the spectrum. I’m a scooper, not a dipper, so I like the heat to be at a level to allow for consumption of mass quantities.
I bought me some at the FFS because I really enjoyed the unique flavor. The ginger is quite noticeable, but it really works well here. I can truthfully say this the best mango salsa I have ever had. I think ginger can dominate, but I appreciate the combinations going on here.
The salsa is layered with flavors…first you taste the sweetness of the mango, then the tangyness of the Vidalia onions, the ginger then surfaces on your palate and finally the pepper blooms in the back of your throat. While the ginger isn’t a predominant flavor, it sort of ties the other flavors together and makes it just a bit different. The fact that it’s primarily a fruit-based (as opposed to a tomato-based) product sets it apart as well.
One of my favorite ways to eat it is on top of freshly shucked raw oysters instead of horseradish or cocktail sauce.
Thanks, sounds like the ginger won’t be an issue with me.
The eggrolls sound like a great way to use it, and so does the oysters. Gonna be hard to replace Lethal Ingestion as my favorite on the oysters though. But I do love oysters in any way you can serve ‘em up.