Welcome back, everyone, to another… well… it’s not technically a Hot Sauce review, because this isn’t a hot sauce. But I’m lumping it in with my hot sauce reviews because it’s the closest thing on my blog. This is Chief’s Premium Green Seasoning. I’d never heard of Green Seasoning before, but Glen went absolutely nuts about it not long ago in one of his videos. Since I considered making that dish at some point, I figured I’d pick some up. And since Buford Farmer’s Market has pretty much Everything, I knew that’d be a good place to get some. And I was right. So, here I am with a bottle of it. And since it was new to me, I figured it might be new to you, too. Let’s learn together.
What is Green Seasoning? Apparently, it’s a widely-used sauce from the Caribbean. My bottle came from Trinidad and Tobago. And while everyone’s going to make theirs a little differently, for Chief, Green Seasoning consists of: water, onion, papaya, Spanish thyme, chive, vinegar, chadon beni, starch, salt, peppers, celery, soy, herbs and spices, garlic, citric acid, sodium benzoate, yellow 5, and blue 1. So, the green is being enhanced a little. Chadon beni is apparently another name for culantro, which is different than cilantro (something else I only found out recently). … Confused? Good. Let’s keep going. The sauce is mostly onion and papaya, which is pretty neat. I don’t have papaya often, but when I do, I enjoy it. And though there’s peppers in it, this sauce isn’t supposed to be spicy, but I guess that’s what I’ll find out here in a minute.
Opening the bottle, the sauce smells very fresh. It smells… actually kinda like a marinara sauce to me, honestly… It threw me for a moment. I took a whiff and was like, “Wow, that smells good. I know that smell… but what is it?… … … Marinara!” I get the herbs and spices. I get the garlic. There’s no tomato in there, but I swear I smell it. It just smells actually really good. I’m doubting it’ll taste like marinara, but let’s find out.
Taking a bite, I get… actually, I get what tastes like a mozzarella cheese stick dipped in marinara… though this is a chicken strip with Green Seasoning on it. It’s kind of freaking my brain out a little. So… while looking up culantro, the Wikipedia page was like, “some say it tastes like cilantro, but stronger.” Ok, I get that… sort of. I’m a “cilantro tastes like soap” person and I’m aaaaalmost getting that here. It seems like the flavor is going to head into a soap direction, but at the last second, it veers off into a sort of creamy and herby direction instead. Like, whatever else is in this sauce cuts it off and redirects it before we hit Irish Spring territory.
When I have bites with some more sauce on them (I’m adding extra sauce as I eat my chicken, because I really want to get a lot of the flavor of this sauce all at once), it does definitely morph away from that “mozzarella stick with marinara” vibe, but not far. I get some more of the Caribbean-esque flavors in there. I’m guessing there’s allspice in there somewhere. Maybe some cinnamon. But that’s not to say that this tastes like Jerk Chicken (or fruitcake). It’s still its own thing.
How about heat? Well, as I say, I’m adding quite a large amount of this sauce to my chicken when I’m taking bites. And I will say, there is a noticeable heat tingle just sort of all around my mouth. As such, if you absolutely cannot do any kind of spice, this would be hot for you, though I still think you could manage. But no, this isn’t a “hot sauce.” If you’re worried about being blown away, you can probably still have this. And if you’re using it sparingly, or adding it to something else, then you’ll probably only barely register the heat, if it all. But, like I say, if you’re basically drinking it straight from the bottle, as I am right now, you might get some heat built up.
In the video I linked to, Glen couldn’t stop singing the praises of Green Seasoning, and I can see why. This stuff is delicious. And while I’ve been comparing it to a mozzarella stick dipped in marinara, that’s only because that’s kind of the closest analogy that I can think of. It doesn’t taste exactly like that, so if you’re trying the two side-by-side, if you go, “These are nothing alike,” then I get it. I’m just kind of at a lack of words for how to describe it otherwise. I do know that I can understand why Glen loves it so. It’s pretty delicious stuff, if you ask me. This will probably become a regular thing I keep on hand next to the other condiments in the fridge, just to change things up once in a while.
Suggested dishes: I mean, use as a condiment like you would ketchup, mustard, or the like. It’s great on this chicken. I could see it being nice on a burger. I want to dip fries into it. Maybe add it to a hot dog or some Mexican chorizo.
I got my bottle of this stuff down at the international market. As for your neck of the woods, I’m not entirely sure where you’d find it. But, I also found it on Amazon. So, if nothing else, Jeff can deliver you some: https://www.amazon.com/Chief-Green-Seasoning/dp/B002632BWE
Polar Bear's Kitchen 