Señor Honey, the promising brand that combines honey with Peruvian chili peppers in an unmissable sauce

There are combinations of flavors that conquer diners around the world. The bitter with sweet, which we find in a good coffee with sugar; the sweet and salty, which is enjoyed in most oriental kitchens, and the sour with sweet, which we can find in desserts with citrus fruits, for example. There is an enigmatic combination that is not celebrated much in Peru, but thanks to the creation of Señor Honey we can now enjoy it: spicy and sweet. Advantage visited their hidden kitchen and plant and we told you all about the brand and its products.

The idea comes from a powerful duo made up of Alanna Sikorski, a food-tech specialist from New York, and Pietro Flores, a Peruvian chef, who are also a couple. “One night I wanted to eat pizza with spicy honey, a fairly common combination in New York, but here in Peru they don’t sell it or it’s not common. I think Pietro was thinking about it all night and the next day he offered me to prepare a version so that I could have it at home ”, Alanna comments to Advantage.

Your recipe was a total success that could not be missing from your table when you got together with family, friends or co-workers. “It was a total success and we began to be interested in the idea of ​​selling them. The rest was a lot of work and well, in December we turned one year old and we continue with this proposal in which I believe a lot”, adds the partner of mr honey.

The process was interesting and, according to Sikorski, quite complicated having to taste the peppers raw to really know their flavor. They took the necessary time to explore what the Peruvian pantry offers and decided to bet on four of the most popular. “You find options from the least spicy, for people like my mom who considers pepper strong, to the most spicy for lovers of these sauces,” explains the New Yorker.

Señor Honey is made with honey bee pure and fresh ingredients. They have two products: honey that comes in a 350 g presentation, and syrups for cocktails and drinks, in a 950 ml format. There are four levels of honey, ranging from least to spiciest: yellow chili honey and passion fruit (level 1), rocoto honey (Level 2), honey chili slime (level 3) and charapita chili honey (level 4).

“We seek to make a spicy honey but that does not numb your mouth and then you do not know what you are tasting. We seek to create a product that, although it is spicy, is balanced and combines with everything we can find in our gastronomy: it goes well with chifa, grilled chicken, pizzas, fried foods such as broaster, among other dishes,” says Flores.

The experience

The brand seeks to differentiate itself by also offering a gastronomic service that is worth trying. They currently have a dark kitchen (hidden kitchen) in La Victoria, where they offer different preparations that include honey. Thus we can find snacks such as chicken tenders dipped in spicy honey at the diner’s choice, crispy chicken wings, different types of hamburgers, a salad called Lana in honor of the co-creator of the brand and even a juicy tenderloin and some hearty rigatoni noodles. with rib ragout.

we tried the hamburger Crazy thing, which consists of a soft but consistent bun, two smash-style burgers, cheddar cheese, house pickles, fresh onion and house mayonnaise. Without a doubt, this is one of the best burgers we’ve ever had in terms of meat flavor. That extra caramelization of their burgers is probably due to the fact that they add glazed chili peppers in their honey. The precise touch of acid comes with the gherkins pickled by themselves and the size, although generous, is not difficult to eat.

The flavors that we can find in the case of syrups, which were Alanna’s idea, are the same as those of honey. The interesting thing is that, as part of the clandestine cooking experience that they offer, they have a list of cocktails with a particularity: they all have syrup and the type will depend on the client and, probably, on how spicy they usually eat.

We tasted the La Loca cocktail, which combines tequila, passion fruit or lemon, tajín and soda to create a refreshing drink, with the right touch of sweetness and just the right amount of spiciness, especially thanks to the spicy honey rim with salt and sugar that accompanies each drink.

Testing Mr. Honey

When it comes to a product that can be combined or tasted in various formats -according to Pietro and Alanna-, nothing better than giving yourself the chance to do so. In this particular case, it should be clarified that, as a consumer, I am not one of the people who usually eat spicy with their meals and the combination with sweet is not one of my favorites. Then, mr honey he had quite a task to convince me to use any of his sauces at home.

After tasting all four sauces, I decided on the third spiciest, made with chili slime. I find this particular chili pepper to have a great and distinctive flavor that I enjoy very much and that is felt strongly in every drop of Señor Honey’s honey. In their sauces they achieve a balance that is difficult to find between the characteristic sweetness of honey, the degree of spiciness so that it feels but is not uncomfortable in the mouth, and the presence of each type of chili with its very characteristic flavor.

On the one hand, I was encouraged to bathe some prawns fried in butter with a little honey and the combination is ideal. I also encouraged myself to mix it with a little mayonnaise, as if to make it a touch less spicy, and I enjoyed it with a chicken crackling homemade extra crispy. My favorite use of honey was when I mixed it with mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper and made a vinaigrette soft and smooth but powerful that I combined with a good salad.