What is it?
The Battle Of the Sauces is a contest to find which of the sauces provided is the best and worst overall. The participants in the battle of the sauces will be given either pepper jack cheese or a Triscuit cracker to sample the sauces on. There are nine participants in the battle of the sauces. Four of them are Triscuit tasters and five are pepper jack cheese tasters. All of the provided sauces will be voted out of a five star scale, with one, being the best, five, being the worst, and vote each number 1 through 5 once. In the end, all numbers will be put in a dot plot and added up, as well as which people used Triscuit or the pepper jack cheese and if that made them vote higher or lower. One sauce will be found to be the best and most superior dipping choice compared to the others. If the result of Triscuit or pepper jack cheese made an impact or influenced any certain result made, it will say in the end showing of rank.
Tartar sauce
Tartar sauce is a savory condiment with tangy and dill notes in it. Tartar sauce is also the loser with it coming in 5th place. The tartar sauce could have tied for forth if it got one more vote for third, with all other ballots being split out. The most common comment from the participants was an “oh” or “ew”, with only one of the voters ranking it as number one saying “That’s really good”. One of the participants hated the tarter sauce so much that they wrote the word “puke” next to tarter sauce on the score sheet. Ultimately, the tarter sauce was not a favorite of the participants and ranked 5th for overall score.
Sugar-Free Chocolate Sauce
The sugar-free chocolate sauce is not as sweet as normal Hershey’s syrup. It has more of a cocoa powder smell often described as leaving a bitter aftertaste with those that tried it. There were a few tasters who were confused about why it was an option but ended up saying it was better than first perceived. In the end, the sugar-free chocolate sauce was only rated a four by most of the participants with three being a close second. People who ate the chocolate sauce with Triscuits voted more one, three, and four, with pepper jack cheese being more indecisive hitting every number but one. Overall rated fourth place.
Balsamic Glaze
The balsamic glaze is significantly sweeter than balsamic vinegar by itself and has a thicker syrupy consistency with a slightly sour aftertaste. The participants had a decent reaction and did enjoy it. The bottle said it pairs well with both crackers and cheese. The balsamic was almost a draw with the tasters sampling the sauce. Although Triscuit got a much higher rating of two or three, the people who had the pepperjack cheese gave the balsamic a lower rating staying more in a four to five range. The group of participants gave it a ratting of two in the end.
Yellow Mustard
Mustard has been said to have tangy, peppery notes in it. With the tasting of the sauces, one eager participant said, “ that sizz is fire”. Most others had mixed opinions on mustard. Overall, mustard covered all numbers one through five, but it tended to stay in the middle with three people ranking it number two.Of the three people who ranked mustard second, two ate it on Triscuit and one ate it on pepper jack. The next most popular numbers were three and four both with two votes, also both ratings were done on both a Triscuit and pepper jack. The last two polarizing votes both try the mustard and pepper jack but still vote either one or five. It was rated at number two overall.
Sriracha sauce
Sriracha is a chili sauce described as a spicy, garlic-tasting hot sauce that can be used for many different foods. All of the participants showed initial excitement for the sauce, and because of this, the Sriracha was the overall winner of the battle of the sauces with six people voting it as number one, one person voting it as a five, and two voting it as second place or third place. The ranking was split evenly with both Triscuit and pepper jack cheese, and three each voted it number one. Two of the six who voted for Sriracha for number one asked if they could have more after the initial sampling was over one said “Please can I have more, it’s such a good snack”. The overall rating for Sriracha was number one.
The result
The taste of the sauces was a fun experiment overall for all the participants. There are few changes could be made, for example, if every person used the same medium for the tasting such as all Trisket or all pepper jack cheese. Participants could also be given the same amount of each sauce to make it more accurate. Those who used Triscuits tended to vote in the same rank more often than not. Those who used pepper jack cheese, on the other hand, did not follow that pattern and would vote on both ends of the spectrum commonly. The final ranking of the sauces worst to best ended up being Tarter fifth, Sugar-free chocolate sauce fourth, there was a tie with mustard and the balsamic glaze for second, and the winner of the sauce battles was Sracha sauce.
