Totec's Tears
What drew me to Harmacy Hot Sauce is that the point of the lineup is not to see if you can handle the heat of a bottle, but rather if it adds the flavor you want to a dish. I feel like somewhere along the line of the Hot Ones infatuation we lost the plot that hot sauce is meant to be flavorful and not just pain. The tag line for Harmacy, “Making hot sauce for food, not as a dare,” speaks directly to this and that is what I wanted to test.
Totec’s Tears is the mild one on purpose. Named for Xipe Totec. It contains dried chilis, plum, a little tangerine and raisin in the pot. I will be honest, the ingredients themselves had me timid to open the jar and try the sauce. I can’t say I often find myself grabbing for a plum or raisins in my life. There is a hotter twin called Totec’s Teeth if you want the same idea with more burn, but I have not tried that one. Totec’s Tears was a reminder why it’s important to try hot sauce on multiple foods and categories because the tastes will change.
My first experience with the sauce was on pizza, and I know, I know, plum and raisin based sauce on pizza maybe not the best… it was delicious! I have a feeling it had something to do with the pepperoni and greasy cheese with the brightness of the sauce. The little bit of sweetness paired well with the salty meat. I was consistently going back for more and more with each bite. There was a moment while I was devouring my pizza that I became annoyed at spooning the sauce out on the pizza and just started dipping it right into the jar. However, when applied to things like tacos or burritos I found the sweetness from the sauce to be a little distracting. This is also not a “put that shit on everything” sauce, and honestly that’s ok. If you find yourself looking to try something different from the norm I think Harmacy is a great brand to explore.
Homero Gonzalez, founder of Harmacy, grew up in a Cuban household where food was how you showed up for people. While attending Tennessee Tech for electrical engineering he realized that was not the life for him. He started experimenting with hot sauce as a hobby in 2018, and just a couple years later in Christmas 2020 he dropped out and turned Harmacy into a company. No investors, small batches, and they still talk about making it twenty gallons at a time in house. I can only imagine the smells filling that house. I also appreciated that Homero sent some recipes along with the box (which are also on the website) to help understand how to use his sauces in ways you wouldn’t always consider.
I think my main complaint about Harmacy comes in the form of their packaging. A jar does not invite proper sauce applications in my mind. Having to spoon it out onto a bite vs being able to squeeze it with precision would be a big improvement in my mind. However, I can also understand that their focus on food and cooking might be looking to move in a more culinary sauce direction, I’m just trying to not have to dip my pizza in a jar of sauce. Ultimately Totec’s Tears lands as a Worth A Try. The sauce is flavorful, the focus is more on finding the right foods to pair it with.