Raspberry Chipotle Sauce

Easton Reed’s Raspberry Chipotle Sauce for the Cheese Board

Easton Reed’s Raspberry Chipotle Sauce pits raspberry against smoke. Raspberry purée tops the list of ingredients, while ground chipotle chili, cinnamon, and ginger provide a spicy counterpoint, and lemon juice keeps the fruit bright and fresh.

Raspberry Chipotle Sauce is the raspberry chipotle sauce by Augsburg-based Easton Reed, bottled in 260-milliliter glass jars. Raspberry purée is the primary ingredient at 22 percent, followed by sugar, water, and brown sugar. Soy sauce, sea salt, and smoked chipotle chili give the fruit a savory counterpart without overpowering it.

Raspberry meets smoke and cinnamon

Deep red and viscous in the jar, the sauce smells of ripe berries the moment it is opened—so immediately that one thinks of summer. Only after the first spoonful does something distinctly darker emerge in the palate and linger there.

The raspberry remains in the foreground, with its typical acidity and the small seeds that one feels between the teeth. Behind that comes the smoke of the chipotle, and this transition from bright fruit to dark spice is the true event inside this bottle.

Cinnamon and ginger lay a warm tone beneath it that is felt more than identified, and black pepper provides the finishing touch. Fruity, smoky, spicy—this is the order in which it unfolds, with the heat remaining decidedly understated.

With blue cheese, game, and oven-roasted vegetables

Its place is more on a cheese board than on the grill, even though it handles both with ease and looks good on grilled poultry. Alongside strong blue cheese or aged goat cheese, the raspberry plays up its acidity, making the bite lighter than a sweet chutney could.

For game, duck, and turkey, it replaces the classic cranberry sauce while bringing more spice to the table, and on toasted bread with cream cheese, it becomes an appetizer in two minutes. It also pairs very well with oven-roasted vegetables like squash and beetroot, and on a turkey sandwich the day after the feast, it becomes the star attraction.

The Cranberry Chutney follows a similar path, while things get spicier with the Fig Onion Sauce. Matching neighbors for every cheese board can be found on our chutney shelf.

Why fruit and smoke go together

The combination of berry and smoked chili originates in the Southwestern United States and has a reason that can be explained in one sentence. Smoke brings a lot of depth but very little freshness, and something must balance this imbalance.

Without a counterpart, it quickly feels heavy and overwhelms everything else. An acidic fruit cuts right into it, lifts the smoke, and makes it dynamic again, while conversely, the berry is given a foundation that makes it more than just sweet.

To maintain this balance, a high fruit content is necessary, which the raspberry purée at the top of the ingredient list provides. Lemon juice and apple cider vinegar keep the acidity high so that the sauce does not fall flat when heated. This line was developed by Ryan's Specialties in Augsburg, the house behind American Heritage. The other varieties in the range can be found in the Easton Reed collection.