Spicefreak

Hey folks, I don’t know about you but, for me, time seems to be moving abnormally fast in our new, pandemic-stricken world. I mean, it’s already september, for crying out loud!

So, with that being the case, there’s a little something that I have to show you today. A somewhat different product from a previously featured producer that I’ve been keeping in reserve but is now fast approaching its best before date:

This is the Surinamese from Farraday’s Tasty – A product which they claim, on their website, is a traditional surinamese-style pickle, yet describe, on the jar, as a spiced up piccalilli. Seemingly quite the contradiction, given that piccalilli is another example of british bangladeshi cuisine.

In actuality, though, it would appear that piccalilli found its way over there, somehow, and has become a major ingredient in the country’s traditional cooking. Albeit adulterated slightly, in order to fit the locals’ tastes.

Let’s see what’s changed, shall we?

Before I dig in, though, I just want to mention that I’m digging the label design on this one.

Red and gold artwork highlights the chillies and the pestle and mortar, used to grind the spices, while its style – One of purely lines and shading, no fill colour – allows the pure white of the background to shine through and provide us with an air of clean and fresh.

It doesn’t look cartoony and jokey, like their Flying Monkey. It looks as if it’s made for taste and cares about both quality and tradition.

Though its art actually tells us very little about the product, beyond its increased heat. And it even suggests that it uses the wrong chilli. More on that later, though, ’cause I’m still quite excited to get into this one.

Out of the jar, Farraday’s Tasty’s surinamese-style piccalilli is thick with chunks of cauliflower, courgette and red pepper – Just like you’d expect – to the point where I can overfill my spoon to ridiculous levels and even wander round the room with it, without any risk of spillage.

It’s honestly quite the spectacle but you’re just going to have to believe me on that one, since making blog-fit gifs is far more work than you might think. All I have is this ridiculously stacked, still spoon shot:

It looks good but not anything out of the ordinary and it doesn’t smell particularly different, either. The only unusual aspect to its aroma is a slight hint of silver-skin onions, beneath the expected body of mustardy pickle.

In the taste and the burn is where its uniqueness comes across, though, since its red pepper isn’t all bells. Or even mostly, so far as I can tell.

This piccalilli tastes of generic, fresh, red chilli and carries an unexpectedly high

2.5/11

Heat

which lingers on the roof of my mouth after each mouthful.

It’s not the true taste of suriname – The aptly named “suriname yellow” – but the freshness of that chilli still adds a lot to today’s pickle. And you can tell, from its squeak, that the veg is just as good.

Yet that’s all for what makes this piccalilli surinamese. That chilli and the garlic that I’m not really picking up on are the two big differences that make up suriname’s regional variant.

The aftertaste of lemongrass and ginger? That’s all vietnam.

Why have Farraday’s Tasty opted to include elements of the Sẚ Và Tu’o’ng ó’t? I have no idea but they absolutely have. And, while they haven’t given the lemongrass quite as much care and attention as Posh Pickles did, it still works surprisingly well, appearing smoothly out of that oniony, golden pickle and standing in for the musty, floral hints that were lost when they chose the wrong chilli.

Because yes, the suriname yellow, often referred to as the “madame jeanette”, would have been perfect for such a smooth yet sharp, mustard-based product but what Farraday have made works, too.

It is, indeed, tasty and it’ll go fantastically with most meats – Hot or cold – cheeses and the creamy sauce used in the majority of pies but, if you want a more distinctly surinamese dish to use it in, pom is what it’s really meant for. A unique blend of all the different cuisines that wound up meeting there that seems to be part curry, part root vegetable casserole and part citrus chicken, yet is also completely its own thing.

I’m excited to try it but it’s going to be a while before you see that recipe because I’ve just polished off my jar with a spoon. Oops.

It contained:

Vegetables in various amounts (Cauliflower, Cucumber, Red Peppers, Baby Onions), Chilli, Ginger, Lemon grass, Garlic, Acetic Acid, Sugar, Salt, Cornflour, Turmeric, Mustard Seed, Mustard Powder, Nigella Seed & Spices

And I enjoyed it a lot. So yes, it gets a recommendation from me, even if it isn’t quite as traditional as its makers suggest.

It’s a great, medium-heat piccalilli, regardless. Though I am going to have to leave you with a link to the chillies that it should have used, since the ones that it actually does are too generic to place.