How’s it going everyone? I know we just had a holiday post for the lunar new year and valentine’s day isn’t until next week but, please, allow me to get a little ahead of schedule with today’s review. Because, as is often the case, my special showcase for the fourteenth of february is a limited edition that you’re going to want to grab in advance.
And, this year, it comes from the Screaming Chimp:
A delightfully jammy-looking hot sauce by the name of “Let Me Be Your Phantasy”, which they put out late each january and which holds a certain special interest for me, since it features the rare ají fantasy chilli. One which I’ve only come across once before.
Plus it just looks so inviting!
Its heart-shaped jar is silly, yet cute. And, while it might not look it, it still holds a hundred mil of sauce – Two thirds of the industry standard and the same size as the Chimp’s usual. So you’re not actually losing out at all, despite how small it may seem.
Plus, since all of that sauce has to go somewhere, it ends up adding a lot of pinkish red, around the sides, to add to the valentine’s feel and contrast the company’s normal, yellow labelling. Now also in a heart shape, to match the bottle, and holding a smaller, redder one, behind their logo.
The overall feel is perhaps a tad bright and goofy, for such a romantic occasion, but I can’t really complain. It only adds to the fun, for me.
As for the contents, though, they stand out in their own way. Quick to fill my spoon, yet clearly still packed full of flavour, as I can smell the strawberries long before I start to pour. A little jam-like, matching the sauce’s deep colour, but powerfully fresh and fruity, as well.
And, while most of them seem to cling to the glass, you can definitely make out a few strawberry seeds in my spoonful, too:
Along with tiny shreds of jalapeño and cherry skin but no sign of its other peppers, until it comes to the tasting.
The first flavour to hit my tongue is, of course, those fresh yet jammy strawberries. Backed up by the darker fruit taste of the cherries and just a touch of savoury red pepper, from the jalapeño. But there’s a subtler, greener freshness, along with, stemming from the sauce’s mix of ají strains. The lemondrop, in particular, also adding its own citrus hints to the product’s lemony end notes.
Perhaps as interesting as all that, though, is what I don’t taste. Because there is absolutely no vinegar in this sauce.
Instead, that lemon acts as the acid to preserve it, without ever turning the flavour too sharp. Meaning that there’s nothing to keep Let Me Be Your Phantasy from being an absolutely stunning dessert sauce. Perfect over ice-cream, cheesecake, fruit fool, white chocolate mousse, yoghurts and so much more.
Places where I tend to find most chilli products’ vinegar at odds with the sweetness and high dairy content.
But, if those aren’t your thing, it’s right at home with pancakes, regular cakes, waffles, fried bananas and many other items, as well. Simple, yet full of fresh and fruity flavour that makes it thoroughly enjoyable over just about any sweet treat, truth be told.
Just be aware that it also packs a surprisingly high
throat kick, when the cooling force of that dairy isn’t present. Hitting me late, yet suddenly, at the moment when I swallow. Though it dies down to almost nothing in some of the creamier settings that I suggest. So how hard it’ll hit you depends very much on how you use it.
Regardless of the setting, however, it’s sweet but not overly so, with just enough added sugar to allow it to stick to the dish, while its small seeds add a touch of texture.
It contains:
Strawberries, Cherries, Aji Phantasy, Aji Lemon, Red Jalapeño Chillies, Demerara Sugar, Maple Syrup and Lemon Juice.
And you can check out its three chillies on their respective encyclopedia pages. But first, if you’re reading this review as it goes live, I’d strongly recommend checking out the maker of this phantasic sauce. Because it’s only a week until valentine’s day and I don’t know how much longer this year’s batch will be around.
You definitely don’t want to miss it.
Spicefreak 