Black

Trinidad Tabasco

Spicefreak3 Comments

Hello again, everyone. It’s time for another hot sauce review and today I have a very high profile import, courtesy of Dr. Burnorium’s Hot Sauce Emporium.

Yes, this week’s product is from McIlhenny Co.’s famous Tabasco brand, named after the state of mexico where their peppers first originated. And yet, this is not a tabasco pepper sauce.

No, this is the company’s extra hot scorpion sauce. Made with forty percent trinidad scorpion chillies and much loved, throughout america, despite the more fanatical of chilli lovers usually writing Tabasco off for its low heat, heavy use of vinegar and general lack of nuance.

So, given its unusually positive reception, I’m very curious to see what’s won people over about this particular product. Or if american chilli fans really are just all about the heat.

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Sriracha’s Shadow

Spicefreak1 Comment

So, dear readers, we’ve seen both black garlic and sriracha quite recently but, this week, we’re seeing them together. Looking at an actual black garlic sriracha that just got released.

Which, because it’s such a garlic-forward style of sauce to begin with, should really highlight the difference between the regular root and its own blackened bulbs. Though, I’ll admit, that’s only half of why I’m excited for this one.

The other half is its maker – Daddy Cool’s – who’ve put out at tonne of great products, all throughout the half decade that I’ve been blogging. You can find more on them in my sidebar, to the right, but the short of it is that this is the latest entry into their square bottle line. Which, up until now, has been nothing short of amazing.

So obviously I had to jump on this sriracha the second that it hit metaphorical shelves. Because my expectations are through the roof. But don’t think that I’m going to go easy on it if they aren’t met, either.

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Salty Seconds

Spicefreak3 Comments

Greetings again, fiery food fans. Today’s feature comes, at least in part, from one of you. So, if you’re reading this, Verminskyi, thanks for the suggestion!

But, that said, I didn’t want to bring you all just one product this week. I’m not just showcasing the requested Wiltshire Chilli Farm salt.

No, I’m pairing it with a second product from an equally well known brand. Another naga salt, similarly-spiked with peppercorns to enhance both heat and flavour. This week, we’re looking at The Chilli Jam Man, too:

WCFCJMsalts

A second salt-based showdown to test Wiltshire’s “fearless flavour” oncemore and see how they fair against a more mainstream opponent.

Will their second salt knock it out of the park, like their milder chipotle sort, or will the Jam Man prove himself the fiercer rival? Read on to find out!

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Bonfire Brew

Spicefreak7 Comments

Hey there heat seekers. Today, we’re celebrating bonfire night, and the start of november in general, with a selection of roasted coffee bean products.

One from the ever-famous Queen Majesty, of former Hot Ones fame. One sent by my buddy Jason, of Burning Desire Foods – A company that I’ve featured plenty of times. And the last, a name that’s completely new to me: Chilli Scrumptious.

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All three are heavily themed around their use of coffee and spice but Burning Desire’s is a little bit different. In part, because it’s a rub but also because it was free to me. A review sample, not a purchase.

I feel a little bad about including it in a comparison post, alongside sauces that I’ve paid for, but it was that or make my thursday reviews a regular feature. Which I’m quite simply not prepared to do.

Last week’s was a one-off holiday special.

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More Black Salsa

Spicefreak1 Comment

Hey folks, how’s it going? Today, I want to take a look at a rather more mainstream company.

You’ve probably never heard of Salsa Tamaƶula but I’d be amazed if you’ve never heard of their signature product. After all, this “Valentina” hot sauce is the mexican staple, on almost every restaurant table across its home country.

ValentinaBlack

So it comes as absolutely no surprise that MexGrocer stock it, along with their more obscure sauces. Any importer worth their salt should.

No, today’s big surprise comes in the form of a second bottle. Another sauce from the same brand, bearing their company name in the same white-outlined, green lettering on red and black.

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A slightly smaller container of Salsa Picante Tamaƶula Muy Picante, colloquially known as “Tamaƶula Black”.

Why black? Because the Salsa Tamaƶula sauces are more commonly seen in yellow labels, with these darker ones denoting their extra hot variants – That “Muy Picante” on the packaging.

Extra hot might not actually mean “hot”, though, so let’s see what I make of them.

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Return of the Ancients

Spicefreak5 Comments

Hey there heat eaters, do you recognise this chilli?

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I wouldn’t be surprised if you don’t, since it’s been a long time since I last had it and this time was my first time seeing it fresh, too. It is, however, the chilhuacle negro (literally “ancient pepper black”) that we saw dried in my old enchilada recipe, where I was reviewing La Picanteria’s peppers and salsa.

Honestly, though, that salsa was a tad disappointing. The dried chillies, themselves, had a wonderful earthy flavour that was uniquely reminiscent of artisan tobacco and, even way back then, I thought that I could do better with them. Now, I finally get the chance.

So, years on from that first taste, having I finally managed to track down another supplier of the pepper, I’m making myself a superior salsa negra. A black salsa that isn’t quite the traditional sort but uses the proper aztec peppers and tastes astounding.

Like, devour three portions in one sitting and then go out for more ingredients levels of astounding.

But they are hard peppers to get a hold of and, while Yorkshire Peppers had plenty for me, I can’t guarantee that they have enough to go around. If you want to follow along with today’s recipe, you may need to substitute a milder, equally rich chilli like a poblano or a rehydrated ancho or pasilla.

They won’t taste quite the same but they’re the closest easily available peppers that I can think of.

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Mexican Import

Spicefreak6 Comments

Greetings everyone and welcome back to another tuesday chilli review.

Now that we’re well into my third year, I’ve covered a lot of condiments and struck a healthy balance between local and imported foodstuffs but there’s one respect in which I’ve been a little remiss: The vast majority of my imports have come from a single company. From Hot Headz.

And sure, they are the UK’s largest chilli product importer but they aren’t the only one. So today, as a small start to setting things straight, I’m going to look at a couple of sauces from Mex Grocer instead.

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