Dalston Double

Hello again, everyone. Today, we’re looking at a sauce that’s been gaining a lot of traction, lately, but that I still hadn’t heard hide nor hair about until it arrived on my doorstep. A gift from my aunt, in london, to whom this week’s product is quite local.

This is Common Sanity’s Dalston Sunshine – The name of the sauce telling you exactly what borough its company are based in and their own hinting at an interest in mental health. With a portion of the company’s profits going to charity for that very reason.

Yet the common “Common Sanity” name, as a whole, is apparently a play on commensality, the act of communal eating. Not anything to do with the word “Common”. Which is just as well because, as much as it may look like a common caribbean mustard sauce, their Dalston Sunshine’s main ingredient is actually the fatalii chilli. An african relative of the habanero which, despite growing popularity in recent years, is still far from “common”.

And it’s not today’s only unexpected fusion flavour, either, since my little care package also contained a second item from the company:

Not a sauce, this time, but a chinese or filipino-style crispy oil. Filled with mexican chillies, seeds and nuts for a beautifully rich sounding, yet equally unorthodox blend that they call Fuego Greeze.

I’m very eager to try them both out.

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Chocolate Hell

Hello again, everyone, and welcome back to the last tuesday of march. The perfect time for a quite unusual pair.

Today we have two very different sauces, with very different heats and flavours, but one particularly appropriate ingredient in common: Chocolate.

It is coming up to easter, after all, so why not start the celebrations early with Ignis’ CNC9 and Haskhell’s Chipotle?

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Scorpion Tail Cheddar

Sup peeps, today it’s time for another cheese review and this week’s product is one that I know well:

546Cheese

One of five different chilli cheeses from 546 Cheese but the only one that’s actually hot.

Boy is it, though! This is their scorpion pepper cheddar and it doesn’t pull any punches, with a fierce

7.5/11

Heat

that comes in gradually, yet quickly.

It’s definitely not for beginners and nor is it in line with the rest of their range but what about its flavour? Is this a cheese worth trying for those who enjoy such fire?

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Stir-Fried Spuds

Sup peeps. Earlier this week, we looked at some szechuan-style peanuts from Brighton Hot Stuff that I highly recommended using in a stir-fry.

I stand by that recommendation but, today, I’m going to add a caveat. They went really well into both noodle and rice-based stir-fries and they’d be just as good in a veg-heavy one but there’s a lesser known type of traditional stir-fry that I don’t see them working in. Potato Stir-fry.

Yep, you read that right. There’s a real chinese dish where they slice potatoes into ultra-fine strips and cook them like noodles. Albeit a touch more al denté.

I’m not going to lie, it’s super weird the first time you try it. It’s completely unlike any western form of spud. Yet keep going, for a few mouthfuls, and you’ll soon come to love it.

I discovered this dish at Xi’an Impressions, in london, on route to Challock Chilli Fest. I picked up a taste for it there that turned into a craving, during my recent brighton trip, but, unfortunately, I never made it back.

Instead, I’ve had to learn to cook shredded potato stir-fry myself. And now I’m going to teach you.

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More Black Salsa

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.

TamazulaBlack

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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Laterra on the Web

Hey folks, Today I’m back with another importer highlight but also an apology to Laterra.

In my post about Mex Grocer, I mistakenly referred to their product as their “Savoury Mexican Tomatillo Sauce”, when that was not its name at all. It was merely the product description.

The true name of that sauce was “Michoacan”, after the region that inspired it – A name that I had mistaken for the sauce’s place of origin.

No such mistakes will be made today, however, as I look at another pair of Laterra’s sauces, purchased from Spices on the Web.

Twinterra

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