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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Christmas White

Happy solstice, everyone! I’m not doing anything special for the holiday – Or at least, not online – but I do have a rather special sauce to show you, all the same. One that matches the idealised colour of the season, even if I’ve only actually seen two white christmases in my whole life.

This is the White Fatality, from Pika Pika, and it very much lives up to its name, with a beautiful ivory colouration that’s completely unlike any other chilli product. But it’s not just that that makes it special – At least, not to me – because the second half of its name refers specifically to the rare chilli within. One which I first tasted right around the time when this blog began and I’ve been searching tirelessly for it ever since.

It is, of course, the white fatalii. An obscure and beautifully pale variant of the much more common yellow strain, with its own distinctive taste. Smooth, fresh and both slightly wheaty and slightly like clotted cream. Yet still very much its own unique thing. And just as very hot.

After years of searching, I’d all but given up hope of ever seeing it again. Yet here we are, witnessing my long lost love’s return in sauce form. Will they be all that I remember?

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Tropical Trio

Hey folks, I think it’s time for something tropical. Or, perhaps, somethings:

A trio of tangy fruit flavours from three different companies, each in its own unique colour.

The Somerset Chilli Co. brings us a greenish-yellow, pineapple and passion fruit sauce, in the form of their “La Playa”, with the most unusual addition of kiwi. Whereas Ignis offer up the other end of the spectrum, with their HPPM. A fermented red habanero product which also uses pineapple and passion fruit, to support its pepper, but throws mango into the mix, as well.

Then, in the middle, we have a more normal style of fruit sauce. The Sound System Sauce, from Howl at the Moon. An orange-coloured blend of mango, pineapple and good old scotch bonnet.

All three are different enough to do their own thing, so I’m not sure how much actual comparison we’ll see today, but there’s a consistent theme across the board and I’m definitely looking forward to trying the lot. So let’s give them all a look, shall we?

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Saucy Dogs

Hey folks, welcome back. I hope that you’ve all had a wonderful christmas – Or whatever winter holiday you celebrate – despite this year’s limitations, and that you and all of your family and friends are keeping well.

I know that I’m a lot more fortunate than many of you, to still be living with most of my loved ones, but I hope that you haven’t been out spreading the virus and getting yourself on the naughty list. Because, while I’m sure that we can all get up to some mischief, from time to time, that’s the kind which risks the lives of others. Not the fun kind that I’m looking to highlight with today’s product pair.

No, these scotch bonnet and fatalii sauces are simply labelled with a sweary pun on their dog-based branding. They aren’t hurting anyone.

So, if you’ve been a good little elf and you’re old enough to appreciate the bad language, do click on through to the main post to see the uncensored bottles.

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Wild Finds

Welcome back, everyone, to yet another review of a generous company’s free samples.

This week, they’re from Foraged Fire, who, unlike my last two features, are entirely new to me. A company that I’d barely heard of, before their owner got in touch, but one that I’m super excited to show you.

Every single one of their products contains at least one major talking point. And I have three of them!

Each of these items is easily special enough to warrant its own post and, at any other time of year, I’d definitely split them up. But we’ve just entered into december and it’s mere days until my christmas recap. So I’m taking this opportunity to talk about all three because, if they’re as special as they sound, they’ll all deserve my holiday recommendation.

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Thunderstruck!

Welcome back, everyone. It’s review time again and, so far, I feel like we’ve seen a lot of fruit-based products this year.

Well, today’s sauce does promise peach and blueberry undertones but those are far from its main focus. As you can tell from its bottle:

ThunderJuiceBottle

This is Thunder Juice. A brown chilli product from the makers of Rogue – My personal favourite from the Hot Ones line-up.

It’s High River Sauces’ tequila-infused sauce but its true selling point is that mind-blowing, eye-widening, skull-scorching nuclear mushroom cloud of heat that we see in its art. A truly extreme visual representation that the product may actually live up to, considering its primary pepper.

Because, while it does look to contain a fair amount of the current world record holder, this isn’t a reaper sauce. It’s a chocolate bhutlah one – Which might just make it even hotter.

And, even if it doesn’t, the bhutlah also brings a blend of rich, earthy and cocoa-like flavours that I absolutely adore. I have no idea how it’ll pair with peach, blueberries and tequila but I look forward to finding out, while I put the firepower of this potential future record to the test.

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A Very Attractive Sandwich

Happy Star Wars day, everyone! Today’s post has absolutely nothing to do with George Lucas’ famous franchise but my generation was one that grew up in the wake of the original trilogy, receiving every ounce of second-hand excitement imaginable in the run up to Episode One.

And, since I was young enough to enjoy that movie and the games that it spawned, Star Wars has been a positive part of my life for as long as I can remember. I may not be as obsessed with it as some reviewers but I have a lot of respect for the series, all the same, and I just have to acknowledge that today’s date is may the fourth.

Now let’s get on with this weekend’s main feature: A quick and easy, yet utterly delicious egg mayo recipe, featuring Daddy Cool’s Fatalii Attraction.

Because, now that I’m coming to the end of my third bottle, I feel like I should show you how I use the stuff.

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Khoo’s Hot Syrup

Happy tuesday, folks. Today’s a bit of a special one.

Why? Because it’s shrove tuesday. The start of lent, now all but stripped of its religious significance and transformed into my favourite food-based holiday: Pancake Day.

A day for the appreciation of round, flat, pan-fried breads from all across the globe. Be they ultra thin and lightly crispy like a french crêpe or thick, puffy and well-risen like a japanese hot cake. Smothered in sweetness, as per american tradition, or served up savoury like the potato variety.

And hey, I may not consider the common gluten free alternative, the banana pancake, a true member of the pancake race but it is, quite clearly, pancake-inspired and utterly delicious. If you want to spend your pancake day with those, I’m definitely not going to fault you for it.

Me, though? I was brought up on blueberry ones – Good, thick, american-style pancakes, chock full of my dad’s favourite berries. And, if you don’t count peppers, quite possibly mine as well.

The sweet yet tart bursts of randomly distributed fruit added an extra level of enjoyment to my childhood breakfasts and I still love those pancakes to this day. Despite their mess.

It should, therefore, come as no surprise that I first tried today’s product – A chilli golden syrup – in that manner.

khoocakes

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