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More from Marie

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Hello again, everyone. I hope that you’re all staying safe and doing well and I hope that you managed to eke out at least a little enjoyment from this year’s stay at home halloween.

Personally, I spent the whole week working, harder than ever, to bring you videos and recipes. So, for my first november review, I’d like to talk about something simple and relatively easy to write about. Yet not at the cost of flavour.

These two are from a company that I featured a long time ago – Marie Sharp’s – but they’re very different to the previous sauce. Far less green and far less cactussy.

So, the question is, will her Pure Mango Habanero and Original Garlic taste just as fresh? And will their lack of nopal make me like them more?

Read on to find out.

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Epaƶoté Verde

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So the theme for this week has been green and I’m going to carry that on today as I take you through a strange twist on a tomatillo salsa, adapted slightly from the work of Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook.

It’s a recipe that I employed because it uses a large amount of mexican epaƶoté in its fresh form – Rather than the dried stuff that I’m used to – and I had recently received a bulk amount, on import from holland. Along with some unusual peppers that you’ll be seeing soon.

As it turns out, the fresh herb is quite different from the dry and that difference stands out wonderfully in this verde but the plant does come with its fair share of warnings. Since, while it aids digestion, in small quantities, it can seriously hurt the gut, if overdosed upon.

I’m not going to go into too much detail on that in this post, given that the original recipe writers know more about the herb than I, but I will urge you to read what they have to say about their salsa before making it for yourself. As well as maybe not eating it all alone, since it’s pretty potently epaƶoté.

In fact, you might want to skip out on today’s recipe, altogether, if you have any pre-existing digestive problems. But, if not, it won’t hurt to try it and it’ll provide you with a unique look at mexican cooking.

Despite how traditional it is, this blend of fresh, charred and roasted greenery tastes like nothing else!

EpazoteDone

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A Citrus Surprise

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It’s another tuesday, everybody, and time for the first of my freebies from Saucey Lady. Four of her standard-sized sauce bottles that I chose but wasn’t charged for, on the grounds that it was christmas.

Thank you, Kaz.

Of the sauces that I chose, only two are new, but you’ll be seeing the lot, anyway, as the other feature in recipes and an upcoming video.

For now, though, I’d like to talk about this one:

StClements

Her St Clements, named in reference to the classic schoolyard rhyme and her inclusion of both oranges and lemons. Fruit that, when combined with the product’s aji limon chillies and yellow bell peppers, give it a warm and vibrant yellow unlike anything else in her range.

Despite having the exact same label as all of her others, this sauce stands out as a real looker. And its UK Chilli Awards sticker bodes well, too.

But can it live up to those impressive first impressions? Well why don’t we find out?

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The Mad Titan’s Molé

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Hey folks, do you recognise this fruit?

HornedMelon

If you’re a Marvel fan, you should, ’cause this is the only thing growing in Thanos’ garden. And, while it doesn’t come from an alien cactus, the inside of the real kiwano looks more extraterrestrial than anything in Endgame:

HornedInnards

It’s a freaky-looking fruit and its taste is just as weird – A blend of cantaloupe, cucumber and lime – but it’s right at home with herbs and citrus. It’s more vegetable than fruit but a friend to fresh flavours all the same.

In today’s celebration of superhero movies and obscure, african fruit, I’m not going to be replicating the mad titan’s horned melon soup. That dish is as much of an affront to the world as his use of the infinity stones. A thick, snotty, disgusting mess of a meal, about which horror stories have trickled down through my family for generations.

You do not cook the kiwano.

This fruit or vegetable, whichever you choose to call it, is best served fresh or frozen. It’s typically recommended for use in mousses, smoothies, sorbets and citrus-heavy cocktails but, for today’s recipe, I’m going guac.

Mexico’s famous, creamy dip/condiment hybrid that brings together all things fresh and green.

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Jalapeño Again, Yo!

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Hey folks, happy new year!

Today’s the first day of 2019 and, as I did back in 2018, I’d like to kick things off with something fresh and green. Something that uses peppers as young as the year itself.

Or, to be more precise, two somethings:

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The new Pablo Diablo, from Tubby Tom, and the rather older, more well-established Philosopher’s Dew from the Chilli Alchemist. Both jalapeño sauces but both very different takes from the green srirachas that I showed you last time.

And, for that matter, from each other.

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Lemon Spice Salsa

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Hey there everyone, do you like mango, citrus and salsa? If so then I’ve got the perfect recipe for you!

Today’s is exactly that, with lemon, lime and the lemon spice jalapeño that I recently found all building on a smooth and fruity mango base. Naturally a little sweet but so fresh and tart that it’s definitely not dessert.

Instead, this recipe is an excellent dip for tortilla chips and samosas, a great way to liven up a salad or bean burger, a terrific topping for tacos or the perfect accompaniment to oily fish. Among other uses that I haven’t yet discovered, I’m sure.

And, while it does use a particular numex chilli that I found at challock chilli fest, you can make some substitutions if you don’t have access to it.

I don’t see the lemondrop/aji limon working here because, while it would compliment the citrus, it lacks the yellow pepper and jalapeño-specific notes that help it stand out. Instead, I would recommend the milder, 📽️ regular yellow jalapeños 📽️ if waitrose has them ripe again, orange or yellow habaneros if you want a bit more fruitiness and heat or any of the roxa family of peppers if you can get them, because they, too, are delightfully fruit flavoured.

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Challock Chilli

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Howdy, folks, it’s thursday again and I’ve just returned from a long weekend away, so it’s time for me to tell you all about Challock Chilli fest. A rather different festival to most.

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When I discovered Victoriana Nursery Gardens and their annual event, they had a pitiful lineup of stalls – Roughly eight and most of them not even dedicated to chilli – but that was its selling point.

Challock Chilli Fest isn’t about the products, it’s about the peppers and Victoriana Nursery grow well over a hundred varieties specially. Continue reading →

A Day on the Farm

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It’s thursday again, folks, and this time my post’s a big one.

You see, all the way back in october, I got in touch with a company called “Edible Ornamentals”, who you might know from my reviews of the “Nutty Professor” Peanut Butter or their tea infused “Nagalicious” marmalade.

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Me, though, I didn’t. Back then, those two were still in the post, ordered as my way of checking out the company.

All I actually knew about Edible Ornamentals at the time was that they grew the peppers for some of my favourite producers. And, as it turns out, for the Screaming Chimp.

As growers, though, their main business stops for the winter months and their growing season was already coming to a close by the time that I spoke to them. There was little point in me making this post when it was fresh in my mind.

Now, however, the pepper plants are in bloom and we can finally take a look at how I came to know the company properly. A journey that all started with their “Pod Packs”.

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Fresh and Fruity

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Hey folks, today it’s time to take another look at the East Coast Chilli Co.

A couple of months ago (has it really been that long?), I brought you a review of their teriyaki-style reaper sauce and told you that I thought it was probably their hottest. This month, we’re going straight to the opposite end of the spectrum, to their absolute mildest offering:

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This latest freebie of mine is their “Passion”, supposedly an extra mild mango sauce and one that they really talk up when it comes to flavour. We’ll see how well it holds up to their sales pitch in just a moment, though.

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Pepper Roulette

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Hola everyone, I’ve just recently returned from Spain.

A couple weeks ago I came home from the island of Menorca where I spent two lovely weeks in the sand, sea and sun but found surprisingly little I could bring home to show you. They didn’t really do a lot of hot food on the island and what they had was almost all labelled “pimiento”, the Spanish for pepper.

They did have one thing that I’d really like to share though.

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