Happy tuesday, everyone! This week, we have another company who wax seal their beautiful bottles but their products aren’t shipped over from the states like our last. They’re made here in the UK and I’ve got not one but two of them to show you, today:
These are Heriot Hott’s sweet chilli and barbecue-style sauces but neither has anything like the usual list of ingredients and neither looks quite like I’d expect, either.
Continue readingHey folks, it’s the week after my birthday so it’s time to cool things down a tad. And, while I’m not expecting this week’s sauce to be mild, exactly, I’m definitely hoping for a focus on flavour. Because this one sounds weird, even to me!
This is “Where The Wild Roses Grow”, from Balefire, and its label looks just like their previous product. Yet the sauce inside glows a peachy shade of orange and really shows off the blend of rose water and red habanero within. A pairing which I’ve never even heard of, outside of my own gulab jamun recipe.
“Wild” is right for this crazy take on a sweet chilli but, as I discovered when I was researching for that recipe, there’s science to support today’s flavour combination. So the question is less about the concept and more about Balefire’s execution.
Can the company pull off this one of a kind creation successfully?
Continue readingWhat’s up everybody? We’ve played it safe these last couple of weeks but, today, I think it’s time that we branched out to someone new, once again. A company so fresh that they don’t even seem to have a website yet. But they still feature prominently in my local hot sauce shop.
Meet Heat Lab. A small, york-based business with three different flavours and a science-themed aesthetic that’s very much after my own heart.
The wrinkled heat shrink around their bottle necks may show their lack of experience but it says nothing about the quality within. And honestly, I have high hopes for this trio.
Continue readingHey folks, how’s it going?
For me, life’s been pretty good lately. But, sadly, the same cannot be said for our last few sauces. Since, as much as I liked the taste of rocoto in The Wicked Chilli’s Roco Loco, it still didn’t express the pepper’s unique heat as well as I’d hoped. And the other two that I tried these last couple of weeks were similarly disappointing.
So, this time around, I think I’m going to play it safe with a company who’ve already really impressed me once before: Balefire.
We saw their Get Schwifty a while back and, aside from the name, I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of that sauce. So, today, I’m going to take a look at two more in the hopes that their Tortuga and Critical Masala are just as stunning.
Continue readingHey folks, remember how I just randomly mentioned Queen Majesty again, last week? For the first time in ages?
Well, believe it or not, it was entirely coincidental and today’s feature was an extremely last minute find. But I do have another of their sauces to show you and this one, in particular, is one that I’ve been waiting a long time for. Ever since the reveal of Hot Ones‘ season seventeen line-up.
The number six of that era, Queen Majesty’s Cocoa Ghost. Which stood out, to me, from the moment I first saw it, as something truly unique.
Continue readingAlright everyone, it’s time to get schwifty, so pull down your pants and-
Okay, no. I’m not finishing that reference. Rick and Morty really isn’t the highbrow, adult comedy that its fans would like you to think and that level of toilet humour is just gross. Even for a chilli reviewer, like myself, who inevitably has to hear a tonne of it.
But, the show’s supposed intelligence aside, there is something else that it’s known for. Which is the absolute ridiculousness of the szechuan sauce debacle, caused by the start of its third season. The raids on McDonald’s stores, across the US, all in search of a long-discontinued tie-in to the original Mulan film.
Frankly, I’ve no idea why people cared so much about a simple szechuan sauce – Especially one with such an uninspired list of ingredients – but that absurd uproar did have some interesting knock-on effects. Including inspiring a whole host of more authentic chinese flavours in the american hot sauce market. As well as a few further afield and even one or two here, in the UK.
Today, I want to look at one example, in particular, which comes to us from Balefire, in durham:
Hey folks, how’s it going? It’s tuesday again and, honestly, things have been a little rough for my blog work lately. I’m doing a lot of other things on the side and it’s been a bit of a struggle to keep up with even my weekly reviews. Let alone all of the weekend recipes and random thursday things which I feel like I aught to be doing.
But, while I might not be able to offer you any of those extras, right now, I can at least provide you with a bit more than the norm in today’s post. Not the usual one or two sauces. Not even three.
No, the full on five of Spice Island Chilli’s entire range:
Each one a different heat and flavour, wrapped in its own tale of maritime history. Yet the whole lot hailing from a single portsmouth company, with a distinctive style throughout. Meaning that I’d probably just say the same things five times if I were to review them all separately, anyway.
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Even Flow. Another strangely-named bottle from Orriss & Son but, this time, it’s their original recipe habanero sauce. And, unlike with their Fresh Tendrils, it actually tells us something about what’s inside.
For this habanero-based product, along with the rest of their range, the company use primarily pepper juices, rather than full pods. Giving their sauce a distinctive, smooth texture and, dare I say, even flow.
It’s part of what sets Orriss & Son apart and they clearly wanted to capitalise on it here. Yet what sold me on today’s feature wasn’t on the front of its bottle, at all.
Continue readingAnother week has arrived, dear readers, and it’s time for another review. But, this time, it isn’t just any old tuesday. It’s shrove tuesday – Now more commonly known as pancake day – and that’s my favourite food-based holiday. So you’d better believe I’ve got something special, sweet and spicy to slather over my breakfast, lunch and dinner:
This is Mack Chilli’s Ginger Ninja and, as much as it may look like a thai sweet sauce, the label assures me otherwise. Because it is, in fact, a chilli syrup, made from the pride of Mack’s home country and mine. The bright, orange, scottish soda that is Irn Bru.
With its appropriately orangey and almost bubblegum fruit flavour, the Bru might not be my favourite fizz but it certainly is an iconic one. And one that I still very much enjoy, despite its touch of bitter quinine.
Yet a huge part of its identity comes from that very quinine and how the subtle bitterness is brought out by the drink’s bubbles. In order to provide a sharp quality which contrasts with its sweet base flavour.
Can today’s chillies do the same?
Continue readingSo, now that valentine’s day is out of the way, I think it’s time that we returned to my regular line-up and took a look at something I’ve had in the wings for a while: The last of my order from Pembrokeshire Chilli Farm.
A particularly boozy pair, featuring chipotle and bourbon, on the left, alongside an apple-based collaboration with the Pembrokeshire Cider Co. to our right. Promising a little more heat, from the inclusion of its habaneros, but hopefully a smooth and fruity flavour, too.
I’ve been looking forward to these for quite a while now. So let’s try them out!
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Spicefreak 