Herb

Bonnie Wee Spice

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Hey folks, I’m scottish and I’ve mentioned that a few times on here. Especially when highlighting companies from my homeland. But, as much as I appreciate scottish sauce, I don’t actually live there and I haven’t done so in many years.

I only see the high profile stuff. The Singularity Sauce Co.s, who make big internet appearances, and the Foraged Fires, who shock social media with their wild ingredients.

The smaller companies do pop up online, occasionally, but even when they do, they don’t always make a good impression. Like today’s jalapeño and chipotle pair:

Two products from The Bonnie Sauce Co., in edinburgh, who’s website is grey, gloomy, uninviting and full of desaturated, off-colour images of their craft. Of sauces which actually look quite enticing, in real life, yet might well have gone entirely untasted if my relatives hadn’t found them in person, while visiting my sister.

So, before we begin today’s review in earnest, I’d like to take a brief moment to thank my family for their find and remind you all that not everything is as it appears online.

Then we can give them a closer inspection.

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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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Dutch Green

Spicefreak3 Comments

Welcome to the new year, everyone! Today may be the seventh but it’s also the first tuesday of twenty-twenty and time for my annual green sauce review – A “new” pepper for a new year, if you will.

This year’s sauce, however, is a little more than just another blend of herbs and under-ripe chilli. It also represents a new craze that’s been sweeping the nation. One for a rather different green item, known as cannabidiol isolate, or CBD oil.

It’s hot stuff – At least in the marketing sense – and there’s nowhere that it’s caught on more than in brighton, so you know exactly which company I’m talking about, this week. Yet it’s also something of an eighteen plus topic, so I’ll be leaving my product shot and the explanation of what exactly CBD oil is until after that “Continue reading” button.

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Hopping to It

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Alright, everyone, you’ve heard of hot sauce but, today, we’re looking at hop sauce. A green and herby bird’s eye blend from Hop Burns & Black. The most well known chilli retailer in london.

I picked up a few things, when I was last there, but today’s “Hoptimo” is special. Not just because it contains hops but also because it’s a custom creation from Slow Richie’s and Brick Brewery, made specially for the store. This is a Hop Burns exclusive:

Hoptimo

But it does, indeed, contain hops. The signature ingredient in one of the shop owners’ other passions: Craft beer.

And, in this review, we’re going to find out what those hops do for hot sauce flavour.

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Garlic & Herb

Spicefreak1 Comment

Greetings again, everyone. It’s the weekend, oncemore, and time for another recipe.

This one, like many of my recent uploads, was something of a spur of the moment decision. Which is a pleasant example of how this year’s “mini recipe” focus has changed the way I work. I have a lot more freedom to post simple recipes and the occasional adaptation of a previous dish (like last week’s blueberry vindaloo), most of which would never have graced my site before. It’s somewhat liberating and I hope that you lot enjoy it as much as I do. Feel free to drop a comment down below or hit up my contact page if you have anything to say about the matter.

Today, though, my simple recipe isn’t even my own. It’s a collaboration with a friend of mine who was convinced that I was making garlic bread wrong and just had to prove it.

Personally, I still disagree. Garlic bread doesn’t need herbs or spices to be enjoyable. You can turn a baguette into something wonderful with just garlic and butter.

His herbs and peppers were far from necessary but, in the end, they were also far from unwelcome. If basic garlic bread is a wonderful treat, his french herb and mixed chilli twist is pure bliss. A far more nuanced flavour with all the same garlic punch as before, alongside that touch of heat that we all crave.

For the maybe five minutes of extra preparation time, the difference that my friend’s additions made were utterly unbelievable. And he has no problem with me sharing what he did.

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Tropical Green

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Hello again everyone, I hope you’ve had a great week. Mine was comparatively quiet but it’s been a good one, if a tad too heavy on the salsa near the end.

Why? Because I recently stumbled upon a discussion of certain a mexican restaurant in the states and what exactly went into their tomatillo salsa. I had no vested interest in the outcome, having never visited Abuelo’s and living roughly 6 timezones away from it, but I was curious about some of the recipes that came up.

Green chilli, herbs and pineapple have always piqued my interest as a combination and adding tomatillos only makes it more enticingly out there. But what if that were kiwi?

Well, I set to work testing out a few variations and kind of overdid things but here’s what I found out:

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Fat Man Green

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Hey there fiery food folks, you remember Fat Man Chilli Co, right?

Some time ago, we looked at their spicy ketchup – A rich and only mildly spicy take on an artisinal tomato sauce.

This time, we’re going up the scoville scale, just a little, for an equally standard-looking sauce: Their Green Chilli.

fatbottlegreen

As we already found from that ketchup, though, looks can be quite deceiving and this is not the basic jalapeño concoction that it appears to be.

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Refritos Sweet Potatoes

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It’s the last weekend of the month again, folks, and I’m sure you know what that means by now. It’s recipe time.

This february’s main dish, however, isn’t entirely my own. It’s an adaptation of one of Sorted Food’s latest and, if you haven’t heard of them, I strongly suggest that you check out their 📽️ baked potato recipe video 📽️ before continuing.

They’re a great fun channel, fully focussed on food, with the knowledge of professional chefs but far more of a down to earth approach. I’ve been hooked on them for months.

Yet, for the first time today, I feel like I’m qualified to take on one of their recipes and give my own twist. Maybe even improve it. Because real mexican food has been passed down to me, through the generations, from real mexican chefs. And chillies, well, they’re kind of my thing.

So, for this month’s recipe, I’m taking their sweet potato stuffed with refried beans and giving it what they would call a “level up”!

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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.

mexsauce.jpg

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Herby Mahi

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Happy tuesday again, folks. Today, it’s time for another golden brown sauce.

Yet this isn’t another mustard one like earlier this month. No, today we’re looking at the last of Mahi’s table sauces and it’s a more traditional, peri peri sort.

Mahiherb

Their Peri Peri Herb Sauce, with a claimed heat intensity of medium.

I’ve been putting it off because it didn’t look or sound like anything special but actually, upon tasting it, I think I might have unwittingly saved their best for last.

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