Mango

10 Minute Birthday

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Alright everyone, it’s wednesday and I’ve just had one of the most disappointing reviews of my career but, today, it’s time for a different sort of suffering. Because it’s my birthday and that means extract sauce:

This is Ten Minute Burn. The original extract sauce from The Chilli Pepper Company, making waves long before their Hell Unleashed made headlines. So I’m not expecting quite the same level of stomach churning heat but I’m still going to be very careful with this one.

It has a reputation to it and I know full well what the company are capable of. So I won’t be underestimating it, despite my eagerness to see how everything began.

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Bonnie Bit Hotter

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Happy tuesday again, everyone! Today, I’d like to welcome back to the stage The Bonnie Sauce Co., who previously wowed me with an excellent and unexpectedly herby Smoky Chipotle sauce.

This week, they return with something (or things) a little bit hotter. Two more products which, just like in last week’s review, highlight the difference between scotch bonnets and habaneros.

But, as you can see from the photos above, these are not the same yellow pepper sauces and their use of red chilli changes the equation quite considerably. Let’s give them a go and find out how, shall we?

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Indian Fruit & Fire

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Sup folks, it’s tuesday again and, I’ve held off on this pair for a little too long already. So, today, we’re going to see a couple more mango sauces, from Alkemio Kitchen and Hop’t:

Two rather unique takes on this fruit and chilli combo from two very experimental companies. One featuring green jalapeños, red scotch bonnets and citrussy hops, while the other’s more focussed on indian spices, including turmeric, cumin and nigella seed.

Neither sounds quite like what I’m used to but that’s part of the fun of running a blog like this. I get to try a tonne of unique flavours and, hopefully, find something which I truly love.

Now let’s see if I’m going to do so today.

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A Fowl Fifth

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Hey folks, it’s that time of year again. The first thursday of september, on which I write my yearly homage to the Hot Ones YouTube show, designed to give you all an alternative and far more UK-friendly version of their ten sauce line-up.

Hot Ones

Last year, I went a little off the rails with the most out there product selection that I could but, for today’s fifth round, I want to be a tiny bit more down to earth. To still pull a whole host of delicious finds from out of my review catalogue, yet also stick a little closer to the real show and bring back a few old favourite producers, in the process.

So, with that in mind, I’m going to kick things off with one of my all time favourite companies and see how things go from there.

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Golden Garlic

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Hello again, everyone. I’ve had today’s trio in my back pocket for a little while know and, as I understand it, so have two of the companies involved. Because, despite their products looking completely different, both Hot Pods and Foraged Fire have done their absolute utmost to highlight the flavours of fermented honey and garlic, in these two:

And, though our third item may have been made a little quicker, it still promises the same sweet syrup and bold root, at its core:

It’s Torchbearer’s Honey Garlic and, while it promises to be rather milder than their last garlic sauce, that reaper concoction was far from all heat. If They can bring the same creaminess and garlic kick to today’s product, without the world record chilli, my bottle’s going to be gone in no time!

So, without further ado, let’s take a closer look at the lot and see how all three manage to set themselves apart.

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Apple & Mango

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Hey there, everybody. It’s time for another review and, today, I’d like to try some more mango sauce. Given that I didn’t get my full fix, last week.

With that in mind, I’d like to crack open a couple of freebies that I recently received, from Chilli Bob’s:

His Spiced Sticky Apple, which is new to me, and his Burmese Mango, which is anything but.

I first tasted that second sauce back in february, during a brief stint of judging for the North East UK Chilli Heads Facebook group’s product awards. Twenty-something chilli condiments graced my desk, that month, all filled with fruit, but this one, in particular, stood out. And, if the company hadn’t sent me a bottle, I’d definitely have had to buy one.

Why? You’re going to have to read on to find out.

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A Local Last Dab

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Just the one, this week, my friends, but it’s sure to be a right doozie. ‘Cause, today, we’re looking at Singularity Sauce Co.’s Reapers & Mangoes. The only independent number ten to grace Hot Ones’ table since the advent of 📽️The Last Dab📽️.

Unlike most of the show’s line-up, however, this isn’t another pricey, american import. And, while I’m grateful to Hot-Headz for stocking so many of those, it’s also nice to see Hot Ones showcase a product made here in the UK. In scotland. The country of my birth.

It’s a rare, local highlight, in amongst their otherwise states-centric assortment, and its spot as the final sauce affords it great clout. So, throw in one of my favourite fruits and you just know I had to get my hands on a bottle.

Yet it wasn’t nearly as quick of a pick up as I’d hoped. Because I wasn’t the only one aboard the hype train.

It was going far, it was going fast and it was going… to take months for the next batch to ferment, back when I got in touch.

I’m afraid that it just wasn’t possible to write this review, back when it first saw that january feature. But it is now and I’m eager to make up for lost time.

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Birthday Badgers

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So last week’s post may have had the word “present” in the title but today it’s actually my birthday. And you know what that means?

Yep, it’s time for me to suffer for my craft, once again. To push on through the pain of some of the country’s hottest sauces, far in excess of anything that Pembrokeshire Chilli Farm could offer.

Because, by this point, it’s a well-established tradition that I celebrate with something extract-based. A single product – Or maybe more – that defies nature’s limits, using pure, concentrated capsaicin.

This year, the company in question is one which I know all too well. The ever-enjoyable Badger’s Artisan Foods, whose extract offering caught my attention mere moments too late for the previous festivities but will be on full display today.

Here it is – Their Badger X:

A small, fifty mil bottle but, if it’s truly up there with the world’s hottest, those fifty mililitres are going to go a long way.

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Circus Fire

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Hey folks, here’s another one that’s been on the cards for a while: The third and final of my Somerset Chilli Co. reviews. And also their most fiery.

This is “The Circus” – Named after the georgian townhouses in bath – and it’s their carolina reaper product. Their fruity take on the world record chilli.

But, more interestingly for me, it’s also the first strawberry sauce that I’ve seen in almost two years. And, while that last one was not to my tastes, the Fire Breathing Idiot’s strawberry and scorpion “Ball Breaker”, before it, most certainly was.

I’m very eager to see if The Somerset Chilli Co. can recapture that magical mix of sweet strawberry and roasted red peppers here. And what the added mango – My favourite every-day fruit – brings to it.

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Tropical Trio

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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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