A Not So Hot One

Hey folks, welcome back to another of my weekly reviews. This time, I want to talk about a Hot Ones featured favourite, made by Dawson’s in the US. Their Shawarma Sauce, from season thirteen:

One of the show’s milder features – Taking only the number two spot on that season – but one with a very clear and specific purpose. And it’s not a purpose that we’ve seen on this blog before, so I’m excited to see what unique set of flavours it brings to the table.

Though, if its presence on the show is anything to go by, those flavours should apply rather more broadly than just over the advertised shwarma.

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Two ‘Chups

So, seeing as we’re on a bit of a downward trend now, heat-wise, how about we take this week to look at a milder style of condiment? One with chillies, yes, but focussed at least as much on its tomato content as its spice.

Today’s pair come to us from Pip’s and Boom Sauce, both of whom I’ve featured exactly once before. Yet it’s been a good few months since the last of those reviews and neither of this one’s products are the chocolate, verde or ginger-based hot sauce that we previously witnessed.

Instead, as we move into july, I want to take a look at their ketchups and see just how much difference the trinidadian spices and classic cocktail theming make. Giving Pip’s Bloody Mary and the Boom Sauce Hot Chup a fair whack, in order to see what makes them tick and what separates them from the rest of the pack.

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Three from the Lab

What’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.

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Something Wicked

Happy tuesday again, everyone. This week, I’ve got something wicked to show you, from down in somerset.

The “Thirsty Dog” barbecue and sweet pepper “Roco Loco” sauces, from The Wicked Chilli. One using an unusual blend of jalapeño and naga chillies to heat up its cola and smoked paprika base. While the other mixes rare rocoto chillies with a more standard, unnamed variety and some red bells, for a purer pepper flavour.

For once, though, it’s not the flavour of those rare chillies that excites me but the unique feel of the rocoto’s heat. The unique gum tingle which made me love Char Man’s Caribbean sauce and which is integral to a few specific peruvian dishes.

I’m a huge fan of that pepper and I’m really hoping that its prominent position on the label of today’s red chilli sauce means that The Wicked Chilli are using it to the fullest. Yet I’m also very curious what the unsmoked jalapeño and naga bring to the flavour of their barbecue sauce.

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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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This Ain’t Tabasco!

Hey folks, today I’ve got something a little strange for you. Something that I just randomly came across in one of my local supermarkets and felt I had to feature. Because, while I’ve talked about McIlhenny Co.’s Tabasco Brand Scorpion Sauce and their Chipotle Cola Marinade, I’ve never seen a “Tobasco” sauce before.

Except, of course, when people misspell it online.

Today’s item, however, has the word slapped right across its centre, beneath the “Dipitt” company name, and it looks a lot more like lawsuit dodging than a mistake, to me. But how does it really compare to the original?

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Coming in to Port

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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Fixin’ it Up

Hello again everyone and happy white day! I know I’m technically a day late for japan’s most chocolate-themed holiday but that’s just how my schedule panned out. And don’t worry, I’ve got the goods:

Boom Sauce’s Fix Up D’Heat chocolate and the trinidadian-style hot sauce from which it gets its name. Based on an old family recipe.

Today, I’m going to start with that sauce, so that I really know what I’m looking for when I taste it in the chocolate. So it only makes sense to take a closer look at its bottle:

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Beast of Birmingham

Happy tuesday again, everyone! It feels like forever since I’ve said that simple line but here we are, back again with another transparent label item. A growing trend, it would seem, and one which I rather appreciate. Given that it puts an extra focus on the look of the sauce, itself.

Just like last time, however, the company behind today’s sauce use web photos that look quite different to what I see in person. With my own bottle, on the right, appearing far lighter and yellower than the dark green sweet chilli which I’d been led to expect:

Neither looks bad, this time around, but their photo suggests something deep and chlorophyllic, while my in-person shade boasts the potential for a more vibrant and tangy flavour. So I’m very curious as to what Pip’s Fuego del Verde actually tastes like.

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A Pembrokeshire Sauce Pair

So, 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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