Seasonal

Swooning Chimp

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How’s it going everyone? I know we just had a holiday post for the lunar new year and valentine’s day isn’t until next week but, please, allow me to get a little ahead of schedule with today’s review. Because, as is often the case, my special showcase for the fourteenth of february is a limited edition that you’re going to want to grab in advance.

And, this year, it comes from the Screaming Chimp:

A delightfully jammy-looking hot sauce by the name of “Let Me Be Your Phantasy”, which they put out late each january and which holds a certain special interest for me, since it features the rare ají fantasy chilli. One which I’ve only come across once before.

Plus it just looks so inviting!

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Tom’s Teriyaki

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Happy new year! It’s the first of february today and it just so happens that that marks the start of twenty twenty-two on the lunar calendar. The chinese new year, if you will.

And, unfortunately, I used up my most tiger-themed sauce last year and don’t have anything too on brand for the holiday, this time around. In fact, I’m fresh out of specifically chinese sauces altogether, right now, but I do have two new asian-style ones from Tubby Tom’s, all the same:

His mild Tubbyaki and a second, slightly more special, test batch, amped up with ghost pepper and yuzu. Both chock full of sweet soy, ginger and garlic.

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Christmas White

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Happy solstice, everyone! I’m not doing anything special for the holiday – Or at least, not online – but I do have a rather special sauce to show you, all the same. One that matches the idealised colour of the season, even if I’ve only actually seen two white christmases in my whole life.

This is the White Fatality, from Pika Pika, and it very much lives up to its name, with a beautiful ivory colouration that’s completely unlike any other chilli product. But it’s not just that that makes it special – At least, not to me – because the second half of its name refers specifically to the rare chilli within. One which I first tasted right around the time when this blog began and I’ve been searching tirelessly for it ever since.

It is, of course, the white fatalii. An obscure and beautifully pale variant of the much more common yellow strain, with its own distinctive taste. Smooth, fresh and both slightly wheaty and slightly like clotted cream. Yet still very much its own unique thing. And just as very hot.

After years of searching, I’d all but given up hope of ever seeing it again. Yet here we are, witnessing my long lost love’s return in sauce form. Will they be all that I remember?

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Baked Well, Not Stirred

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Hey folks, how’s it going? Today, I thought I’d give Pembrokeshire Chilli Farm another go, given how much I enjoyed them last time, and what could be a better fit for the current winter holiday season than a spicy jam specifically designed to go with turkey?

But I’m not talking cranberry. Oh no, that’s already been done. I’m talking about their Chilli Bakewell Jam:

A sweet blend of peppers, cherries and almond essence, made to taste like the the classic tarts.

Let’s see if it does, shall we?

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Tom’s Triple Threat

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Happy tuesday again, everyone! This week, I’ve got another set of freebies from Tom’s Curious Sauces and one of them’s an old favourite of mine:

The blueberry and ghost pepper “Purple Pain” that I tried in 📽️one of last year’s christmas videos📽️. Now wrapped in a fresh new label to further emphasise its connection to the artist known as “Prince”.

But what are those behind it? A couple of christmas specials perhaps?

I can’t say for sure but that Cranberry certainly does sound seasonal and the Angry Ass has the appearance of a tacky gift sauce. Though, knowing Tom, I suspect that both will taste a lot better than the bargain bin products which his Ass resembles.

Yes, I have high hopes for this new pair and I’m really rather excited to test them out. Yet I’m also just as eager to see what the Purple Pain is like when I’m not all frazzled from a vile extract item.

Will it still be as delicious and mild as I remember?

All three of today’s sauces have high bar to live up to, so let’s get to the review.

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Chipotle Snaps

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Hey folks, do you like brandy? I don’t.

And yet, for some reason, it’s almost everywhere at christmas time. In puddings, cream, butter and biscuits, to name just a few of its applications. So, today, I’m going to be taking a common brandy recipe and taking the brandy out of it.

ChipotleSnaps

I’m going to be making some chipotle snaps, with the help of Burning Desire Foods‘ Syrup.

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Trick or Trinidad?

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Happy halloween, my fellow heat freaks. It’s trick or treat time and I’m really hoping that today’s seasonal special is the treat that I was promised.

CauldronSauce

This “cauldron” sauce has come to me, quite last minute, from the lovely folk of Brighton Hot Stuff. Too late to make my usual tuesday timeslot. Yet the company’s previous products have earnt my respect through their flavour and I’m willing to fit them in, where I can, with that rare thursday review.

There is, however, a nagging voice in the back of my mind which can’t be ignored. One that’s more sceptical of this sudden freebie, thinking “This would be the perfect time for a company to prank you with another Hell Unleashed.”. And it’s not just BHS’ work, either. It’s a collaboration with a company who I can find very little about online. One by the name of Lazy Scientist.

So, while it’s likely no more than my own paranoia, I’m going to be taking things a touch more cautiously with today’s review.

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The Elder Jam

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Happy tuesday fiery food fans, today we’re returning to devon. Or, more specifically, the South Devon Chilli Farm.

Last time we heard from them I was trying out one of their jams and I’m going to be doing the same again now. Only, this time it’s a rather different sort:

ElderJam

What I have here isn’t sold on its heat but on its elderflower content and the delightfully delicate, rather british and summery taste that that provides.

It’s their Elderflower Chilli Jelly.

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Winter Ginger

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Good general holiday season, everyone. I hope you’ve been enjoying it and that the coming turn of the year treats you well.

I’ll be making a vaguely themed review post then (and it’s going to be a goodie!) but, in the mean time, here’s a simple recipe to tide you over.

Not one for christmas food, per se, since I gave you that last month but one for some nice, warming, earthy gingerbread – A seasonal special all the same.

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Seasonal Chutney

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Welcome to december, everyone – The real month of christmas content but also the last week of it on my blog, since there’s no point in me making recommendations if I can’t be sure that they’ll reach you in time.

Today is definitely a seasonal review, though, and it marks the return of Holly and the Ivy, who you’ve seen before under their other name as The Mini Jar Company. Before I try out their little freebie, though, I want to give you a bit of backstory.

I dislike brussel sprouts. I don’t find them bitter so, just as with coriander, I’m not genetically inclined to hate them. I just do. The same way that many kids apparently hate broccoli.

After all, all it takes sometimes is a single bad experience to put you off a food for life. And let me tell you, getting your packed lunch wrecked by schoolyard bullies, only to have it replaced with an almost indeterminable green mush, is definitely a bad experience. A terrible introduction to the traditional veg of the season.

So it’s entirely possible that I’m going to hate today’s product through no fault of its own but, when Holly and the Ivy asked if I wanted to try their Red Onion, Sprout & Naga Chilli Chutney, I realised that I haven’t actually given the vegetable a fair shot in my adult life.

And, since 📽️ Mushemi Fire 📽️ and Cowley’s Fine Food have both proven that I can like even mushrooms if they’re prepared right, I said “yes”. I decided to give their christmas special a go.

sprout

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