Scottish Syrup

Another 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 reading

The Brothers Shrove

Happy pancake day again, everybody! It’s time for my favourite food-based holiday oncemore and, this time, I’m featuring not just one syrup but two. Two different flavours from the Chilli Brothers:

ChilliBrothers

Not that you can tell the pair apart at first glance. Or even second or third.

No, their weapons-grade bottles are identical in all but the ingredients lists, making it real hard to know what you’re grabbing off the shelf. And, unfortunately, I can’t help you with that.

What I can help you with, though, is knowing what each variety brings to the table. So that you at least know which one you should be grabbing for your pancakes, if any.

Continue reading

Chipotle Snaps

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 FoodsSyrup.

Continue reading

Toasty Treacle Tarts

Welcome back to winter, everyone. As we head back into the UK’s native time zone, it’s time for another weekend recipe but, I’m going to be honest with you, this one was a little bit rushed.

Between being ill and all my foreign friends returning to the country (quite possibly related occurrences), I’ve had very little time to perfect this month’s warming pudding and I may well come back to do so later. Yet I’m not exactly unhappy with how it turned out.

TreacleTart

These treacle tarts are sweet, caramel-y and filled with the autumnal taste of toasted habanero fragments. Not exactly a pumpkin-like squash but a distinctive, strong overtone of savoury orange fruit all the same. And a high

3.5/10

Heat

once the namesake treacle flavour fades away.

Continue reading

Khoo’s Hot Syrup

Happy tuesday, folks. Today’s a bit of a special one.

Why? Because it’s shrove tuesday. The start of lent, now all but stripped of its religious significance and transformed into my favourite food-based holiday: Pancake Day.

A day for the appreciation of round, flat, pan-fried breads from all across the globe. Be they ultra thin and lightly crispy like a french crêpe or thick, puffy and well-risen like a japanese hot cake. Smothered in sweetness, as per american tradition, or served up savoury like the potato variety.

And hey, I may not consider the common gluten free alternative, the banana pancake, a true member of the pancake race but it is, quite clearly, pancake-inspired and utterly delicious. If you want to spend your pancake day with those, I’m definitely not going to fault you for it.

Me, though? I was brought up on blueberry ones – Good, thick, american-style pancakes, chock full of my dad’s favourite berries. And, if you don’t count peppers, quite possibly mine as well.

The sweet yet tart bursts of randomly distributed fruit added an extra level of enjoyment to my childhood breakfasts and I still love those pancakes to this day. Despite their mess.

It should, therefore, come as no surprise that I first tried today’s product – A chilli golden syrup – in that manner.

khoocakes

Continue reading

Super Smoky Syrup

Hey folks, last month we looked at a delicious new product that I got at Reading Chilli Festival but this month I have something even newer for you.

This week’s product comes to you from Burning Desire Foods, is a little more out there than a sauce and was actually released on the day of the event. What I have for you is their chipotle syrup:

chiprup

Continue reading