Hello to everyone reading the blog here at The Chilefoundry!, my posting name is “Darth Naga” but you can call me Tony, i appear to be the newest member of the Chilefoundry team, and i’m looking forward to reviewing products for you chileheadz out there to enjoy!

Anyway, enough of my introduction, i’m here to talk about a sauce with a rather ominous name, “Vicious viper” is an extract sauce made by “Cajohns fiery foods“, Cajohn’s was started back in 1996 by a fire protection officer in columbus, ohio. Over time the company has made lots of different hot sauces priding themselves on the flavour before the heat, apart from a select few know as their “Ultra hot” range, and “Vicious viper” is one such sauce, with a bright green viper on a black label and a lil temperature gauge printed on the side!

Ingredients:
Vinegar, habanero peppers, pepper extract, tomatoes, mustard, papaya, guava, pineapple,banana, water, sugar, passion fruit juice and guava juice.

The little temp gauge claims its “XXXXX HOT” and after tasting this sauce only moments ago and typing this review through sweat and tears i have to agree! (250K SHU) This sauce is REALLY hot and definitely not for beginners, when i opened the bottle i could smell the tropical fruit and a hint of extract, so i took a tiny sip and i was greeted with a nanosecond of tropical fruit flavours before i was hit with a nasty extract bite, searing heat and the metallic bitterness that the serious chileheadz have come to expect!

A bottle of “Vicious viper” will cost anything from £5 to £8 depending on where you shop, www.hot-headz.com, www.scorchio.co.uk and ebay all have it in stock, this is a sauce for serious addicts only as i fear the bitterness would put off any chilehead padawans, personally i did’nt like it as the heat ruined any kind of flavour for me and the extract was just too overpowering, it reminded me of a milder version of Blairs “Jersey Death” but with less heat and flavour and a nasty bitter aftertaste from the extract.

One of first successful commercial chilli products is a thin orange red and slightly sour sauce from Louisana.

The history of this sauces starts in around 1865 when Edmund McIlhenny returns home to Avery Island, Lousiana, after the American Civil War. He starts growing what is to become know as the Tabasco Chilli. Avery Island is well-suited to growing chillies, it hot, humid climate is ideal. In 1868 Edmund forms the “McIlhenny Company” which by 1870 has a patent for it Tabasco brand sauce. Things go so well that by 1872 they open an office in England to handle the demand from Europe.

After many legal battles with competitors in 1906 the McIlhenny Company registers “Tabasco” as a trademark.

Tabasco™ is still a major brand, the recipe is still very simple, Chilli mash, salt and vinegar,  aged and bottled. There are now a number of other chilli based products bearing the McIlhenny brand (see picture above)

This is probably the first chilli sauce that most people know, I don’t think I have been anywhere and not seen it for sale.. It must be the first truly global chilli product.

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This years Naga Jolokia Crop Expected to be poor

We have had a report from Chilli Pepper Pete (CPP) that the Naga Jolokia crop is not going to good one this year mainly due to rainy condition in the Assamese lowlands, So expect there to be a shortage. He has been working with a local Nagaland grower who is building an capsaicin extraction plant (we hope to get some picture of this as soon as we can). The Naga Jolokia is now also being grown in China and CPP has some of these in stock.
Note: Nagaland is a hill state in the far north-eastern part of India

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We have a new reviewer, “some say he has a mouth is lined with asbestos, others that he gargles domestos to clean his palate between tastings, most people call him Tony, but here we have named him Darth Naga”.

He likes strange pets like Spiders, Lizards and rats, and yes it is believed that he has a girlfriend with whom he shares his love of all things hot.

P.S. He is also a Vegetarian….

This bar has that shiny finish and a clean crisp snap as you break it that only comes with a quality chocolate, The chocolate is initially firm in the mouth then melts smoothly, the chilli flavour is warmer than I expected, with a long warming after taste, there is no bitterness and it isn’t overly sweet. Yumm.

Helen and Simon Pattinson, founded Montezuma’s in 2000 working from a small Shop in Brighton, the Chilli Chocolate is one of their best selling bars, if you are in Brighton it is worth haveing a look around the shop, there seems to be always new things to try, like “Montezuma’s Revenge” Dark chocolate blended with lime, chilli and tequila…

Ingredients:-
Organic Coco Solids (73%), Organic Sugar (26%), organic Ground Chilli (<1%) & Organic Vanilla (<1%).

Some jobs don’t get any better that this, eating chocolate at my desk and pretending I am working.

Please visit their web site www.montezumas.co.uk

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Q. What do you get in you cross a VW enthusiast with a Chilli head?

A. Chilli Gone Barmy Mobile Mexican Food in a customised catering VW Van

The VW Van was specially imported from the USA in 2008 and has been converted to a mobile Mexican Restaurant by Chef Brian Bussell. Brian is taking his VW van around events in the Ipswich area, you will be about so see him at:-

• 28th June 2008 – Isaacs www.isaaclord.org
• 5th July 2009 – Music in the Park (Ipswich) www.ip-art.com/music_day.php
• 12th July 2009 Woodbridge Regatta and Riverside Fair
• 8/9th August 2009 – Halesworth – Gig in the Park www.giginthepark.co.uk
• 26/27th September 2009 – Aldeburgh Food & Drink Festival

For more information and to make a booking visit the web site www.chilli-gone-barmy.co.uk.

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Its summer, it time for a BBQ, some Pimms, so how about a fruit salsa.

Ingredients
1 Large Orange
1 Large Apple
1 Kiwi Fruit
1-2 Red Onions
1-2 Fresh Chillies (Jalapeños would be good)
1 Garlic Clove
1 Lemon or Lime
2-3 Fresh Mint leaves
A Little Salt & Pepper

Finely chop the onions, de-seed and finely chop the chillies and crush the garlic, Peel and segment the Orange, remove any seeds, core and slice Apple, peel and slice the Kiwi fruit, juice the lemon/Lime, and place everything in a blender with the mint leaves.

Blend until a coarse texture, then taste, add salt and pepper as required.

Now serve with fish direct from the BBQ or use as a dip.

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Generally based on Tomatoes, Sugar, Vinegar and Spices, it tends to be the cheaper sauces that contain the most sugar and the least flavour. I am always disappointed to see pre packaged BBQ packs in the supermarket ready coated with cheap sugary BBQ sauces supposibly ready to cook, I cannot think of anything worse to cook on a BBQ.

BBQ’s by their very nature provide heat in extremes, with flames and cold spots as the fat drips and the charcoal burns. BBQ sauces should only be added at the end of cooking, once the meat has been well cooked. Any flavour in the BBQ sauce is then not been burnt away and lost to the flames is burned to the skin making a bitter mess, the tendancy is then to uncook meats like chicken to save the sauce.

If you are going to marinade meat before cooking, I would recommend using dry rubs, if well developed they will add flavour and resist burning (we sent a lot of time creating Hot-Juan’s BBQ rubs, testing the ingredients to see what burned away, before we found a mix that worked on the BBQ or in the grill).

I can recommend a few BBQ sauces that work well, are not over sweet, but will still provide a sticky finish and above all complement your food, either add them at the last few minutes of cooking or to the meat on the plate.

We recommend trying:-
Crazy Charley’s Cajun & BBQ Sauce
Eaton’s Original Jamaican BBQ Sauce
Roadhouse Original Bar-B-Que Sauce
Pappy’s XXX White Lightnin’

If you can keep away from cheap BBQ Sauces with sugar and water as the main ingredients, you BBQ will taste better and you will retain more friends, so just check the labels next time you buy some. Rant complete.

Coming soon, some homemade BBQ sauces and BBQ Rub recipes and how to use them.

 

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It is an odd thing, but everyone seems to want green Jalapeños chillies, but at the end of the growing season they are starting to turn red before they can be picked and sold, at this point there market value as a fresh product is about as low as it gets.

The wise farmers then either let then ripen fully until they are a deep red, at which point they are picked and and placed in a smoker and smoked until the almost all the moisture is removed and until the weight of the product has been reduced 90% drying and preserving them.

If fact smoking is really a way of dehydrating and preserving the crop, Jalapeños are hard to sun dry due to their thick flesh and tough skin, they would just rot if left to dry naturally.

There are at least two distinct varieties of Chipotles:-

Meco – The skins are a tan/grayish colour and a matt finish, they are far less common, they are also know as tipico or ahumado

Morita – They are dark purple with a shiny skin and are probably the most common outside Mexico, they are not as deeply smoked as the Meco Chipotles and are generally considered and inferior, cheaper product.

We are used them when we made our Hot Juan range of products in both our BBQ Rub and Crisps, they are mild in heat (but hotter that the Jalapeños due to the reduction in moisture)

I have always wondered how to pronounce them, the best I have phonetics found is “chip-oat-lay”

They are available from most of the online retailers please see www.chillipepperpete.com, Cool Chile Co www.Hot Headz.com and www.scorchio.com

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Almost anything is available of eBay, In the past few years I have even seen “Chipotle Seeds” for sale. I did ask the seller how this was possible, but did not get a reply, I have not seem then for sale again.

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The Chilli Pepper Company has sent us a new chilli pasta sauce they have been developing, the sauce is being targeted as a everyday pasta sauce for the chilli lover, to be used as is or cooked with mince.

I have no idea of the ingredients, this being a blind taste test, I am are going to serve this as recommended by Gerald with Fusilli (also called pasta twirls). As the sauce has been cooked during manufacture we are going to just stir it in to the hot freshly cooked pasta.

This is a smooth sauce, but thick enough to provide a good coat on the pasta. The first flavour is tomato, but it is just part of the flavour (some of the sauces we have tried seem to be just tomato puree), there is a good chilli warmth, hotter than normal supermarket fare, but not hot enough to discourage all the other family members. It is very interesting sauce, at points during the tasting, I got hints of basil and lemon in the mix and it made a very enjoyable lunch.

I would be very happy to add this to my shopping list, and cannot wait to see the ingredients list.

For more information about the Chilli Pepper Company please visit their web site www.chileseeds.co.uk

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