A summary of articles from the Chilefoundry during October 2009, click the links to see the full stories.
Banned Sauce – Video Interview – This is an update on our previouse article on 10 Minute Burn extreme hot sauce from The Chilli Pepper Company which was removed from sale at the Brighton Fiery Foods Show
Fiery Foods UK Festival – Event Review - Right, it’s Monday night, the night after the Brighton “Right, it’s Monday night, the night after the Brighton “Fiery Foods UK Festival” and i have to say I’m still knackered!! It’s been a great weekend and I’ve really enjoyed myself, so i decided to take a slight detour from my usual reviewing style and instead write up a little piece about the festival and how well I believe it went!
Chillies2U – Breeding Lambs and Growing Chillies - Based in Oxfordshire Ian Paxton has been a farmer for nearly 40 years, and farms about 100 acres, he has 3 large poly tunnels which alternate between being used for lambing and then when the lambs are out in the fields they are filled with Chilli Plants, he then runs a mail order business, while also appearing at local markets selling fresh and dried chillies as well as his own range of sauces.
Chutfest 09 Barrington Court - I have just got back from Chutfest 09, I know this is not a true chilli event, but we did find some interesting products and people.
WhyNotHot - Unhinged
WhyNotHot – Unhinged Video Review – This sauce comes from a company that was completely unknown to me before the West Dean Chilli Fiesta in august, “WhyNotHot” are a small business based on a smallholding in Cwmgwili, West Wales, they have been around for about 3 years now and the company is comprised mainly of Ben Calder and his fiancées, who grow fresh chillies and try to use their own in the sauces they make where they can.
“Jeremy Clarkson” vs “limited-edition Insanity Private Reserve” - “The searing fire had surged throughout my head. My eyes were streaming. Molten lava was flooding out of my nose. My mouth was a shattered ruin. Even my hair hurt.” – Times Online (4th Oct 2009).
Chilli Variety – Poblano – The Poblano is a mild chilli (Scoville Units 1000 – 1500) originating from Puebla, Mexico, It is part of the Capsicum annuum species, the most popular of all Chilli species, The plant is multi stemmed and grown to 60cm / 25 inches high, in the UK it is possible to grow these in a Poly tunnel or Green house.
Fiery Foods Festival 2009 See how they do it in Albuquerque USA – Found this on Youtube and we wanted to show you what the Chilli Festival is like in the USA, I like our garden party style better, but I must admit I will be going soon.
The Rangoon Racquets Club – Methi Curry Sauce – We found this sauce on the Hot-Headz stand at the Wessex Chilli Festival and it appealed to my Wife Sonia as it was milk free (very important if you have a milk allergy).
The Chilli Pepper Company – 8 Ball Hot Chilli Sauce – Now, this little sauce proclaims itself to be in the “Hot Chilli Sauce” category, however i disagree! “8 Ball” is a sauce that i feel is more suited to the “Padawan” category, it’s a sauce that is more for those tired of mass market bullshit and who want to break into the underworld of non-mainstream chilli products, but let me tell you it does a wonderful job!
make us a brew!?–?mint & chilli tea – The story goes – One night, Mr Scruff was making a stir-fry, unknown to him, a small goat was asleep on the floor, he tripped over the goat sending the ingredients flying. Fortunately, most of it landed in the frying pan, except for some chillies which landed in his mint tea. Whilst cooking, he drank some of his brew and had a nice surprise. From this point, he started putting chilli in his mint tea, and offered it to guests, who also liked it. So he decided to make his own mint and chilli teabags, as not everybody has a goat in their kitchen!
Fire Foods – UK Chilli Forum - I am a member of a number of Forums and discussion groups that talk about chillies, sauces and general hot food, but one I joined a few months ago has surprised me for the amount of activity.
How to stop the chilli burn - The magic ingredient in Chilli that burn us is capsaicin, it does not as burn the taste buds, but reacts with receptors in the mouth making us think our mouth is being burned, capsaicin is an oil, so to dilute it we need to mix it with other oils or things that will stick to oil.
Drying Chillies – How, What and Why – So you have been very successful growing chillies this year, lots of lovely chillies, but now what to do with them until you need to use them?
Caribbean Food Made Easy with Levi Roots
Book Review – Caribbean Food Made Easy with Levi Roots – This BBC book is published to go along with the BBC Two series “Caribbean Food Made Easy” it contains over 100 recipes; this is a beautifully illustrated book with pictures of almost every recipe.
Hot-Headz – Who Dares Burns – “Who Dares Burns” Is one of Hot-Headz own products and was Stuart McAllisters own entry into the extreme heat arms race that seems to still be going on, by this i mean that every, EVERY hotsauce manufacturer is doing its best to bring out the newest, hottest sauce they can think of. Now Stu decided to jump into this arms race, but her brought some pretty heavy weaponry with him in the form of this sauce, the ingredients are nice and simple, extract is high on the list so you would expect the extract taste to be overpowering right? WRONG!
Introduction to Mexican cookery at the British Museum - Thomasina Miers, MasterChef winner and owner of restaurant chain Wahaca, shares her passion for Mexican food and demonstrates simple recipes.
Pickling Chillies made Quick and Simple – Pickling is a traditional method of preserving food using a mild acid such as vinegar to prevent the growth of bacteria.
International News – Chilli in the under pants ends in court – A WOMAN who rubbed chilli in the pants of her ex-roomy pleaded guilty to common assault in Australia.
Nitro Naga Extreme Edition
ChilliChutneyMan – Nitro Naga Extreme Edition - “Nitro Naga Extreme Edition” comes in a beautiful and very unique 150ml bottle that looks similar to the old school medicine bottles that things like cough medicine and such used to come in, the lable on the bottle is very eye-catching with some lovely blended red,yellow and orange lettering on a black background. The sauce itself is a nice caramel colour (no doubt from the worcestershire sauce) with black flecks, red pieces of chilli and seeds that can be seen floating in the mixture.
British Street Food Awards 2010 - Some of the best food I have tasted, I would call Street Food, and now there is an award for the best UK Street Food, it is being organised by food critic Richard Johnson and culminatesin Ludlow at the Ludlow Food Festival 2010.
Benington Lordship – Chilli Festival 2010 – The 5th Bennington Lordship Chilli Festival is over the weekend of the 29th & 30th of August 2010 and will attact 1000′s of visitor to this popular event.
Fire Foods – Firemite Video Review – This sauce is made by a company known to the world as “Fire foods”, the company was started 3 years ago by Nick Woods and his lovely wife Zoe ( I have met them prior to this review and they are both really nice and friendly people!) who started growing chilli’s and from there went on to making sauces and such, taking just 6 products to Grantham market where they sold very well, so Nick “Woody” Woods and his wife went on to start the company with just a handful of products and £500 in the kitty.
WindustOps – Firey Foods 2009 Videos – This year thew Fiery Foods UK event in brighton attracked over 12,000 visitor and with twice as many vendors as last year, the event is growing quickly. WindustOps a professional productions company produced a number of videos of the event, and they have kindly let us include them on the ChileFoundry.
Simple Dorset Naga & Tomato Chutney – This is a version of our family simple chutney, but super heated with some Dorset Naga Chillies.
Over 200 hot articles published so far – We are please to announce that we have now published over 200 articles and serverd over 50K pages since we started in May 2009.
Tyrrell’s Alternatives – Roasted Chilli Corn - I have had roasted corn on trips to the USA and have always enjoyed the crunch and flavour combination, but outside of food events I have not seen them for sale in the UK.
Do You Love Food? – Channel 4 Documentary – Century Films are looking for people with interesting food stories for a Channel 4 documentary “Do you love Food?”
Scorchio – the UK’s biggest chilli and hot sauce store – In 2002 Karl received a gift of a bottle of “Pain is Good – Jamaican Hot Sauce” from this the Scorchio Empire started. The sauce had come from Harvey Nichols, not having a branch nearby Karl searched the internet for suppliers, and came to the realisation that if he was looking, then other must also be doing the same.
German Police investigate Chill Sauce for Grievous Bodily Harm – After a scuffle at a Berlin kebab stand in Bremen’s central train station between a customer and the kebab vendor which ended in the costomer having the sauce in his eye.
Mr Vikki?—?King Naga
Mr Vikki’s – King Naga – National Chilli Awards Multi Award Winner - “King Naga” comes in a beautiful little 110ml jar with plenty of angles and honestly looks like it came straight out of india! theres a little white label on the back with the ingredients above on it, and a nice warning “Warning!! very hot chilli product”, adorning the front of the jar is an eye-catchingly simple yellow and black label with the pickles name, the company name and eight little red chilli’s at the top! The pickle itself is a mixture of red,green and brown and has a consistency similar to thatof a commercialy curry paste but with more seeds and you can tell this is much more fresh and wholesome.
Capsaicin Could Stop a Heart Attack In Progress, Scientists Find - New research just published in the journal Circulation concludes that a common, over-the-counter pain salve containing capsaicin rubbed on the skin during a heart attack could serve as a cardiac-protectant – reducing or even preventing damage to the heart. The researchers found an amazing 85 percent reduction in cardiac cell death when capsaicin was used. This is the most powerful cardioprotective effect ever recorded, according to Keith Jones, PhD, a researcher in the UC department of pharmacology and cell biophysics.
Amateur Scoville Trophy 2009
Fire Foods Amateur Scoville Awards 2009 – Results - Saturday night I spent tasting hot sauces, chutneys, chilli chocolate and chilli vodka! No it was not a typical night at home with Hot Juan, but I was a judge at the Fire Foods Amateur Scoville Awards 2009.
Chilli News from the USA – News and extracts from chilli related web site in the USA
South Devon Chilli Farm – Chilli Chocolate Fruit & Spice - In the packet are two large slabs of the chocolate, it looks like it has been hand spread to cool, in the surface you can see bumps covering the sultanas.
What Scott Roberts said about us – Chilehead – Scott Roberts has just written at article ” More Hot Sauce and Hot Pepper Sites You Should Visit” and number one on the list was
The Complete Chilli Pepper Book by Dave DeWitt and Paul W. Bosland - This book as been written by two of the great names in the US chilli world Dave DeWitt and Paul W. Bosland. It provides a complete introduction to the world of chillies, if a little US centric (well that was the target market for this book).
Chillis Galore – Homegrown & Homemade – Wilf (Richard) and Kathy started growing chillies about 19 years ago in Norwich, initially just to have a few interesting varieties to use in cooking, that led them on to starting a web sites www.chillisgalore.co.uk. They have since developed a range of homemade chilli products in their own kitchen using their own plants from the green house.
Lady Bird Johnson’s Pedernales River Chili - This recipe originally contained beef suet, but that ingredient was omitted after LJB’s severe heart attack when he was Senate majority leader. Remember to skim the fat off the chilli.
Volcano Chilli opens in Lincoln’s Central Market – Chris and Rosie Jagger have opened Volcano Chilli in Lincoln’s Central Market selling all kind of chilli products including super hot sauces, dried chillies, chilli chocolate and jams
Who Dares Burns – 1812 Overture Advert – Hot-Headz has put this fun video on YouTube showing the effects of Who Dares Burns set to the 1812 overture..
Edible Ornamentals have been awarded a bursary by Slow Food - Edible Ornamentals have been awarded a bursary by Slow Food, the international non-profit organisation which campaigns for good, clean and fair food. This award will help Joanna and Shawn continue promoting their passion for using the best in fresh produce by exhibiting their fresh chillies and home grown chilli sauces at the MasterChef Live Show at London Olympia.
Simple and Quick Salsa Verde - This is a very simple version of a South America green Salsa; it can be made in a few minutes, but improves if kept in the fridge for an hour before serving.
Veeraswamy Mango Chilli Chutney – Veeraswamy is Britain’s oldest Indian restaurant opening in 1929, their range of Chutneys are distributed by Bart Spices and includes Garlic Masala, Lime Chilli, Green Chilli, Mango Bengal Spice and the one I am tasting today Mango Chilli Chutney.
Chilli Variety Masquerade
Chilli Variety?–?Masquerade - Part of the Capsicum Annuum Species Masquerade is a very early hot variety with long erect fruits that start purple and mature through yellow, then orange and finally to red. Ideal in pots on the patio, grows to between 20-30cm high and 20-25cm wide.
Gaby’s Hot Stuff – FFUK09 Best Hot Sauce – I’m sat here on a cold October night, looking at what could possibly be the most beautiful and elaborate bottle of hot sauce I have ever seen, the sauce comes from a company run by a hot blooded woman from Panama! Gaby used to love seeing all the chilli’s growing in the local gardens in the countryside of Panama and she was often given some to try, she loved the fruity aromas and flavours given off by the chilli, it was then she realised that she was indeed a chilehead, and set about making her own hot sauce!
Hot Headz & Scorchio Top 10 Products – October 2009 – Each month we look at the best selling products from some of the UK largest retailers, this gives us and you an idea of what is selling well
UK Chilli Market On Twitter - Apart from us who else should you be following on twitter..
The Chilli Pepper Company – Chilli Sweets & Snacks – At the Brighton FFUK I had the pleasure of acquiring several snack foods from my good friend Ged from “The chilli pepper company”, now in my mind, although snacks are a damn good thing to have, I don’t feel I can devote an entire review to just one of those snacks, so I rounded them all up and decided to review them all in one go, attributing a few lines to each product, that way you get something nice to read, and it gives you a fair idea of how these snacks taste, without further adieu, lets start eh?
Top 10 UK Chilli Web Sites — October 2009 - Who’s web site draws the most traffic, by looking at this list you cannot help that draw the conclusion that the number of quality links to a site has a significant benefit on it number of visitors (Google we understand uses the number and quality of the links to a site as part of it PageRank™ system), if you look at the content of the sites at the top of the listing you also find that the amount of textural content is also a major factor.
Wahaca looking into opening Chilli farm in Devon - Wahaca the Mexican styled restaurant chain founded by Thomasina Miers (Master Chief Winner) and Mark Selby is to open it third UK restaurant in Canary Wharf next month along side it Covent Garden and Westfield sites.
