Edible Ornamentals Sweet Chilli Sauce
Edible Ornamentals are commercial growers of chillies, herbs, vegetable and edible flowers, based in the hamlet of Chawston in Bedfordshire. I’ve tried some of their products before at whilst visiting several Chilli Festivals (and liked the taste!) so when I received the sauce in the post for review I was looking forward to tasting it.
As with any chilli product, the review always starts with the eye and looking at the bottle and contents therein. The product labelling is understated and minimalistic in its approach, rather than having decorative graphics or images. Whilst for other this may not work, I feel this approach allows the sauce to grab the attention of the eye and, with the smaller size of the label I’m able to clearly see the contents therein. The sauce is a bright translucent red colour and I can clearly see a generous amount of chilli pieces and some seeds suspended in it.
Ingredients: Sugar, Vinegar, Chillies (7%), garlic, Fresh Ginger, Salt and Paprika.
Bottle kindly provided by Edible Ornamentals
The label indicates that this is a Thai style sauce so given that most Thai sauces invariably use a lot of garlic, I’m not surprised to see this listed as a main ingredient. When moving the bottle, the sauce reacts slowly so it’s clear that this sauce will have a thick, syrup-like consistency. Traditionally, Thai sweet chilli sauces are made with lots of sugar which ensures a syrup -like consistency is achieved through the cooking process. Sauces are cooked until they reduce sufficiently so that any pieces of garlic or chillies added are easily suspended within it. It’s pleasing therefore to see then that this consistency has been achieved with no thickeners being listed as an ingredients – a positive mark in my books for Edible Ornamental’s working to achieve a more authentic sauce.
Just how much of a key ingredient garlic is in this sauce, is abundantly clear as I open the bottle and inhale. A rich roasted garlic aroma hits me, which as a lover of garlic gets my taste buds salivating in anticipation. Although quite viscous the sauce pours readily onto my spoon and as I raise the spoon to my mouth, the garlic aroma becomes even more intense.
Given the amount of sugars involved in achieving this syrupy consistency I’m expecting a big hit of sweetness but, whilst there’s an apparent immediate sweet hit on my taste buds as I taste it, it’s not as overly sweet like other sweet chillies sauces I’ve tasted before. Instead, the sweetness is quickly countered & abated by the natural sourness of the vinegar used and then the taste balances begins to shift towards a roasted garlic flavour. This flavour in itself is quite sweet by differently so from that of the sugar.
I can feel the pieces of chilli and seeds moving around my mouth, which give the sauce some texture and bite, and in parallel to experiencing a sustained garlic flavour I begin to feel the affect of the chillies building in my mouth. Although not detailed in the ingredients I’ve been advised that the chillies used in this sauce are Serenades, a hot variety which allows the sauce to have a moderate chilli kick. It’s not an extreme heat (the label rates this as a 2 out of 5 for heat) but nonetheless it’s a much more satisfactory heat level compared other sweet chilli sauces that I‘ve tasted.
The label says this sauce is perfect for Oriental dishes and I’d have to agree. Whether it be used as a ‘nam chim’ (dipping sauce) with some ‘Kanom Jeeb’ (Thai equivalent of Dim Sum) or ‘Tod Man Pla’ (Spicy Fish Cakes) or even added last minute to some stir fried noodles, this is definitely among the better sweet chilli sauces I’ve seen available and well worth checking out.
Available from the Edible Ornamentals website for £3.75 for the larger 150ml / 200g size bottle or £2.75 for the smaller 110g jar.
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