Deshidratados S.A.

Dry Aji Pepper Seasonings

First impression: Okay, this was the one item that upon removing from my box of HSB goodies to review, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. The packaging I felt was quite unassuming on its own. In a plastic type netting, 8 small doses of some Aji Pepper seasonings. Given the products are covered in sea faring creatures; I’d assume that these are only to be used for fish. Although reading the back of that little tag you see above, reveals otherwise. Out of the 8 small vials, there are two each of 4 different seasoning blends. I removed them from the plastic netting and looked at each one in this order: Pirana Pique, Barracuda Pique, Tucunare Pique, and Tiburon Limon Pique. The suggested uses of the Pirana Pique: fish, fruits, meats, and soups. While the Barracuda Pique lists: meats, pastas, soups, and salads. The Tucunare Pique lists: meats, pastas, soups, and salads. And finally the Tiburon Limon Pique: meats, chips, soups, fruits, and pastas. Now I’m not too certain if the peppers used in these products are in fact the Peruvian Hot Pepper. My Spanish isn’t all that great, so I had to use Babel Fish (gotta love the Hitchhiker’s reference) to translate. This review has a good number of pictures. There were 4 versions to rate, so here goes…

Ingredients:
Pirana Pique – Aji picante y sal. (sharp aji and salt)

Barracuda Pique – Aji, pimiento, cilantro y sla. (aji, pepper, coriander, and salt.)

Tucunare Pique – Aji, oregano, ajo y sal. (aji, oregano, garlic, and salt.)

Tiburon Limon Pique – Aji picante, limon y sal. (sharp aji, lemon, and salt.)

Here is each product with a close-up of the spice mixture

Appearance/Smell/Taste: I crack open all 4 containers and give them a little sniff. Every single one of them has a very light fruity scent. The cumin slightly stands out a bit in the Barracuda, while I’m getting a hint of the lemon in the Tiburon Limon Pique. All of them are very dry, as they are dry spices. Yet they tended to be somewhat clumped together after being packed away in these little cylinders for a while. Breaking them all apart, it appears that there is a good deal of salt in each one. I’m going to wait and see after cooking. It’s also nice to see a lack of silicon dioxide! Silicon dioxide is another one of those questionably safe additives. I personally try and stay away from products containing silicon dioxide. The product is packed and manufactured in Colombia. So this product has traveled a bit for a taste testing.

Prepared meal: Steamed Orange Roughy with Rocoto Rice

I was walking past the fish counter at my local store, when I noticed that they had a few really nice Orange Roughy fillets. So I picked out one that weighed about ½ lb, and decided that it would be used to test out these spice mixtures.

I cut the fillet into 4 equal sized pieces, and dredged each quarter in a plate of extra virgin olive oil. Then I coated them well, each with a different spice mixture.

To steam the fillets, I sealed each separately into foil pouches and threw them into my toaster over. Baking at 400 degrees for about 16-17 minutes, produced very flaky and well steamed Orange Roughy, as you can very well see from these adjacent photos…!

To accompany this meal, I also prepared a very plain rice dish. I call it Rocoto Rice, because it’s just finely chopped Rocoto chilies cooked in with the rice. Very basic and plain, yet the Rocoto gives the rice an almost fruity flavor and a hint of heat, depending on how much Rocoto chile you use! I used 1 large Rocoto chile for 1 cup of rice, which produced a very mildly spicy side dish.

Light with a hint of citrus tends to go well with this type of fish. So the light citrus scent I was getting up my nostrils when I smelled each of the spices made me think how great these would go with Orange Roughy.

Complement to meal: The fish was perfectly steamed, so it flaked well part, I first try the Pirana Pique coated fish…. HOLY SALT!!! Salt is definitely the first flavor to hit my tongue! That and a light fruity peppery flavor with a nice burst of heat that dies very quickly. Almost reminiscent of cayenne, but not quite. There is something different about it. But damn! Is this stuff salty! Either that, or I used too much for the fish. Whewww… looking at this stuff dry, I could see lots of salt. But I didn’t think that it was going to be THIS salty.. Keep in mind, that I am very sensitive to salt, I never salt my foods and cook with small amounts in my kitchen. I then clear my palette with a forkful of rice and move on to the next fillet…

The Barracuda Pique was even saltier than the Pirana! WOW! The heat is much lower in this one for sure. Definitely a 2-3 on the HSB heat scale. Now I’m not sure if I used way too much of this stuff, or perhaps this stuff is just THAT salty and it’s just me. I can’t really taste anything else over the salt in this one. Way too overpowering for me. Eating another forkful of rice and moving right along…

I then try the Tucunare Pique, again the first taste that hits my tongue is SALT! I get a little tease of the oregano in the backround, but the salt here is totally overpowering to me. The heat is slightly higher than in the Barracuda, but still below the Pirana heat level. I’m banking that the Pirana is supposed to be the hottest one in the bunch.

The last in the group is the Tiburon Limon Pique. Again, this one is as salty as the Barracuda, which means it’s saltier than the other two, yet still over powering to my palette. There is a stronger citrus flavor in this one, definitely from the dried lemon. The heat is just below the Pirana yet above the Tucunare heat level. I’m thinking that I used way too much of this stuff on my fish. Either that, or Colombians like to really salt their fish before eating!

Well, all the fish is just way too salty for me to finish. So I ended up eating mostly Rocoto Rice as my meal.. Oh well. I suppose that it might be better adding a dab or two into a cup or bowl of soup. Or even slightly coating a nice steak or even some fruit, like the tag so suggests! I suppose that this might not have been an ultimately ‘fair’ review since it’s possible that I over-spiced my meal. Take it as you may. Give them a try if you feel so inclined. -Lars-

Initial impression: 6/10

Ingredient quality/content: 5/10

Flavor/textue/smell: 3/10

Heat: 4/10

Overall: 4.5/10

Deshidratados S.A.
Medellin, Colombia
deshidratados@une.co
(57)31-08-323948

Byron Bay Chilli Company
Fiery Coconut Chilli Sauce w/Curry and Ginger

First impression: I was really psyched upon finding yet another Australian made chilli sauce in the box of goodies that just recently arrived from Nick in Texas. I am always up for trying new varieties of traditional type chilli sauces. And just reading the name of this sauce, I knew almost immediately what I was going to do with it. Being that I had about 1 pound of sirloin tips just thawed from the freezer. All I needed was a trip to the store for some onion and a red potato. More of the meal in a little bit. Byron Bay Chilli Company’s Fiery Coconut Chilli Sauce w/Curry and Ginger was screaming beef stir fry all the way. I had been in the mood for red meat since 2 days previous. Reading the list of ingredients it just seemed like the most likely pairing to me. And let’s take a closer look at what’s in this 8.5 oz. bottle here…

Ingredients: sugar, coconut (27%), cider vinegar, water, fish sauce (water, anchovy, salt, sugar), cayenne chilli (3%), thickener (1422), curry powder (2%), ginger (2%), garlic, coriander, salt.

Appearance/Smell/Taste: Okay, so I’m not so psyched that the first ingredient is sugar, but the rest of the list sort of makes up for this little nitpick by me. I bet this sauce could be made with much less sugar (and many other traditional style chilli sauces currently on the market as well) and still taste as great, if not better overall. I’m also not really a huge fan of the flavor of coconut all by itself. But when mixed with the flavor of curry, it’s just an entirely new sport as far as I’m concerned! I love Thai curries made with coconut milk, so I wasn’t entirely deterred on the overall score for this sauce just yet. Cayenne is just one of the best chilies out there along with all those habanero varieties being grown and harvested all over the world. The only ingredient that threw up the ‘red research flag’ of course was thickener (1422). Being that this product was made in one of the EU countries we have this system of identification. It turns out that thickener (1422) is Acetylated distarch adipate a commonly used food stabilizer. Here is some information I found on how this bulking agent is produced…

Prepared by treating starch with acetic acid anhydride and adipinic acid anhydride. This results in a starch that is resistant against stirring and high temperatures. Thickener, vegetable gum to give improved ‘mouth feel’ in a wide range of foods such as relishes and pickles, fruit pies and fillings, baby food. No known adverse effects at low levels, further testing required.

Nothing like good old ‘mouth feel’ in a sauce. Let’s see how this one tastes all by itself. The first hit I get is an overall sweetness. Not surprising since most of this sauce is sugar. Then there is an almost sharp heat that builds quickly and then fades quickly, I’m then getting a nice coconut flavor with a hint of ginger. The coconut flavor of this sauce does not bother me and I actually quite like the flavor. It’s almost like glue on my tongue, but the flavor is excellent! Thus far the curry flavor is almost undetectable to my palette. Let’s give it the real test on some food…

Prepared meal: Sirloin Beef Tips Stir Fry w/Byron Bay Fiery Coconut, Curry, and Ginger Chilli Sauce over Black Rice

Like I was saying, I‘ve had a hankerin’ for some red meat. Since this one was screaming stir fry to me, this is what I made…

1 lb. sirloin cube tips cut into small ¼ inch pieces
½ large white onion coarsely chopped
7 cloves garlic peeled and chopped
6 oz. stock (chicken or beef)
½ cup frozen corn roasted in pan
½ cup frozen peas
1 medium sized red potato washed and chopped into small ¼ inch squares
1 sweet orange pepper de-stemmed and de-seeded choppped
2 oz. shitake mushrooms

If you’ve never had black rice (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_rice) before, I suggest you give it a try. It is expensive, as far as rice is concerned. But black rice is a very healthy alternative to regular white rice. Start to cook the rice according to package directions. Add a small amount of oil to a hot wok or large skillet to saute the onions. When onions start to turn clear, add garlic and saute for a few minutes. You don’t want to burn the garlic now! You’ll know because the smell of the garlic will start to waft out of the wok or skillet. Add the cubed beef and brown for maybe 3-4 minutes. This is so the beef cubes will not become overcooked. Add the entire bottle of Byron Bay Chilli Sauce, 6 oz. chicken stock, and cubed potatoes. Mix well and bring to a fast boil. Stir in remaining vegetables while reducing heat. Simmer for no more than 5 minutes. This will keep the potatoes slightly crisp and not overcook the beef or the vegetables. Spoon over black rice, enjoy!

Complement to meal: You can see in the photo below the little chunks of pepper from the chilli sauce. It smells fantastic and looks really good along side the black rice. Inititally it still has that sweetness, even with the food. But the sweetness isn’t too overpowering. There is actually a nice amount of heat here. It comes quick and hangs out on my lips for most of the meal. It’s actually pretty spicy for a chilli sauce, which is fine. The curry flavor definitely got enhanced slightly once the sauce was heated. I feel though that maybe the curry flavor could be bumped up a tad in this sauce. But overall it’s a great chilli sauce from Byron Bay! Till next time mates! –Lars-

Initial impression: 9/10
Ingredient quality/content: 9/10
Flavor/textue/smell: 8/10
Heat: 4/10
Overall: 7.5/10

Byron Bay Chilli Co.
www.byronbaychilli.com
Lot 4 Mill Road
Goonengerry
NSW 2480
Australia
+61 02 66 84 9248
(international callers drop the zero before the first ‘2’)
lynne@byronbaychilli.com
john@byronbaychilli.com

Maui Pepper Co. Apples Ass Hot Sauce

First impression: Just looking at such a silly label always makes me snicker. Apples Ass is yet another offering from Maui Pepper Co. via Tahiti Joe’s Hot Sauces. If one looks close enough you can discern a smiling chile pepper and a smiling apple sitting on the beach, just chillin’. And this must be that kind of hot sauce! A hot sauce that says, ‘chill out man, just crack open a beer and let’s throw a few shrimp on the barbie!’ Well it isn’t exactly going to be put on shrimp, but I am using a barbie to cook up some chicken and beef shish-kabobs. Also take note that Tahiti Joe is another manufacturer that doesn’t put any crap in many of his sauces. He uses fresh ingredients and no preservatives. With the mixture of sweet fruitiness, some habanero heat, topped off with rum and vanilla extract. I can tell that this will be an entertainingly different but most likely delicious hot sauce! Let’s take a closer look at what Tahiti Joe stuffed into this woozie bottle…

Ingredients: apple butter, water, vinegar, apple juice, mango, onion, brown sugar, honey, habanero, rum extract, garlic, vanilla extract.

Appearance/Smell/Taste: Okay, I’ve stated as such before that I’m not one much for the smell of apple butter. My co-packer makes this type frequently, and the smell sort of permeates the place in certain areas. This is kind of what I smell upon opening the bottle and giving a sniff, sniff. Although it isn’t straight up apple butter, there is the smell of fruits, and the finish of rum! Yeah, it’s not dominant, but it’s definitely there. I get a slight whiff of it at the end. The appearance of the sauce is almost like that of a duck sauce for Chinese foods, but more towards the brown side. It’s actually very chocolaty brown and very smooth. Looks a tad like apple butter with ‘some other stuff mixed into it’ kinda sauce. I put a little on my tongue, and I taste the apple butter, but with a nice extra bit of sweet fruitiness. Then the heat is actually quite nice on the tongue. It’s definitely a solid 5 on the HSB heat scale. So it’s down in the lower ranges, but it doesn’t fade so quickly that you forgot it was even there. I then get a quick mental flash of Captain Morgan as the slight yummyness of the rummyness finishes off at the end. Let’s try this on some fresh grilled meats!

Prepared meal: Chicken and Beef Shish-Kebobs (yellow and red sweet peppers, red onion, yellow onion – marinaded in a well known Habanero Balsamic Vinagrette)

Shish-kebobs is another meal that I haven’t made or eaten in ages. And finding some real nice free range beef steaks and some vegetable fed chicken tenders. I soon realized that my grill was going to get used tonight! Plus, kabobs are relatively simple and easy to make. Just cut up everything into similar sized pieces. Keep the meats as square as possible and all around the same size so everything cooks evenly on the grill. Previous to skewering onto the sticks, I marinaded everything that was cubed in a Habanero Balsamic Vinaigrette for roughly 45 minutes in the fridge. Once you have everything skewered, put them on the grill and cover. Turn over kabobs every 2 minutes and recover each time. They shouldn’t take longer than 8-10 minutes to completion. You can tell once the veggies start to get nice and browned around the edges. Dare I say ‘burnt’ almost… At any rate, the smell coming off the grill is amazing. I can’t wait to try some Apples Ass as a dipping sauce for these kebobs!

Complement to meal: After removing the kebobs from the grill and letting them rest for about 3 minutes, I take a 2 beef and 1 chicken skewer onto my plate. Everything is perfectly cooked, the beef is plenty rare in the middle! YUM! Adding a nice sized blob of Apples Ass to the edge of my plate, I first try the sauce with a slice of beef. Hmmm, this is very good! The apple butter melds well with beef. Because of the nice smoky flavor from being grilled, the sweetness of the fruits and the back draft of rum seals the deal for me! This is actually pretty darn good. Like I said, the heat is a nice mid to low range of tolerable. It could be used when you want something mild, and kinda sweet for grilled meats. After trying with the chicken, the rum flavor stands out a bit more on the chicken than it does with the beef. I think the apple butter flavor tastes better on the beef, but it’s still decent on the chicken. Kabobs were a good match to try this sauce on some food. So next time you have the hankerin’ for some kebobs. Get yourself a bottle of Apples Ass for dipping your kabob chunks! –Lars-

Initial impression: 8/10

Ingredient quality/content: 9/10

Flavor/texture/smell: 7/10

Heat: 5/10

Overall: 7.25/10

Maui Pepper Co.
Packed exclusively for
Tahiti Joe’s Hot Sauces
4310 State Drive
West Palm Beach, FL 33406
www.tahitijoeshotsauces.com

Batten Island Gourmet Sauce
Hot

First impression: This one is going to be rough for me. I can tell just from the list of ingredients. It has nothing to do with artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. Batten Island Hot Sauce is 100% natural and should be proud to be so. There is no high fructose corn syrup or xanthan gum used as thickeners. Batten Island gets a real nice large THUMBS UP for this! No on to what I’m talking about as far as ingredient content…

Ingredients: raisins and/or dates & prunes, vinegar, apple, (one or more of the following: pears, papaya, mango), habanero & cayenne pepper, tomato paste, brown sugar, garlic, onion, salt, and other exotic herbs & spices.

Appearance/Smell/Taste: I crack open the lid and take a hefty whiff of this strange concoction of a hot sauce. The first thing that hits my brain receptors is an odd mix of steak sauce and apple pie?!? I shit you not folks… lol This one is definitely DIFFERENT! What is most annoying about the ingredients is the ‘and/or’ and ‘one or more of the following’?!? Seriously, I do not know why food manufacturers label products this way. I for one as a consumer would like to know what I’m eating. Labeling this way just leads to too many ‘for instances’ for my liking. Aside from this little bitch about what’s actually in the bottle, let’s look closer shall we?!? The sauce has a muddy brown color with a slight hint of orange-ish red kinda hue. Almost like the surface of Mars, but not exactly. You can see a myriad of dried spices mixed together pleasure. So let’s find out. Hmmm, it tastes almost exactly as it smells. Sort of an odd mixture between steak sauce and apple pie. The sauce almost has a slight gritty texture. Looking closer at the ingredients there is listed ‘habanero and cayenne PEPPER’. Does this mean powders are used instead of fresh or IQF frozen pods?!? If someone can correct me on this I’d like to know. The sauce itself is a nice thick consistency. It flows nicely from the bottle into large collected globs. I’m glad that I’m not actually cooking anything for this review. I haven’t had pizzeria pizza in months, so I was desperately jonesin’ for a slice of heaven. I started off the food test with a slice of white pizza…

Prepared meal: White Pizza – ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, and lots of garlic!

There isn’t a hot sauce that I have come across that didn’t go well on pizza. As you can see from above, I placed a hearty portion of Batten Island HOT Hot Sauce on my pizza to give it the food test. Well, perhaps we have a first here folks.

Complement to meal: Just the smell of this sauce going onto the pizza was, strange. It’s not bad mind you, just not something that I’m accustomed to in a hot sauce. The smell of the steak sauce kinda shows up very lightly. Still not sure if this is going to be a good match here. ‘Chew, chew, chew, chew’… Strange. There isn’t much heat, and it tastes like I have steak sauce and apple pie filling on my pizza.. lol I detect a hint of raisins and/or dates & prunes, but I’m really not sure since the list of ingredients is just as confused as my taste buds currently are. It’s got a very sweet after taste. Not too sweet, actually that is as a good level I suppose for a hot sauce of this type. I suppose since this is supposed to be the hottest of the Batten Island Sauces, I’m a little disappointed in the heat level of this one. It could be plenty hotter and still be bearable to an uninitiated tongue. I have to give Batten Island Sauces credit where credit is due. This hot sauce is DIFFERENT and UNIQUE. There is no funny stuff or phony bologna either, which is very important coming from a manufacturers stand point. I would say try this sauce with some kind of meat or fish. I bet it would taste better if it were cooked a little with some food, that might help the flavors come out a little better than just blopped onto a slice of pizza. –Lars-

Initial impression: 8/10

Ingredient quality/content: 8/10

Flavor/textue/smell: 3/10

Heat: 2/10

Overall: 5.25/10

Batten Island Gourmet Sauces
www.battenislandgourmet.com
10418 New Berlin Road
Suite 224
Jacksonville, FL 32226
1-877-FLSauce

Ami Hot Pepper Sauce

First impression: Just looking at the tall square bottle from Rick’s Test Kitchen, I’m not at all sure what to expect. There are some Composite columns (The Composite order is a combination of the Ionic and Corinthian orders.) supporting what reminds me of a somewhat Hindu architecture. The appearance of the sauce inside the bottle is a lighter shade of brown, very thin and runny.

A thick one Ami Hot Pepper Sauce definitely is not! If you take the bottle and turn it upside down to watch the air bubble travel along the glass, you can make out small little bits of ‘something’ that stick to the glass, that give the sauce a very ‘grainy’ texture. Like I said earlier, it’s a nice tall 8.5 fl. oz. square bottle. According to the scribe on the side of the bottle this sauce has these ‘excellent uses: vegetarian or meat, marinade, baking glaze, dipping, rice, stew, casserole, blend with cheese, sour cream and yogurt, flavor enhancer or just pour it on your food!’

Since I have some left-over chili and a few left over egg roll wrappers, I’m going to make some mini chili-cheese chimichangas, minus the red sauce. We will replace this with Rick’s Test Kitchen – Ami Hot Pepper Sauce! Here we go…

Ingredients: water, brown sugar (sugar, molasses), habanero mash (water, habanero peppers), vinegar, honey, spices, salt.

Appearance/Smell/Taste: Water being the first ingredient kind of tells me why this sauce is sooooo runny. If you can see it on the spoon photo above, you see how it’s very thin, with some grit, and a few seeds for good measure. The overall aroma of this sauce to me smells of brown sugar and cumin.

I’m banking that cumin is in there somewhere in that ‘spices’ designation. At least that is what my olfactory senses are telling me. I think that this sauce would have to be a few extra magnitudes thicker, to work well as a baking glaze, it just seems way too loose to work well for that. But I’m not baking a ham here either, so this sauce might do well as a baking glaze. That is for another time…

Prepared meal: Mini Chili-Cheese Chimichangas

Since I had some leftover wrappers from the write up I just recently finished, I decided to use them up while getting rid of some leftover turkey chili I made yesterday. You can pretty much stick anything in an eggroll wrapper and it will be yummy fried up!

1 cup of your favorite chili

6 oz. shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese (non-rennet variety)

½ cup cooked rice (I prefer jasmine or basmati)

Combine all ingredients into a large bowl and mix throroughly. Place eggroll wrapper on cutting board, put a small portion on the wrap diagonally. Fold the corners over, then use water on the remaining edges, roll tight. This will help seal the cheese mixture into the shell so most will not ooze out into the fryer. You can also partially freeze the mini chili-cheese chimichangas before you drop them into the hot oil. Just make sure that there aren’t any ice chunks on the wrappers before you fry in the oil. Then deep fry mini chili-cheese chimichangas at 320 degrees for roughly 4 minutes until golden brown.

Complement to meal: Pouring a good portion of Rick’s Test Kitchen Ami Hot Pepper Sauce onto my mini chili-cheese chimichangas, right away most of the sauce runs off onto the plate. It has a nice smell once it hits the hot food. You can smell the brown sugar and ‘cumin’. I’m still not 100% sure what the main spice, besides the brown sugar I’m tasting here. Taking a bite of my chimichanga the first thing that hits my palette is the sweetness of the sauce. There is a good deal of brown sugar in here, it’s very gritty in texture. The next taste is the cumin. I like sweet-hot sauces. But this one is a little too sweet for my liking. The gritty texture is kind of odd and the ‘cumin’ flavor is a little overpowering to me. I would have to say that the heat level seems low. It might be from all that sugar, cutting some heat. I’m not getting any flavors from the honey either. It’s definitely taking a back seat to the brown sugar. Overall this has some potential to be a really good sauce. I understand how it is working in a commercial kitchen and how batches can tend to go slightly awry at times. I’m not sure how long this product has been on the market. I think with a few slight tweaks, this has the potential to be a very different, interesting sort of hot sauce. Give it a try, I did! -Lars-

Initial impression: 6/10

Ingredient quality/content: 5/10

Flavor/textue/smell: 6/10

Heat: 4/10

Overall: 5.25/10

Rick’s Test Kitchen
1415 South 11^th Street
Lincoln, NE 68502
www.rickstestkitchen.com

The Chilli Factory
Hot-Sweet Chilli Sauce

First impression: Ahhh! I really do enjoy a sweet chilli sauce! Especially since I like to do stir fry and have a penchant for really good spicy Asian food. lol I was doubly excited when I saw that my box of products to review contained this little gem that came all the way from Australia! They are certainly close to Indonesia, so I’d bet that this might be some really great sweet chilli sauce! The Chilli Factory wants you to know what the heat level of this product might be to the waiting tongue. So a little 8/10 for heat is tucked into the front corner of the label. There is also no M.S.G. added and it’s gluten free. Food products can be deceptively labeled. The ‘no added M.S.G.’ label could still lead to MSG being in the product. They could use an ingredient that contains a small amount of MSG, but the manufacturer doesn’t add any ‘additional MSG’ to the product. Let’s take a look at the ingredients then.

Ingredients: water, sugar, chilli (20%), vinegar, garlic, herbs & spices, salt, xanthan gum (415).

The list of ingredients is relatively clean, with the exception of processed sugar and xanthan gum (415). The reason for the (415) reference is that this product was made in Australia. The European Union gives E numbers to food additives and xanthan gum is used for more than just making sauces. It’s used in cosmetics, ice creams and also used in the procurement of petroleum, raw crude. In fact Wikipedia has this info on xanthan gum – ‘In the oil industry, xanthan gum is used in large quantities, usually to thicken drilling fluids. These fluids serve to carry the solids cut by the drilling bit back to the surface. The widespread use of horizontal drilling and the demand for good control of drilled solids has led to the expanded use of xanthan gum. Xanthan gum has also been added to concrete poured underwater, in order to increase its viscosity and prevent washout.

In cosmetics xanthan gum is used to prepare water gels usually in conjunction with bentonite clays. It is also used in oil in water emulsions to help stabilize the oil droplets against coalescence. It has some skin hydrating properties. Some people are allergic to xanthan gum, with symptoms of intestinal gripes and diarrhea. Workers exposed to xanthan gum dust exhibit nose and throat irritation as well as work-related illness, with symptoms becoming more prevalent with increasing exposure.’

Appearance/Smell/Taste: After give this chilli sauce the once over, I notice that it has a much nicer look than what I’m used to seeing on the food store shelf, as to what we get here in the states. Most of the sweet chili sauces we see are very, very mild and are mostly corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup. At least The Chilli Factory people just used sugar! It has a deeper red color than what I’m used to seeing, and the chunks and bits of stuff in there are more prevalent to the average sweet chili sauce. I remove the cap and smell. The first smell is vinegar and garlic. I like a lot of garlic! So the smell is very pleasing, with the tanginess of vinegar, this sauce just might hold up! I’m going to do a double whammy here with this chili sauce. I’m preparing some jalapeño poppers and some homemade eggrolls. For the poppers and the egg rolls I’m using some leftover ingredients from the Zane & Zack’s review I just did. Here is what you will need for the poppers.

Prepared meal: Jalapeno Poppers

5-6 large jalapenos (cut in half, seeds removed)

1 cup Panko bread flakes

¾ cup Zane & Zack’s chicken veggie stir fry

6 oz. shredded manchego cheese

2 eggs

Prepare the egg wash like you would for breading chicken or fish. Mix the manchego cheese and the chicken veggie stir fry well in a large bowl. Manchego cheese is soft, so they should mush together pretty nicely. Take a butter knife and stuff the jalapeno halves with the mixture. After stuffing with the filling, dip in egg wash then cover in bread flakes. I then baked the poppers in a toaster oven at 400 degrees for roughly 8 minutes. They don’t come out as crunchy if you deep fried them, but using this mixture in a deep fryer, the cheese is very likely to just run out into the oil. Unless you freeze the poppers first, then deep fry them.

Turkey Sausage Egg Rolls

6 oz. cooked turkey sausage (finely chopped)

Small bunch of scallions (diced)

5-6 cloves garlic (minced)

2 dozen fresh green beans (minced)

¾ cup leftover red rice from Zane & Zack’s stir fry

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

1tsp extra virgin olive oil

½ tsp sesame oil

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp habanero powder

½ tsp brown sugar

Combine all ingredients into a large bowl and mix throroughly. Using eggroll wrappers, put a small portion on the wrap diagonally. Fold the corners over, then use water on the remaining edges, roll tight. Using a deep fryer, set to 320 degrees and fry for roughly 4 minutes until golden brown.

Complement to meal: On top of the jalapeno poppers, the sauce worked quite well. It had that initial sweet tang, and then a nice garlic flavor. Which I heartily enjoyed! I tend to like my foods with ‘too much garlic’. But then again, the amount of garlic in any food is subjective to who’s actually doing the eating! This is where I feel this sauce shines! Huge garlic flavor and much spicier than what I’m used to as far as sweet chilli sauces go. The Chilli Factory Sweet Chilli Sauce heat level is a big thumbs up! Most of them are sweeter than they are hot! The 8/10 heat rating is pretty close, although since I’m a chile-head it’s more of a 5/10 for heat on my palate.

Using the sauce on the turkey sausage egg rolls worked quite fantastically too! I grilled the turkey sausage so it would have that nice smoky grilled flavor! You can also bake the sausage in a glass pyrex dish, but there isn’t anything like that charcoal barbecue flavor! Mixed in with the oils, the ginger and the hanabero powder, made for an explosion of heat and flavor. The sweet tangyness of the Chilli Factory Sweet Chilli Sauce compimented to the yummy deliciousnouss of the turkey sausage egg rolls. I sure do wish that they sold The Chilli Factory Sweet Hot Chilli Sauce in the food stores on our shores!

Initial impression: 8/10

Ingredient quality/content: 7/10

Flavor/textue/smell: 9/10

Heat: 5/10

Overall: 7.25/10

The Chilli Factory
2060-D Avenida de los Arboles #743
Thousand Oaks, CA 91362
www.thechillifactory.us
805-551-8384
www.thechillifactory.us

Zane & Zack’s
Honey Chipotle Gourmet Sauce

First impression: As soon as I saw the 6 sided jar, I was immediately thinking ‘apple butter’! lol Where I make my products, they package this apple butter in the same container. So wiping this image out of my head, I take a look at what I have been sent to review! A smoky-sweet Honey-Chipotle hot sauce from WA! Nifty label, with probably the owners small children, smiling with glee that I’m about it eat some of this sauce on my food!

Ingredients: jalapeño peppers, honey, water, vinegar, garlic, salt, spices.

I like the list of ingredients thus far. Nothing artificial or evil, which is a very good thing. I like it when other people make their food products with ingredients they too would eat. It’s a very short, yet simple mixture. Let’s see how it holds up?!?

Appearance/Smell/Taste: I twist the cap off the small squat jar, and partake in a hearty inhale. It has a very smoky-sweet smell, almost like a barbecue sauce, but not quite. My nose is somewhat perplexed at what I smell. But I again read the ingredients to only find, Jalapeños, honey, vinegar, garlic, etc… Mounting a heaping teaspoon of the sauce I take a closer inspection. It’s very thick and very dark, with little bits of seeds, pepper flesh and spices. It’s apparent to me now that the manufacturer is using chipotle peppers, and not chipotle powder, even though the ingredients only say ‘jalapeños’. I could be very wrong about this assumption.

Prepared meal: I decided on the last minute to cook up a chicken and vegetable stir fry using Zane and Zack’s Honey-Chipotle sauce as the base. Which such a nice thick consistency from all that honey, I’m going to have to add some chicken stock to get some kind of a sauciness to it. For this recipe you will need..

1 – 11 oz. jar Zane and Zack’s Honey-Chipotle Gourmet Sauce

1 – 1 ¼ lbs. free range chicken breast tenders

5-6 large cloves of garlic (coarsely chopped)

½ large sweet onion (coarsely chopped)

1 tsp coarse black pepper

½ tsp coarse sea salt

2 dozen fresh string beans (cut into 1” pieces)

1 cup basmati rice

2 tsp fresh ground paprika

¾ cup broccoli florets

½ cup kernel corn

½ cup green peas

1/8 cup peanut oil

4 oz. chicken stock

Add 2 cups of water to a covered pot and bring to a boil. Add 1 cup basmati rice and fresh ground paprika to boiling water. Cover pot and simmer on low for 18- 20 minutes. In a large heated skillet add peanut oil and onions. Stirring occasionally saute onions for roughly 8-10 minutes until they become soft. While onions are cooking, take a meat cleaver and mince the chicken breast tenders. It should look almost like ground meat, but slightly finer. Add garlic to pan and saute for 2-3 minutes careful not to burn the garlic. Add minced chicken and using a wooden spoon, break up chicken in pan while cooking. Almost like you do when you brown ground beef. Add sea salt and black pepper. On medium heat, cook chicken for roughly 7 minutes. Add vegetables and continue to heat for another 2-3 minutes while gently stirring mixture in pan. Add entire jar of Zane and Zack’s and chicken stock. Stir everything together until well mixed while bringing to a boil. Boil for another 2 minutes until sauce and stock get well heated through.

Complement to meal: I added a nice mound of red rice (thanks to the paprika) to my plate, then topped it off with some chicken and vegetable honey-chipotle stir fry! The initial smell was still there! It still had that ‘almost’ barbecue sauce smell. It’s got to be the chipotle that is making me associate this. Everything looks and smells really good! Let’s see how it tastes. Initially I get that sweet honey flavor, then the smoky kicks in. Added up behind it with some nice zing from the jalapenos. As I’m eating my meal, I’m starting to sweat pretty good. My mouth isn’t really on fire, but it sure is making me sweat! Whew! Gotta love spicy foods! Overall I’d say that this is a very interesting, different tasting hot sauce. Yes, I used the ENTIRE jar in the preparation of this stir fry. I can see this going really well with a hamburger, or even topped on a slice of pizza! It doesn’t have a harsh vinegar flavor, in fact I really didn’t get any vinegar tang in my food at all. I didn’t try the sauce straight up this time, so it might be more noticeable eating it that way. As a cooking sauce, I’d say that it performed pretty well. It had a great thick consistency which is very good for getting creative with other ingredients and actually cooking something different for a change. Using a chicken stock or a beef stock would do this sauce wonders on all kinds of foods. Heck, I bet it would be great on some fried fish!

Initial impression: 7/10

Ingredient quality/content: 9/10

Flavor/texture/smell: 7/10

Heat: 7/10

Overall: 7.5/10

Zane and Zack’s
Renton, WA
www.zandzhoneyco.com

Please welcome Lars to the HSB with his first review! Lars is the man behind the Csigi Chili Sauce that have graced the pages of the HSB more then a few times. Welcome to the HSB Lars!

The screaming mug on Original Juan Specialty Foods, Inc. products is a silly reminder to me. How much I enjoy the burning impression capsaicin leaves on the tongue and the spirit! This is the first time I’ve tried any of their products. In fact, I have the Jamaican Style hot sauce and the Garlic Style hot sauce on deck for some future meals.

First impression: The Original Juan Specialty Foods line has a great gimmick label. It’s basic, simple, yet those screaming faces I’d bet is what draws many new customers to try these products. Plus, it’s bottled in a nifty little 3.75 fl. oz. whiskey flask. A little thermometer tucked into the corner to let the consumer aware that there could be some heat in this product! Somewhere just below medium in heat, 100% natural, hmmm. Let’s see…

Ingredients: malt vinegar, habanero and cayenne peppers, water, tomato paste, corn syrup, fructose, distilled vinegar, worcestershire sauce, spices, garlic, lime concentrate, brown sugar, seasoned salt, onion powder, liquid smoke and salt.

Looks like an interesting mix of yummy stuff! Well, I’d say except for the corn syrup, Worcestershire, seasoned salt, and liquid smoke. Corn syrups are just nasty, Worcestershire which can contain soy sauce a gateway to the possibility of MSG being in there. That and the seasoned salt is another MSG doorway. I suffer from headaches when I eat foods with MSG. Although this is just going to be used as a dipping sauce, so I’m sure that I’ll live.

Appearance/Smell/Taste: After giving the bottle a hearty shake, I cracked the seal opened the top and took a hearty snoot. A definite strong malt vinegar smell, not extremely distracting, as I’m a fan of vinegar based sauces. Although I’ve never had a hot sauce with malt vinegar, but here goes! As I pour out a small glob onto my plate I can see the sauce itself has a decent medium consistency. There is a very good slurry of ingredients in this sauce. It’s almost a deep brick red color with little bits of spices, pepper flesh, and seeds. Taking a scoop onto a tasting spoon, I shoveled it into my waiting lips. The first flavor was the tangyness and almost harsh flavor of the malt vinegar. Then a nice sweetness from the corn syrup, fructose, and brown sugar. Then after a second or two, I got a nice flash of heat from the habanero and cayenne. Although I’m not getting any distinct flavor of the chilies in the mix, there a small amount of heat there. Let’s move onto the entre and give this sauce the red meat test!

Prepared meal: Free range beef coated with clarified butter, olive oil, and coarse black pepper/sea salt mixture. To clarify the butter, add 4 tbls of butter to a saute pan. On low heat, melt butter and skim off top. The remaining butter will look clear, like above example. Clarified butter has a higher temp. tolerance and is great for coating a steak about to be grilled to perfection. Combine the clarified butter with ¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil.

Pour onto a large plate and dip the steaks into the mixture making sure both sides get thoroughly coated. Then on another plate covered with coarse black pepper and coarse sea salt, coat each side of the steak to desired amount of cover. I’ve read many ways to prepare steak, but I’ve decided that I like this method. Three minutes flip, another three minutes flip, then another 3 minutes and the steak is ready. This works well with a 1” thick steak.

Complement to meal: As a steak sauce I really enjoyed the Louisiana Style – Batch #218. The tangyness of the malt vinegar I felt went really well with red meat. The cracked black pepper and sea salt coating on the steak was a perfect match with this sauce. The more of the sauce I ate with my steak, the heat has a tendency to build up a bit from the first bite. It’s not overly hot in any way, being a medium sauce. But there was definitely a little nose sniffle going on with me.

Overall a good hot sauce. The malt vinegar was a variance from the norm, which was what I would say sort of kills the flavor of the sauce. But then again, since malt vinegar is the first ingredient, it’s probably what the manufacturer wanted as a dominant flavor. I would bet that this sauce would also go well on baked potato and french fries! You might even want to consider giving your favorite chili a little blast of malty heat!

Initial impression: 8/10
Ingredient quality/content: 6/10
Flavor/textue/smell: 8/10
Heat: 4/10
Overall: 6.5/10

Original Juan Specialty Foods
111 Southwest Blvd
Kansas City, Kansas 66103