One of the items that I picked up at the Fiery Foods show was a chile grill. After seeing them show after show, I finally picked one up and have already put it to good use. When I got home, I lined up all my goodies on the bar and started doing a mental inventory of all the items and trying to figure out what I can use with each other. The Besito Caliente mix is already gone (it rocked and I’ll be ordering more soon) and when I was thinking about using the grill, I remembered that I had a packet of Big Dawg’s Seasoning to put to good use.

Ingredients: chipotle flakes, garlic powder, paprika, sea salt, MSG (Monosodium Glutamate), and other spices.

The little zip lock baggies come with instructions on how to mix the seasonings, but it’s pretty simple - 2 packages of cream cheese and a package of seasoning, mix and refrigerate for a few hours.

The making of the stuffed peppers is also simple - remove the tops of the peppers and use an apple corer to remove the seed (be careful not to puncture the sides of the peppers). Using a toothpick, put a small hole in the bottom of each pepper and then fill with the cream cheese mixture (but not to the top of the pepper). Leave about 1/2 inch of space so that the filling can expand. Top each pepper with 1/4 a slice of bacon and secure with a toothpick.

Once all the peppers are stuffed (I did 10 for 3 people) - place into the chile grill and onto the BBQ. My BGE was already set up from smoking ribs all day (hence the drop pan), but set yours up with indirect heat at about 300 degrees. When the bacon is done, the peppers are done (about 15 to 20 minutes).

The peppers turned out fantastic and the chipotle cream cheese was a terrific addition. The chipotle flavor blended nicely with the smoky bacon and fresh jalapenos. So well that I ended up eating more peppers then ribs that night - and I can’t wait to get the garden started so that I can try the chile grill out with other peppers.

But what was one to do with all of the leftover chipotle cream cheese? Well, coming from NY, bagels were the obvious answer. The spread was a little salty for straight bagel application, but I’m definitely going to be ordering more soon to give it another whirl. The chipotle cream cheese flavor is unlike anything you can buy pre-packaged, so if you love a good bagel in the morning I would highly suggest you check out Big Dawgs Seasoning selection. Not only can you use the seasoning with cream cheese, but I’m also told it’s fantastic mixed in with a little ground beef for a taco seasonings. Yum!

Big Dawg Fire Department
http://www.bigdawgsalsa.com/
P.O. Box 821623
North Richland Hills, TX 76182
bigdawg@bigdawgsalsa.com

This seasoning packet came to me in a small plastic bag, on the bag it says controllable heat, great flavor. And I read on there web site that its basically the same flavor as there hot sauce but not as spicy. I took a pinch of it and the sauce must be pretty hot because it left a nice burning in my entire mouth, the best thing about the flavor of this is that it is not salty. Sodium is listed as the second to last ingredient but unlike a lot of spices that are out there I can barely taste any saltiness. Habanero’s are the biggest flavor here and also the first flavor for to hit your taste buds, in the aftertaste the onion (tastes like onion powder) and garlic are a little more powerful. The seasoning is fairly good sized flakes with a good amount of seed bits in it. one interesting ingredient in this seasoning is tomato paste, I don’t really buy a lot of seasoning just because I make my own every year so it might not mean anything that I have never seen it before but I thought that it was an odd ingredient for a dry seasoning. I think it’s the reason that the seasoning seemed to dissolve as soon as it hit my tongue. For a meal with it I decided to go with the basic chicken breast. I put a good amount of seasoning on it because I like it hot, and then baked it. the end results where great, the flavor went really good with the chicken and it left a nice long lasting burn on my lips and in my through.

Ingredients: hot peppers (mostly habanero’s) spices, tomato paste, onions, garlic, vinegar, sodium, lemon juice.

Contact info: packed in Anderson, Indiana. Comments or questions email hot doc at hotdoc@hotdocs-hotsauce.com (I tried to contact him with a question for my review at that email address and it didn’t work, I am listing it anyway because its on the package and who knows maybe it will be in service by the time you read this. I also have the website address that I found in a search if you scroll down the the price portion of this review.

Flavor: 8/10 it was unique from most seasoning that I have tried, I think because of the tomato paste, I’m not sure how that works in a dry seasoning but I liked it.
Heat: its not insanely hot like I like my sauces but for a dry seasoning it has a really good amount of heat and leaves a long lasting burn after the meal is finished.
Price: there is no website on the package but I did the research and found this site http://hotdocs-hotsauce.com/Products.aspx on this site it lists the 2.5 tbls of seasoning for $3.50
Overall: 8.5/10 I enjoyed this product and would recommend it.

PepperMaster is slowly, thankfully, pulling itself away from being known as a “hot sauce” company. Having tried most of their products I can say they are a culinary essential for those that aren’t adept to foraying into experimentation or do not have experience to make advanced sauces, marinades, salts, sugars etc……

These Black Peppercorns – or to be exact, Tellicherry Peppercorns are infused with Habanero. And like Peppermaster’s sugar and salt, what you are getting here is an unabashed, unequivocally superior product that touts its exact intent. Pair this with a decent peppermill, and a dish of your choice and you will be blown away. You like black pepper? Well you get it here. In all its flavourful glory. You want heat coupled with a subtle taste of hab’s? Well look no further. After initially trying this straight at the One of A Kind Show I was blown away by the simplicity and harmony of the taste as well as the complexity of the process used to make this.

There is virtually no dish that this product can’t touch. From salads, meats, pasta you name it. There is nothing to interfere with the black pepper taste you love and has all the added heat you crave. You may question as to hot it is….but rest assured this packs a decent wallop for chiliheads and the uninitiated should be warned.

A new kitchen essential.

Brooks Pepperfire Foods Inc.
26 St-Jean Baptiste East,
Rigaud, Quebec
J0P 1P0
(514) 393-3430
(866) 451-6770

www.peppermaster.com
info@peppermaster.com

Oh the culinary adventures that come with having a new kitchen. I did a few frying adventures while in New York, but not more then 2-3 times. Now that we have the space, I’ve been cooking almost every night and trying new things. One of the first items I’ve practiced on were Steak Frites. I’ve played around with the recipe and the cooking technique quite a bit, so you will need to do what works for you and your kitchen. As with most cooking adventures, I started out by hitting Google and I stumbled upon this page that really helped explain the entire process to me and once I had that bit of knowledge I consulted my Les Halles cookbook and with both of those sources, I put together my plan of attack.

The key to making great fries is to soak, blanch then fry. First I peeled the potatoes and cut the fries to about 1 inch. Soak the fries in ice water for at least 30 minutes then rinse under cold water.

Preheat the oil for the blanch to 280. Blanch the fries in small batches for about 6-7 mins or until they start to become a little translucent.

Remove the fries onto a sheet pan and let them rest at least 15 to 20 mins.

Turn the heat up to 375 and after the rest cook the fries for about 2-3 mins until they are nice and golden brown.

Dump them out into a bowl lined with a towel and sprinkle with seasoning. Remove the towel, sprinkle some chopped garlic and drizzle with a little garlic olive oil. Serve immediately. Heaven. (recipe mostly stolen from Les Halles Cookbook)

To top off my fries, I used “Slap Ya Mama” Original Blend Cajun Seasoning. Talk about the perfect topping for some well done fries. The seasoning itself is mildly spicy and with just enough cajun twang that it really makes the fries stand out.

“Slap Ya Mama” Original Blend Up Close

Ingredients: Salt, red pepper, black pepper and garlic. No MSG.

While not as spicy as some of the seasonings on my table, because of it’s fantastic blend, “Slap Ya Mama” original blend has a permanent spot on our table. If you try this recipe out, definitely try Slap Ya Mama out on the fries as well.

Walker & Sons, Inc.
5722 U.S. Hwy 167 N. P.O. Box 1016 Ville Platte, LA. 70586.
(337)363-6904, or (337)461-2341
www.walkerandsons.com

Food polish? What the…WAIT! I’ll explain.

I myself was more than a little confused by the name. Tony Legner is a chef and restauranteur in Rockport, TX. Cat-5 referers to a category 5 hurricane. Food polish, because when you are putting the finishing touches on something you are polishing it.

As you all have probably noticed, I spend a good part of each review on the label and outward appearance of each product. My reasoning, which I know not everyone agrees with, is you eat with your eyes first. You probably won’t buy something that doesn’t look appealing. Why do you think they spend so much money for the perfect food photos in magazines like Gourmet and Bon appetit? Why do you think they award scores for plating on Iron Chef?

On to the review. The 1.5 oz shaker features a weather map picture of a hurricane with a couple of palm trees being blown on one side. The label states Cat-5 food polish adds brilliance and luster to any dish! Sprinkle Cat-5 food polish on your favorite dish and prepare to be BLOWN AWAY! The cap has the word hot centered over a photo of flames.

Ingredients: Salt, dried peppers, & other spices.

When I smell this the first thing that I smell is cayenne. When I taste it straight I taste cayenne first then salt and habanero. In a word delicious. If I had to break it down I would say that the ingredients are flake sea salt, cayenne, fine ground habanero flakes, and maybe some paprika, but that’s just a guess. The heat level is about 6.5 (I don’t use a number scale in reviews except to indicate heat).

I have tried this product on many things and the only one it didn’t work on for me was pepperoni pizza. Because the pizza was salty already from the pepperoni, it just ended up being too salty. Now cheese pizza may be a different story. Things that it really rocked on include Steak (I like to apply it as a dry rub 4 hours prior to cooking), eggs, french fries (OOOH), microwave popcorn,as an ingredient in your favorite recipe,… The list could go on and on. Most anything that could use some salt could use some Cat-5. Another great thing about it is the appearance, it adds some color and yes, like the label says brilliance and luster. It not only makes a great seasoning but can be used as a garnish to sprinkle around the edge of the plate for presentation.

I was lucky enough to meet Tony and Maddie at ZestFest. They, like all the other manufacturers we met, were were really fun to hang out with. Since then, they have been collecting awards. Cat-5 won a first place 2008 Scovie for table seasoning, a Fab-5 award peoples choice, a second place award for Tony’s Cat-5 oyster dressing and tied for third in the same contest (sponsored by Nick) in a deviled egg recipe by some hack cook. It looks like Tony is going to have to change the label to include award winning.

My only complaint about Cat-5 is the cost, at $5 for 1.5 oz I feel it is a little overpriced.

In conclusion If you haven’t tried this product yet, treat yourself!

For Nutritional Information call 361-729-6395

Distributed by Tony Legner’s Culinary Productions

1003 E. Concho, Rockport, TX 78382

Big Dawg Fire Department
Chipotle Dip MixFirst impression: This is actually the first time that I’m trying one of the 6 new Big Dawg dry dip mixes. I tried a couple of their salsa products in New Mexico this past year and they were pretty decent. But if I recall the dry dip mixes weren’t available then. Does anyone know if I’m correct on that? I read the back of the package where it’s suggested to mix the entire contents of the package in with 2 cups of sour cream. But since I’m not a huge sour cream fan, I decided that I’d try my hand at flavoring some cream cheese to go along with a yummy sun dried tomato bagel that I happened to have from the local bagel shop.

Ingredients: chipotle flakes, garlic powder, paprika, sea salt, MSG (Monosodium Glutamate), and other spices.

Appearance/Smell/Taste: Okay, since chipotle flakes were the first ingredient on the list. I was expecting a good deal of them to be mixed into this dry mixture. And yes, there were bountiful flakes of chipotle. It gives the overall smell a nice dry smoky aroma. There is almost a hint of sweetness in the odor, but after looking over the ingredients again I can’t seem to figure out what is giving me the impression of sweetness. The heat is on the lower end of the HSB heat scale, perhaps a 2 or 3 at most. Moving on down the list I noticed my least favorite ingredient MSG! OUCH! Big Dawg what’s up with the use of MSG! Well it’s there, so I must provide some links for those that would like to know more about this ever so present food additive. Now there is the Wikipedia version…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monosodium_glutamate

Then there is the version from the people who benefit the most by using MSG in food production…

http://www.msgfacts.com/facts/msgfacts.html

What cracks me up about the previous link is that they actually say, ‘new studies show that MSG may play a role in the overall health and nutrition of people who need it most.’ Without providing a SINGLE link or any factual information regarding these supposed ‘new studies’! Am I just supposed to take this at face value?!? Of course you should not. That is what is great about the internet! The next and final link on MSG is from msgtruth.org.

I suffer from headaches when I eat foods that contain processed MSG as an additive. This is partly why I’m sticking with just adding the Big Dawg Chipotle Dip Mix to cream cheese. So without further ado I touch my tongue to the spoonful of dip mix to see what it tastes like straight up out of the package. YES! SWEET and smoky! It tastes exactly like what I was expecting after smelling the mix quite a few times. The garlic comes through really strong too. It’s that ‘dry’ garlic flavor that only garlic powder gives you. There is also a good deal of salt in there too, but I won’t come off and say it’s too salty until I mix it up and try it out in the cream cheese. Now I could have used this as a rub for a steak or perhaps mixed some into ground beef and made a few burgers. Instead it was time that I made some breakfast to review a hot product.

Prepared meal: Sun Dried Tomato Bagel w/Chipotle Cream Cheese

A dip mix is ultra easy to use. They are almost like ‘pre-measured’ spice combinations that could be used straight up to flavor almost anything. Soups, stews, meats, tacos, the list is almost endless and Big Dawg helps you out with a handy little hint on the back of the package. But like I said earlier I wasn’t a huge sour cream fan, so I opted for cream cheese instead. After allowing 8 oz. of cream cheese to soften to room temperature I mixed in roughly ½ of the Big Dawg Chipotle Dip Mix. Looking at the cream cheese it gave it a reddish hue with the large chunks of dried chipotle throughout my seasoned cream cheese mixture. I then covered the bowl with plastic wrap and returned it to the fridge to let it set for a full 24 hours. Coming back the next morning I spread my bagel with the flavored cream cheese. Smelling the chipotle flavored cream cheese actually made my mouth water. Let’s see what it tastes like on the bagel…

Complement to meal: Okay, after sitting in the fridge for 24 hours the flavors have totally permeated the cream cheese. I’m finding that the garlic powder is too overpowering! This is coming from a man who will eat an entire bulb of garlic with a meal or something that I’ll cook. I LOVE the taste of fresh garlic, but garlic powder has that ‘dry’ garlic flavor that just isn’t very appetizing to me. The heat has dropped from a 2-3 on the HSB heat scale to a measly 1, almost no heat at all in the cream cheese. But this mix is also too salty for my palette. I’m having a hard time eating the bagel. There is still a nice smoky flavor from the chipotle but the overt saltiness and high powered dry garlic flavor is killing the experience for me. Although to those that don’t mind huge amounts of salty garlic goodness, this just might be the dip mix for you! Try it with some sour cream instead of the cream cheese monster I ended up creating! -Lars-

Initial impression: 8/10

Ingredient quality/content: 4/10 (using MSG killed this score)

Flavor/textue/smell: 6/10

Heat: 2/10

Overall: 5/10

Big Dawg Fire Department
http://www.bigdawgsalsa.com/
P.O. Box 821623
North Richland Hills, TX 76182
bigdawg@bigdawgsalsa.com

Dips for Dips: Review of Big Dawg Fire Department’s Garlic-Onion Dip Mix and Chipotle Dip Mix

Ingredients:
Garlic Onion Dip Mix-Garlic powder, onion flakes, onion powder, sea salt, and other spices.
Chipotle Dip Mix-Chipotle flakes, garlic powder, Paprika, sea salt MSG (monosodium Glutamate), and other spices.

Here in Wisconsin (state motto: “Hey America, Come Smell Our Dairy Air!”) its fall, which means all things vital to the survival of our fair people is stopped. Yes, it is that time of year when reasonable men and women lose their minds so they can worship at the altar of Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers. I’m being serious here, Wisconsinites lose their minds. Sample every-day conversation: Person A-“So did you here that Congress is going to outlaw the use of vowels when used in reference to driving laws?”. Person B-“But did you see Farve in the fourth quarter?? Is he God or what???”.

What sucks for me is that I’m a bartender, and I deal with idiots like that every Sunday. What doesn’t suck is the best way to shut them up is with food, and Big Dawg Fire Department makes it easy with these two dip mixes. All you do is mix the mix with two cups sour cream, stir, refrigerate overnight, and then tell everybody the next day you made it from scratch. And this stuff is good. The Garlic-Onion tastes strong on the garlic, which helps keep the Packer-heads out of your personal space, and I love when people use sea salt. Sea salt brings out the natural flavor of other foods, like regular salt, but doesn’t have that overly salty flavor itself. A bit of warning: the garlic-onion flavor will linger for a while (read: hours).

Chipotle Dip Mix

The Chipotle dip mix was surprisingly strong on heat. When you consider that sour cream is so dairy fat heavy, you would think that the heat would be stifled, but it is detectable, and really takes a drunken football fan by force. The flavor was there, with the sea salt doing its job again, and unlike its Garlic-Onion counterpart didn’t linger. And I was putting the chipotle dip on everything from chips and pretzels to fresh veggies and cheese&crackers. So unlike Packer fans, this dip can multi-task (ha!).

Garlic Onion Dip Mix

Overall these are both fun things to have in your pantry, and at $3.00 a pop, affordable, too. So let’s go to the scoreboard for my Five Point Scale-
Appearance: Touchdown! Good graphics with fire-fighting facts on the back of the label.
Taste: Touchdown! Makes sour cream taste palpable again.
Heat: Field goal (for Chipotle only). Its detectable for seasoned vets, killer for rookies.
Over-all: Touchdown! These dips are ones for the books. Easy to make, easy to use, easy to acquire. Get some.

So until next time, treat every meal like it was your last. And to all you Packer fans out there remember: I’m from Wisconsin, too, and I’m only ribbing you and your un-dying fanaticism for our home state team. I wish you all and your team well, and always remember: the Bears beat the Pack. Go Bears!

Big Dawg Fire Department
P.O. Box 821623 North Richland Hills, TX. 76182.
www.bigdawgsalsa.com.

Being a hardened habbie-head, its natural to go for Cajun foods, or atleast the seasoning used in that cuisine. And I really dig it when a company puts out a product that not only is simple in it’s ingredients, but makes cooking that said food simple. Case in point: “Slap Ya Mama” white pepper blend seasoning. Is it a rub, is it a mix, is it a seasoning? It really doesn’t matter because you can use it for anything.

Made in the heart of Cajun Louisiana, this seasoning packs a serious one-two punch: First you get hit by the red pepper (I’m guessing cayenne), then a back-throat hit by the white pepper. When I first got it I was using it like I would use regular salt, shaking it on pasta, nachos, hot dogs, and even in salad dressings. So it can cover those bases, but I wanted to try it as a rub, so my wife went out and bought some pork steaks. I liberally rubbed this all over the pork, and grilled it.

The picture can’t begin to do the justice this seasoning deserves for bringing such flavor from the pork. It was absolutely divine, and what was really cool was how the individual flavors came out. First you taste the salt, then the cayenne, then the white pepper, without a heavy after-taste. Very flavorful, very crisp. Once you get it you’re going to find yourself using it on your dinner table.

So here’s my five point scale, where applicable.
Appearance: N/A- Looks like red salt. Deceivingly simple.
Smell: 3- Like pepper, with a hint of cayenne.
Taste: 4- It makes simple foods taste “fuller”, giving more depth.
Heat: 2.5- It’s in there, but if you like the hotter you may be disappointed.
Overall: 3.75-This is an all-around seasoning that does wonders on bland foods. Try it on the above mentioned, but it also works great on eggs and fried chicken, too.

Go out and get some, cook a meal for your friends and watch them marvel in your kitchen prowess. Until next time, treat every meal like it was your last!

Walker & Sons, Inc.
5722 U.S. Hwy 167 N. P.O. Box 1016 Ville Platte, LA. 70586.
(337)363-6904, or (337)461-2341
www.walkerandsons.com

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

I was anxious to try these peppers because of all the hype about them, so I ordered 2 of these bags from the Chili Pepper Emporium. The first thing I made with them was salsa, I started with one chili to see how hot it was, I soaked it in warm water for awhile until it softened and diced it up and added it to my salsa. The next morning I tried it and it wasn’t very hot so I added 4 more. I soaked the chilis in hot water in a shot glass because I didn’t want them to lose any heat to the water. I decided to use as little water as possible to soak them in while still having them completely submerged. My first taste of the pepper was the shot of water they had been soaking in. It didn’t taste hot but it really screwed with my stomach. I took this salsa to work and ate it at lunch.

Personally I was disappointed by the level of heat. But it was pretty hot though, I warned everybody it was hot, but there were still people with bright red faces looking like they where about to cry. My boss accused me of trying to kill her. (Jokingly of course). The next week I made a second batch, and this time I ground about 5 or 6 peppers up in my coffee grinder (this is all its used for) and mixed it in. Both methods had about the same heat level, but the second one was easier. I will probably grind the rest of these peppers and use them as a seasoning on a large variety of foods.

All in all these peppers where very good. I think the heat level of them is over hyped, that’s why I was initially disappointed but they where hotter than my habs and had great flavor. I probably won’t buy them again anytime in the near future because they are to expensive. They are to expensive based on the fact that I grow all my hot peppers but was told that these are extremely difficult to grow in this area. I would love to try these fresh and if they ever started selling them somewhere local I would definitely use them quite a bit.

Buying info: I got these at www.chilipepperemporium.com I checked if they still had some in stock and was told 15 packages left as of July 23 2007. The website on the package is chillipepperpete.com. I checked it out and it is still in business selling these same packages. www.Chilipepperemporium.com is 40 percent off because they are going out of business, so I’d suggest trying there first.

Heat: Officially the hottest pepper in the world so I guess it has to be a 10 right? Just keep in mind that it is over hyped.

Flavor: great

Price: Depends on where you get them, since I’m reviewing something that’s sold by a lot of different company’s and brand names I really cant say.

Recommendation: Would I buy them again? Like I said above, it’s not worth it to me to buy peppers when I can grow them myself and I can’t grow these around here so I probably won’t buy them again unless they start selling them locally somewhere that I can get a better price and not have to pay shipping. As far as recommending them, definitely.