Also, as I mentioned on the phone, we’re recognizing Jungle Jims International Market as one of two Gourmet News Retail Leadership Award winners for 2007. Each year we present the award to a specialty retailer for achievements occurred during the year. This year, when our staff and members of our parent company United Publications was reviewing the year’s stories, we were all impressed with the size and the scope of the Weekend of Fire.

Stu Hirsch, one of our reporters and a self-described chilehead, was very impressed with the event< -the organization, the attention to detail of the staff. And it's worth noting the exhibitors couldn't say enough nice things about Jungle Jims and the event itself.

So for us, recognizing Jungle Jims as the Gourmet News Retail Leadership Winner of 2007 was a slam dunk!

Anna Wolfe
Editor
Gourmet News
106 Lafayette Street
Yarmouth ME 04096
207.846.0600 ext. 232
awolfe@gourmetnews.com

You can download the entire PDF of the article featured in Gourmet News here (PDF).

Congrats Bret & JJ’s!!!

Tis’ the season! CaJohn has created these 2007 Holiday Reserves from the 10 series and these bottles have started arriving at collector’s doorsteps across the country just in time for Christmas. Only 50 of these beauties have been made and they are layered with 3 waxes (as seen above). If you are interested in any of the remaining bottles – you can contact CaJohn through his website at www.cajohns.com .

We have reconstituted some of our dried Jolokia pods and created a Limited Edition of Jolokia Select Puree. With 80% chile and 20% vinegar, this is truly Liquid Fire! The cost for a 5 fluid ounce bottle is $40.00. It is not available in our Jolokia Store on our site yet, so you have to call to order, or stop by either of our retail locations.

Toll Free: 888-703-FIRE

20th Annual National Fiery Foods & Barbecue Show
February 29 – March 2, 2008 Albuquerque, New Mexico

Have you booked your room for the 2008 Fiery Foods Show yet? What about your travel? If you haven’t thought about it yet – consider this a friendly reminder. I know a lot of folks have already made their reservations – but I’ve spoken to a few over the last few days that haven’t. If you are planning to stay at the Sandia – then call Ellie at 800-304-7660 to get your room reserved (hint: ask for a room with a mountain view). I would also suggest that you book your travel as soon as possible as flights into ABQ tend to fill up quick. Some chileheads are driving in and a few are taking the Amtrack – so there are options, but don’t wait until last minute to get yours booked. See you there!

Cracker House Hot Sauce – Fire

Before getting the two bottles of Cracker House hot sauces to review, I had never heard of the company or their sauces. Now with that being said, that doesn’t mean that they don’t make a good hot sauce.

Usually hot sauces that have pepper blends in them have great tastes and a good deal of heat. Of course this also depends on the types of peppers that are blended into the sauce. This sauce blends Datil and Jalapeño peppers. These two specific chile peppers are definitely on the lower end of the heat scale. I’m sort of curious as to why they are so far down on the ingredient list. That and to make this hot sauce ‘hotter’ than their ‘medium’ version of this sauce it seems Cracker House Sauces have decided to give the heat a little boost using oleo resin capsicum. I’m normally not a fan of extract based sauces. It isn’t really the extreme heat factor that deters me, it’s more the metallic/chemical taste that using extract in a sauce does to kill the flavor for me. But since it’s also so far down the list of ingredients I won’t hash my bets just yet. That and I happened to be personally in the mood for something HOT! So this was the perfect opportunity to give this sauce a try. You can purchase the FIRE sauce and the MEDIUM sauce by phone, fax, or US Mail from the Cracker House website. No online shopping carts that I could find.

http://crackerhousesauces.com/?page_id=6

Looks like a 2 bottle minimum, but you get a sweet deal on a case for just $38 bucks!

First impression: Looking at the sauce through the glass bottle, it looks rather unassuming. It’s got that ‘glistening’ appearance through the woozy. Which I find is somewhat common among hot sauces. I then take a further look at the list of ingredients. It’s a long one for sure with a few items listed that I prefer not be there. But each manufacturer is going to use what suits their production needs best.

Ingredients: tomato concentrate made from red ripe tomatoes, fresh red & green tomatoes, sugar, fresh onions, distilled vinegar, green bell peppers, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, fresh Datil & Jalapeño peppers, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, garlic, salt, spice, black pepper, onion powder, oleo resin capsicum & natural flavorings.

Whew! That certainly was a mouthful. With all this going on here there has to be a good depth of flavor with this sauce. Of course I have to slam the use of HFCS and CS. In my opinion these items should be totally removed from the food supply. It’s used in almost all types of food that is mass produced. So when I see small manufacturers that use this stuff I have to say YUCK! Take it away! Lol It’s used in everything else and damn near every single sauce and salad dressing you can buy in a food store chain will have loads of HFCS. Not to mention the drinks, sodas, breads, you name it! Gosh I can’t stand this stuff! Just the fact that it causes your liver to go into overdrive to try and process this stuff is a good enough reason to avoid it at all costs. Looks like it’s going to be a real ‘sweet’ sauce with all those sugars used in there – sugar, brown sugar, HFCS, and CS. But in an effort to ‘take one for the team’ I will consume this sauce and give it a fair review!

Appearance/Smell/Taste: As I remove the cap and take a hearty sniff, sniff. My nose is first greeted by the pleasant sweet overall smell. Boy I knew this one was going to be sweet. I just hope that it isn’t too sweet to turn me off of the flavor. I’m getting a mixture of sweet with peppers and hints of vinegar and the oleo resin. Like I was saying the flavor that oleo resin usually turns me off of these types of sauces, but honestly this one doesn’t have that strong scent of oleo resin. It appears to be just a touch in the waaaaaay back. Once on the tasting spoon Cracker House Fire hot sauce is a gelatinous slurry of a sauce. It rounds out well on the spoon without being too runny. So from the picture you can see that it pretty much stayed put on the spoon. It’s a nice red color with lots of specks of what is probably black pepper and all those veggies milled up together. Hoisting the spoon to my lips to get the first taste I am greeted with a sweet sort of tomatoey flavor. The blend of the peppers used (both sweet and hot) come together nicely. This is a sauce with a well rounded flavor. So far so good Cracker House! And at the end I get that added kick of the oleo resin. And to my surprise the oleo resin capsicum flavor isn’t overpowering at all! Don’t get me wrong this isn’t a sauce that would rank in the ‘extreme heat’ category. In fact it isn’t even close. But, to ‘Joe Sixpack’ who wants something that is just a touch hotter without the ‘extreme heat’ range, this would be a great sauce to choose. I decided that I was in the mood for some quesadillas! Since I had a bunch of whole wheat flatbreads left, this was just what I was going to make!

Prepared meal: Roasted Onion Salsa Quesadilla!

If you’ve ever seen the movie Napoleon Dynamite, then you know the line about quesadillas! Lol What a funny ass movie! I must say that I’ve seen it about 3-4 times and it’s still funny with each veiwing. Kind of like the Mel Brooks movie, Space Balls. Which I’ve seen dozens of times and still crack up at the humor in that film! Don’t even get me started with Blazing Saddles! Ok, yeah I was making quesadillas. All you need for this is a flat bread of your choice, some salsa, and some cheese of your choice. I chose to use my Roasted Onion Salsa (I love cooking with it and I also have a healthy supply too!), a whole wheat flat bread, and a mixture of some queso blanco cheese and sharp cheddar! YUM! What a perfect food to use hot sauce on top of! Here goes.

Complement to meal: As I finish off these in the pan I allowed the quesadilla to cool for about 3 minutes until I sliced it with a pizza cutter. I then added a generous helping of Cracker House Fire hot sauce onto my first quesadilla. WHEW! After adding at least a 1/3^rd of the bottle I dig in. I really do like the flavor of this sauce on the Roasted Onion Salsa quesadilla! The sweetness goes along great with the smoky flavor of the salsa.

As I get about half way through my first quesadilla the heat from the sauce and the serranos in the salsa is starting to make me sweat! But like I was saying earlier, I was really in the mood for something with some extra heat to it. And Cracker House has delivered as I was hoping. I then make a 2^nd quesadilla and add another 1/3^rd of the bottle. So after I consume about 2/3^rd of the bottle of Cracker House Fire hot sauce, the sweat is glistening nicely all over my face and head. I’m actually starting to get a nice endorphine rush. I do like this hot sauce, but I really wish the HFCS and CS would be eliminated. I’d like to hear from the manufacturer if they read this as to why they chose to add these items to this sauce. –Lars-

Initial impression: 8/10
Ingredient quality/content: 6/10
Flavor/texture/smell: 9/10
Heat: 7/10
Overall: 7.5/10

Crackerhouse sauces, Inc.
PO Box 1066
Palatka Florida 321778
386-328-2780
crackerhousesauces.com

The shape and size of this jar set it apart first thing. The sauce comes in a tall narrow 8oz cylindrical jar. The label is black with La Chingada! scrawled in yellow lettering that is outlined in red. A red chiltepin highlights the tip of the “c” and another with flames is the period for the exclamation point. The rest of the text is in red. XXX Caliente wild chiletepin picante, rare pepper rare flavor, the label also urges dab it on your food, spice up your recipes. The unique shape of the bottle and simple classy label to me make this seem like a perfect housewarming gift for the chile head, and even more so with the little tag that tells the story of the chiltepin. If you are inclined to bring a bottle of wine as a gift, think La Chingada for your spicier friends.

I’m going to either bore you or share some info you were really curious about here, I will be directly quoting the entire tag.

The chiltepin, called the mother of all peppers is thought to be the oldest known of the capsicum genus, as well as the hottest wild variety in the Americas. The word chiltepin is from the Aztec language (Nahuatl) combination word ‘chili’ + ‘tecpintl’ meaning ‘flea chile’, an allusion to its sharp bite. Chiltepins are one of the few crops in the world which are harvested in the wild rather than cultivated. The small size of the fruits are perfect for dissemination by birds, and these wild chiles spread all over South and Central America and up to the United States border millennia before domesticated varieties arrived. Archaeologists in Mexico have discovered evidence that humans were consuming chiltepins as far back as 7500 B.C. These small hot (350,000 Scoville units) peppers are gathered by hand in Mexico over difficult terrain. In years of drought these hard to find chiles become very rare indeed. Even in years of good rainfall they are difficult to locate in any quantity. La Chingada Picante is blended with a minimum of other ingredients, allowing the wonderful unique flavor and fiery heat of the chiltepin to be savored.

Everyone still awake?

Ingredients: tomatoes, chiltepins, salt, garlic, black pepper, vinegar.

Upon opening this sauce I am greeted with a rich aroma, reminicent of pasta sauce, tomatoey with a black pepper under tone and notes of garlic.

I tried this sauce at ZestFest, where they took a 2nd place in the chile specific hot sauce category. I was told that they were the only manufacturer making a sauce out of chiltepin. I couldn’t remember what it tasted like, only that I had to have it. I decide to try a spoon straight up. I taste first the black pepper, then a rich tomato flavor with a little garlic. The vinegar is undetectable. This sauce has a lot of seeds in it and you get a little bitterness while chewing through those. Definitely tastes like a pasta sauce. A spicy pasta sauce.

I have found the heat is something that builds as you continue to eat it. I loaded up chip after chip. At 6 chips my nose is running and my tongue is tingling. It is a different kind of burn. It kind of feels like having your tongue burnt by a hot beverage. Not the actual burning, but the way your tongue feels after. My oldest son had 3 chips and is now sucking air to try to stifle the burn. I would rate this sauce at 6 for heat.

I tried a couple tablespoons over cous cous, tasty, but it becons for pasta.

I sliced up some red bell pepper and red onion then cut these into 1″ pieces and into the frying pan to sautee with a little olive oil. A quick carmelization and into my pasta bowl. I threw some penne pasta (from the night before) into the pan with a little more olive oil and gave it a quick heating then piled it atop the veggies. I then nested a small wedge of Port Townsend Creamery Sea Stack cheese ( a hand crafted cheese similar in flavor to blue but nice and creamy) in the middle of the pasta. I microwaved (sorry I was getting lazy) 1/2 C of La Chingada Chiltepin Picante for 30 seconds. I spooned this over the pasta and fresh cheese. I topped this all off with some fresh grated parmesan and green onions. I garnished with jalapeno rings. I served this (to myself) with a half glass of cabernet. Now that’s a lunch.

When I checked out their website, it looks like they are still working on it. It is less than half there. I was able to navigate through and found that there picante was retailing for $10. I was able to contact one of the partners, that is for the 8oz jar.

I absolutely loved this and would serve it to anyone who enjoys a spicy meal. I used 1/2 C for a single serving, the bottle is only 8oz, meaning it is a perfect size for a meal for two. I rarely, if ever have the luxury of cooking for less than 4 and on the rare chance that I am cooking for two, then the meal is sans heat, but that’s my problem.

Primo Specialty Products
309 Palm St. Suite J
Newport Beach, CA 92661
702-355-7251
lachingadapicante.com

LIMITED EDITION

“Deadliest Batch” Houston Hot Sauce Festival Hot Sauce

Inspired by the Discovery Channel’s highly rated show “The Deadliest Catch”

Autographed by Captain Keith Colburn of the Wizard, Captain Blake Painter of the Maverick
and John “CaJohn” Hard of CaJohns Fiery Foods

There are 3 EBay Auctions for Autographed Hot Sauce

1. Only one of it’s kind
CaJohn’s signature is to the left and Captain Keith to the right.
Captain Blake’s right down the middle of the chili guy (I stopped him and had him sign elsewhere on the next ones)

2. One of only two available
CaJohn’s signature is to the left and Captain Keith to the right of the chili guy.
Captain Blake’s is down the side of the ingredients.

3. This bottle is the first of 6
CaJohn’s signature is to the left and Capt.’s Keith and Blake to the right of the chili guy.

The 2007 Houston Hot Sauce Festival “Deadliest Batch” Hot Sauce
is Red Savina® Habanero Mash. Made from the FIERIEST pepper,
the only additive is a touch of vinegar.

Festival Sauce Produced by:
www.cajohns.com

The sauce was autographed at the festival.

Captain’s Keith and Blake appeared at the Houston Hot Sauce Festival September 22 & 23, 2007.
We had a very cool art design based on our theme “The Deadliest Batch.”

There is more… Limited addition Deadliest Batch T-Shirts, Deadliest Batch Hot Sauce (some with no signatures), autographed pictures of the Wizard,

An autographed 31” x 48” Deadliet Batch poster mounted on coreplast, an actual Life Ring from the Wizard autographed by the entire crew, etc.

The Captains graciously autographed a number of items.

Proceeds will benefit Cancer Research

All Ebay items can be viewed at:
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZcarolfmhou

***The following post, and this year’s batch of Steve’s Peppers is dedicated to my friend ROGER JONSSON, who passed away December 11, 2007, after a courageous battle with cancer. Roger was a remarkable man who left an indelible impression on everyone he met. In the spirit of the season, I invite fellow chileheads to post your words of comfort and condolence to the Jonsson family here.***

I started making my peppers about 5 years ago for friends at the holidays. When you first bottle them, they have such a festive look. They take relatively little time to make, are not expensive and are certainly one of the more unique gifts your friends will receive. Once you give a cruet of these peppers to a friend, they can continue to add peppers and vinegar on top of the old ones, literally forever. I have bottles of these peppers that I have kept going for over 12 years. They have a wonderful mellow flavor. Here is last year’s batch, one year later.

This is not really a pepper sauce, nor is it pickled peppers. Rather, it is a blend of vinegars infused with the flavors and heat of various peppers for the purpose of drizzling on certain foods – like Paella, onion rings, fried Okra, your favorite “Cue”, or a fried fish sandwich. I experimented with the ingredients in the off-season and came up with a recipe that has stood the test of time – 3 very simple ingredients:

1. Chiles (any combo of Jalapeno, Serrano, Habanero or Cherry Peppers)
2. Apple Cider Vinegar (1 part)
3. Rice Vinegar (4 parts)

The methodology is simple. But before starting, take the proper precautions:

1. Work in a well-ventilated room
2. Wear an apron
3. Wear a set of latex gloves while working, then wear a new set while cleaning up
4. Not a bad idea to wear protective glasses too (I learned this the hard way)

So, let’s get started with this year’s batch, which I have lovingly named “Roger’s Stash”. It has a double meaning. Roger had a strikingly bushy moustache that just seemed to go with his personality. And I’d like to think that if I gave one of these bottles of peppers to Roger, he would love it enough to want to stash it away.

Step 1 – Sterilize your bottles or cruets in the dishwasher

Step 2 – Set everything up in advance. If you forget something, you will be rummaging around the kitchen spreading the heat from the peppers where unsuspecting people will pick it up and start burning themselves. Here, I have all the ingredients within easy reach.

Step 3 – Cut the chiles – long ones lengthwise, stubby ones in half or quarters, depending on the size. For this batch, I have some nice dark green Serranos and 3 colors of Habaneros – small, firm green ones, small yellow ones and large, ripe red ones.

Step 4 – Stuff the sliced chiles in any combo into a cruet or bottle. I use the end of a wooden chopstick to get them through the narrow neck of the cruet. Do not pack the peppers in too tightly, but fill the whole bottle with them.

Step 5 – Pour in a mixture of vinegars that is one part (20%) Apple Cider Vinegar and four parts (80%) Rice Vinegar (not to be confused with Rice Wine Vinegar). This combo of vinegars makes for a perfect host for the heat and flavor of the peppers. It is both tangy and mellow at the same time. Most importantly, it doesn’t overpower the pepper, or your food.

Step 6 – Cap the cruet or bottle, hold it tightly and jiggle the bottle while rotating it in different directions to release the trapped air. Open the bottle, tamp down the peppers lightly, then top off the bottle with vinegar until you have less than a half-inch of air below the stopper. Here is the finished product.

To personalize these, make a festive label or card and tie some ribbon around them. It’s wise to bottle a half-dozen more of these than you anticipate needing. They make a great little gift to bring along to a holiday party.

Enjoy, and happy holidays to all! In memory of Roger, I leave you with this:

“To live in the hearts we leave behind is not to die.” – Anne Campbell

Many of you have read about our “Line of 10″ made with the Jolokia chile. Well it is now available at our website. Sauce 10 in it’s two sizes, Salsa 10, Wing 10, BBQ 10, Mustard 10, Rub 10, Spice 10, NagaSaurus and NagaSoreAss, Jolokia powder and whole dried pods as well. This I belive is the first time a whole line of Jolokia products is available to the public in one spot.
Some of you have tasted the products when we rolled them out at Jungle Jim’s Weekend of Fire, or at ZestFest 07 in Ft. Worth. Now they are ready for retail distribution. We still don’t have enough of the Jolokia to release them for wholesale distribution yet, but we are working to obtain it in sufficient quantity to do so soon. I think you will find this to be a fantastic flavorful line with a wealth of heat. I can promise though, that with the amount we have been able to obtain, we have increased the amount of Jolokia in all of the products. I guess you could say we’ve “turned up the heat”.

We entered three of the products in the Fiery Foods Challenge and came away with two Golden Chiles and a Third Place. Many of the judges who attended the show stopped by the booth to comment on the flavor and searing heat they experienced (after the judging is over, they can inquire as to what certain items are by writing down the number of the sample). Nick Lindauer, from the Hot Sauce Blog, commented that the Wing Sauce 10 was the only thing that made him reach for “relief from the Heat”.

I hope you enjoy these products. By the way, there is a special offer as well!

Dear Pyrate Louie,
I’ve been in a relationship for awhile with, well, a bottle, and I don’t know what to do. At first it was exciting and spicy, but lately everything has just gone mild and sputtered off. I need some Heat, but I don’t want to jump into anything too fast and get burned. And while I’m at it, I also want to help save the World. What should I do?
Signed-Tasteless in Wisconsin.

Gentle Reader,
We’ve all been at some point in our lives where we find ourselves stuck in a rut, and sometimes it is because we can’t let go of old bottles. You have to know: It’s not your fault. You want to try something new, but you don’t want to get scorched. YOU ARE NOT ALONE! So I recommend you go out and buy yourself something nice, like for example Golden Toad’s Chipotle Pepper Sauce. It’s hot, it’s sweet (sorta), and in the end, it won’t burn you too bad. Read on, Gentle Reader, read on.

Ingredients: Vinegar (White and apple cider), Canned Chipotle peppers (chipotle peppers, water, tomato puree, vegetable oil [corn or safflower], flour, salt, vinegar, onion powder, garlic powder and spices), fresh red onion, chipotle peppers, fresh garlic, cilantro, salt and spices.
First of all, I have to confess that I was using this sauce for awhile after Nick sent it to me, forgetting that I was supposed to review it. That’s how at home in my fridge it felt, like it was always there. When my wife asked one day where it came from that’s when I remembered I was supposed to review it. Whoops on my part.
If chile peppers were royalty, the Habanero would be King, and the Chipotle would be the Clown Prince-never taken too seriously, but always fun to have around. The Chipotle, the smoked ripe jalapeno, is a flavorful chile with a good degree of heat. The problem for most people though is that it’s usually sold in its dried form, and when its sold en adobo (a vinegar tomato brine) it often tastes metallic. Golden Toad has taken this pepper and made one heck of a sauce out of it.
As soon as you open up the bottle you smell the vinegar/tomato base with chipotles (read the ingredients list again-Golden Toad used chipotles en adobo). There’s a hint of garlic, but I couldn’t detect any cilantro (which is near last on the list). I poured this love juice on my trusty tasting spoon, and even though the bottle has a flow control, the stuff pours smoothly. Again, on the spoon you could smell the vinegar/tomato base.

As far as heat goes, this is the Chipotle, which doesn’t attack for a couple of seconds, and when it does it’s in the back. This sauce did exactly that as when I sampled it I got the sweet-tangy flavor of the vinegar/tomato base, then chipotle, then heat. I couldn’t really taste any garlic or cilantro, though, which is disappointing. But this sauce does cover all the taste buds, and it really explodes with all around flavor. I’ve been using this on just about everything, which says a lot, being a devoted Hardened Habbie Head. The one food this really goes well on is just about everything breakfast, as in eggs and bacon, or even better, a B.L.T. with fried egg. And what’s weird is that it really washes down well with coffee, I don’t know why.

AND as an added bonus, by purchasing this product you’re doing your part in saving the world. The tag line on the label reads “Saving the Planet One Tongue at a Time. A portion of our annual proceeds is donated towards wildlife habitat conservation efforts”. How cool is that? These people have obviously been to my work place! (huzzah!).

So, my Five Point Scale.
Appearance:4-I’ve always loved toads on bottles. But the sauce is good, too: deep brown with pieces of chipotle and seeds.
Aroma: 3-Again, vinegar, tomato, repeat. Vinegar, tomato, repeat. Then chipotles.
Heat: 3-This is not the hottest sauce out there, not even the hottest chipotle sauce I’ve ever had. But for newbies this would be fantastic as it does have a kick you’ll notice without dying for.
Flavor: 4-This is essentially liquid chipotle. The entire smoky, citrus, earthy flavor without all the hassle.
Overall: 3.75-This is the sauce you’re going to be using without even knowing it. It’s such a great all-around sauce, and if you need more heat, here’s my simple formula: One drop 500,000 SHU extract per four tablespoons Golden Toad. I will be ordering more when I run out. Get some, Gentle Reader, it’s only $5.95 a bottle and remember-Treat every meal like it was your last!

Golden Toad Chipotle Pepper Sauce
Golden Toad Inc.
P.O. Box 261699, Littleton, CO 80163-1699