I was excited to get this new Datil Pepper Sauce from the nice folks at Dat’s Nice Hot Sauce. You see, I grew up in the state of Florida. Yes, my rearing took place in the land of Mickey Mouse, fresh orange juice, wonderful beaches, a truckload of aging retirees, and tropical heat so extensive that you were sweating even during Christmas week. However, Florida is also home to a lion’s share of the production of the datil pepper. For those of you who may not know much about the datil pepper, let me give you a snippet from WiseGeek:

The datil pepper has been cultivated by the Minorcan community living in the city of St. Augustine, Florida since the 18th century. It has been speculated that the peppers originated in the Caribbean, although they only grow in Florida today. Fresh datil peppers and seeds can be very difficult to find outside of the St. Augustine area, although the plant can theoretically be grown anywhere indoors. Typically, the fruit and seeds are available only from datil gardeners.

The datil pepper is most commonly used to make a sweet but intense hot sauce, and recipes vary widely. One popular sauce is made with tomato paste and other sweet ingredients including brown sugar and honey. Datil pepper is also used in such St. Augustine specialties as clam chowder, pepper relish, and chicken or sausage pilau.

The datil pepper is a member of the chinense species of Capsicum, which includes some of the hottest of all peppers, such as habanero and Scotch Bonnet. All of these pepper varieties have Scoville measurements between 100,000 and 300,000.

Despite the datil pepper being nearly as hot as a habanero pepper, many of the datil sauces I have had really have been on the sweeter side of the spectrum. Judging by the ingredients list below, I surmised that this would be a sauce in the same vein as those were.
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Continuing from part 1, here’s the second part of my review of the 2010 Weekend of Fire at Jungle Jims. We arrived early to the event to wonder around JJ’s since Chem had never been. Of course, we hit up the beer section first.

Following a lengthy stay drooling over all the fermented wonders we took a stroll through the rest of the store. Even though I’ve been to Jungle Jims three times now, I’m still awestruck at the shear size of the place. Chem shared the same sentiment by saying, “It just doesn’t end! It keeps going!” With that, it was time to head back upstairs for the show was going to start.

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Welcome to my first part of the review for the 2010 Weekend of Fire at Jungle Jims. I had some high hopes for this years event because there was more promotion for this year which would me a larger crowd. That coupled with what was being promoted as 55 booths this year AND loads of new competitions I was psyched. I loaded up the car with beer and my good friend (and Passow trained/certified chile-head) Eric “Chem” Chmielewski was coming along too.

We hit the highway at 7:49AM on Friday, July 30, 2010. By about 11AM we were at our first destination; The Party Source in Bellevue, Kentucy. Ohio has ridiculous laws about beer having an alcohol cap but lucky Kentucky (which is about 20 minutes south of Jungle Jim’s) does not. The Party Source is an all in one beer and booze snob’s paradise.

Chem and I stocked up on some rare and hard to find beers. Some over 16% abv, some that I had never heard of, and some that I had tried but just had to have again. We packed it up into the cooler and were off to our next stop, the Hofbrauhause in Newport, Kentucky. It’s only a mile and a half from The Party Source and I had never been to one, so this was going to be a real treat.

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We have seen relatively few articles about how to really get in to spicy foods, so this blog-style entry from Lifehacker touches on this topic rather nicely:

Build a Gradual Tolerance to Spicy Foods

Needing to have your food kept extra mild at all times can curtail your enjoyment of new foods, as well as your dinner invitations from established kitchen wizards. The Serious Eats blog suggests some wise gradual steps toward a tougher tongue.

Along with knowing which peppers and spices to start out on (poblanos and cubanelles, moving on to jalapenos and serranos in Mexican cuisine, for example), anyone looking to ramp up their spice resistance should keep their spices on the side for self-dosing, a writer for Chile Pepper magazine suggests.

Click here to read the rest of the source article

The Global Warming Salsa Company was one of those rare finds at the Weekend of Fire 2009 that we were really hoping to see at the 2010 show. With a great philosophy of business, a left-of-center way of coming up with a twist on regular ol’ salsa, and some quality-looking stuff, it was definitely a recipe for success. We brought home two jars of their salsa, and in typical HZO fashion…waited months to crack open the jar and use it.

Ingredients: Fire Roasted Tomatoes with Juice, Crushed Tomatoes (tomatoes, salt, citric acid), Fresh Jalapeno Pepper, Olive Oil, Ginger, Toasted Sesame Oil, Balsamic, Vinegar, Wasabi, Sesame Seeds, Fresh Cilantro, Water, Fresh Green Onion, Limeade (water, natural sugar, lime juice, natural flavors, Dried Chipotle Pepper, Dehydrated Garlic.

Based on our award winning Global Warming medium salsa, this unique taste experience will introduce you to the concept behind Global Warming Salsa. Subtly infused with flavors unique to japanese cuisine, the gourmet taste will surprise you: fresh ginger, toasted sesame, and a hint of wasabi combine to change the way you think about salsa. It becomes MORE than just a dip for chips, it becomes a globally inspired condiment. Awesome taste on fish, shrimp and grilled chicken, it adds new life to lighter fare. It also makes an excellent salad dressing, and if you want to try it on rice, you may never go back to plain rice again.

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For an idea that turned out to be pretty darn cool, we are surprised that no one thought of this long before the Weekend of Fire. Check out our fabulous musings on the world of blogging and spicy food at:

HSW 025 Bloggers Roundtable

Kudos to Brian and Marilyn from HotSauceDaily.com for doing a really fine job with this. Next time…VEGAS!

After a weekend’s worth of hot sauces and other spicy fare, I am somehow still recovering a bit from this past weekend’s festivities. It’s not that anything in particular was overly stressful, but between all the travel, eating, and shmoozing…I am still just plain tired.

Above you can see a horseradish root. I publish this as a reminder that the horseradish eating contest just about ruined me for the better part of a calendar day. The spicy-hot horseradish from Bald Eagle Foods was part of a contest of eating 10 spoonfuls of horseradish in rapid succession. After the first spoonful when my eyeballs had melted and my sinuses were seared, I realized the extent of my folly. I was only able to eat 5 1/2 spoonfuls during the contest, and that was more than enough to give me stomach cramps that I never knew that horseradish could do.

All in all, there is much to be said about the show. Lots of pictures and stories, many of which to follow over the next week or so. Passow and I have some good stuff to share, so stay tuned for that!

Quite simply, the DEFCON Deathmatch has become the premiere event of the whole Jungle Jim’s “Weekend of Fire” extravaganza. Last night was no different…and thanks to Scott Roberts for recording this great video of the event.

Also, there is a nice summation article in today’s Cincinnati.com about all the contests as well:

Jungle Jim’s turns up the heat with Weekend of Fire

America…land of the free, home of the spicy? It’s a bona fide fact that we here in the good ol’ U.S. of A. are riding the hot and spicy foods bandwagon like never before. This great article from the National Public Radio online embraces that reality:

U.S. Is A Spicier Nation (Literally) Since 1970s

by Andrea Hsu

This summer, as you season a pasta salad or make a rub for your favorite meat, consider this: The U.S. is a far spicier nation than it used to be.

The consumption of spices in the United States has grown almost three times as fast as the population over the past several decades. Much of that growth is attributed to the changing demographics of America.

“We’ve had a very big influx of immigrant populations — from Mexico, from the Far East, the Southeast Asia areas, from India,” says Peter Furth, CEO of the consulting firm FFF Associates, whose focus is specialty foods, including spices.

Immigration, Furth says, has resulted in a broader array of restaurants. At the same time, food blogs and television cooking shows have spurred more home cooking. Together, those trends have resulted in a much more adventurous national palate.

Click here to read the rest of the source article

So, as a patriotic American who embraces this notion, you should do everything in your power to continue this developing American tradition. In fact, let your civic duty take you to Jungle Jim’s this weekend for their annual Weekend of Fire event in sunny Fairfield, Ohio. We’ll see you there if you do!

Wow. Absolutely amazing. Is it really that time again? Hold on, I’ve got my calendar right here. Yep. There it is. We are only a few days away from this years Weekend of Fire at Jungle Jim’s in Cincinnati, Ohio.

I thought I’d do a quick little post informing those who are not in the know about this glorious event! It’s basically a two day, whirlwind convention of capsaicin filled goodness starting Saturday July 31, 2010 (10AM-7PM) and ending Sunday August 1, 2010 (11AM-5PM) in the Oscar Events Center at JJ’s. I’ve heard that up to 75 vendors are going to be in attendance this year and they’ve stepped up the contests people can enter. From a Spicy Ice Cream contest, to a Horseradish eating contest, all the way down to the ultimate in tongue punishing debauchery that is the Defcon Deathmatch. The Weekend of Fire is where it’s at!

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