While we have been more into trying new hot sauces and other spicy products rather than collecting new bottles, I thought it would be nice to post some pics of a few of the recent collectibles that have been added to our collection and now reside in the Hot Sauce Shrine. Here are some pics:

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With getting the Blair Vintage collection, a bottle of N-59, and having a Firecracker 500 Reserve on the way some time in June, I found that I had to do some creative re-arranging to make some space to be able to keep them all in the same place on display. I call it the Blair grotto, but it really is just an ever-growing pile of Blair paraphrenalia that has taken over the top shelf of one of the display racks and keeps growing above the top. Soon enough, my Blair collection will need a rack all its own. To see what it looks like now, see this pic:

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Even the USPS thinks so. Notice the chili peppers on the top.

From the usps website:

Artist Steve Buchanan, of Winsted, Connecticut, created each of the five stamp designs. As reference, he used slide photographs made by his wife Rita Buchanan’s research in the late 1970s on indigenous agricultural methods in the southwestern United States. The crops depicted in the stamps - corn, chili peppers, beans, squashes, and sunflowers - had been cultivated in the Americas for centuries when Europeans first arrived in the New World.

Now, while this is not ALL chili peppers, it is a start.

If you want ALL chili peppers on your stamps, you can have them.

No, really.

But, it’ll cost ya.

Below you will find a customized chili pepper stamp I created at PhotoStamps.com. Note that the price is $17.99 per sheet. Yep. A little pricy, but it’s ALL chili peppers. If you use a lot of stamps, this actually becomes a more reasonable venture, as the price decreases with the more stamps you buy. Either way, I think it’s cool that you can create your own stamps.

NOTE: I typically spell peppers as chile, instead of chili. But, because the usps lists them as chili, I have used that for continuity.

It tickles our hearts to see companies that we admire, as well as products we like & esteem, continue to grow and have ongoing success. Such is the case with Brian Moon and the great folks at Loco Luna Gourmet Foods. Brian’s products continue to be all the rage, and his ability to add on great people like Eric are a good sign of his potential for continued propsperity. Way to go, Brian!

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On the side of the bottle, CaJohn warns you, “The Fatalii is a chile from Central South Africa commonly known as “the devil’s tongue”. This sauce is very tasty and VERY HOT! Remember, I warned you!”

First impression: Taking some of the aroma from the bottle after unscrewing the lid, this fatalii pepper just smells macho. With a somewhat darkly mustard-y coloring, you can see the tiny bits of black pepper lurking within the pepper morass.

Taste: Move over habanero! You’re not the biggest, baddest pepper on the block anymore. In its most basic form, this sauce very much resembles the CaJohn’s Select Fatalii Puree in both taste and consistency. There are some nice flavor adjuncts like pepper, garlic, and onion, but it took me several tastings and building up my heat tolerance before I could appreciate the subtlety of these compared to the overly dominant heat of the fatalii pepper. If you could use a description of a scent for flavor, I would describe the taste as pungent. While the habanero has a tropical apricot-like flavor which can build a bit, this heat hits your tongue broadly as soon as you taste it.

What foods would it be best with? Alternate uses? I found that it took so little of this sauce before your tastebud heat sensors overload that you might be able to use it on a wide variety of foods…just in moderation. I liked it in a couple of different ways. Firstly, it was wonderful in chili and soup. You get that full fatalii flavor and its heat to make you slurp your dinner that much quicker. It makes any condiment better…add it to salad dressing, ketchup, mustard, whatever. If you can take the heat, pour it right over some meat, spread it thinly, then munch away. A tablespoon of this turns a bottle of boring salsa into a chilehead’s fave.

Ingredients: fatalii chiles, vinegar, garlic, onion, black pepper, chile caribe, and a select blend of dehydrated vegetables

Overall recommendation: The overall taste is wonderful, but you simply can’t hide the fact that this sauce is probably 9.5/10 on the heat scale…and you’ll know that after one bite. Not for the faint of heart, this sauce is a scorcher.

NOTE: This post will remain on top ’til the end of the auctions. New posts can be found below this.

Ever since our son, Ari, was diagnosed with autism in February 2006, we had wondered about the best way to help others with the disorder. We asked ourselves, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could combine our love for spicy food with a way to help “cure” autism?” Quite simply, it’s not only great, but doable.

With collectables being so “hot” now (pun fully intended), we thought we’d step it up a notch and contact some of the less attainable makers…rock musicians. Thus, Hot Rock for Autism was born.

Initially we petitioned several musicians, but only 2 stepped up in the end. We have a couple of very willing musicians wanting to help us contribute to the worthy cause of fighting autism. We hope that if you’re a fan of them and their sauces, you’ll take the opportunity to own these ultimately rare collectables.Each bottle will not only be signed by the musician, but personalized as well…making it the only one of its kind.

Why are they so rare?

We are auctioning off two bottles of hot sauce: one from Bill Wharton and one from Michael Anthony. Each bottle will not only be signed by the musician, but personalized as well. Whatever you want written (within reason & space, of course) will be put on that bottle, making it the only one of its kind.

Yes, really.

ALL proceeds will be donated to the Autism Society of America.

Yes, all. As in 100%.

We are very committed to this project and feel very strongly about what ASA does on a continual basis to help fund research projects, aid education and help create a better world for those living with the disorder in addition to focusing as much as possible on preventing this disorder, in epidemic proportions, in the future.

If you’re a collector of hot sauces, a fan of the musicians or a little of both, head on over to eBay and help a worthy cause. They will begin at 5pm EST this evening and run for 10 days. The auction info is:

(Bill Wharton)
eBay Auction number: 4463190094

(Michael Anthony)
eBay Auction number: 4463191538

If you’re not into sauces but still want to give to the cause, you may do so at our First Giving site.

Joe & Linda

P.S. For more information about Ari, you can go here.

P.P.S. For more information on autism and what you can do to help, you can go here.

No, we’re not joking. This is an idea for a bottle #1 of Dick Cheney’s Pepper Shot. Here’s the offer:

Bottle number one in the limited edition is being set aside for a special price of $125,000, which includes the “Hunting Camp Excursion”. Basically they’ll set up a barbecue for you and 125 of your friends anywhere in the USA. They’ll hand out orange-colored hunting vests for everyone, and serve up some really good grub.

Even the bottles for $49.50 are pushing the edge of the envelope for a company who hasn’t established themselves yet with their collectibles. Still, we wish them the best of luck and hope they sell a bunch of hot sauce.

By the way…does anyone have $125,000 we can borrow??

From the hinterlands of the Gem State of Idaho comes Scotty B’s Gourmet Hot Sauces and Specialty Foods. Although Scotty B’s products are mainly distributed throughout Idaho, Washington, and Oregon, we anticipate that Scotty B’s products will be more widely available in the near future. Scotty has a full and diverse line of hot sauces, plus a grilling sauce/marinade that’s positively scrumptious. Besides that, Scotty B is a pretty decent fellow who’s been willing to help us out by gifting us a few bottles of his stuff to try in our own kitchen. We asked Scotty to fill us in a little on his company, his products, and his burgeoning success….

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It’s every chilihead’s dream to find the world’s hottest pepper. We go through phases of seeking all the heat we can handle, delving into extracts and maybe even cap-surfing until we either tire of it, hurt ourselves or settle into simply eating fresh peppers regularly.

April fool’s Day 2006 will go down in history as the day that Joy and Michael Michaud, pictured here, announced to the world that they had hazarded upon the world’s hottest pepper. From there, the story began its whirlwind tour of misinformation, mistrust and hoaxism. The April Fool’s Day joke is that this story didn’t break on April Fool’s Day. The story was published on March 31st, in the Bridport News a newspaper local to the area of Dorset where the Michauds reside. The media then picked it up and ran with it… on April fool’s Day.

Joy and Michael Michaud live in West Bexington, a small rural village in the county of Dorset, England. They both hold a Doctorate in grassland agronomy. Joy’s is from Aberystwyth University of Wales and Michael’s is from Texas A&M. Michael is American. Michael is co-author of the book; Cool Green Leaves and Red Hot Peppers. Michael contributes articles on his work with immigrants and the vegetables they grow. One such article appeared in a Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) magazine, The Garden, entitled: The World in an Allotment - Gardeners from Different Communities.

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We simply can’t eat everywhere we’d like to, and reviews like these illustrate why that is. Take this first one, about Tong’s Thai Cuisine in southwest Missouri:

Tong’s differs from Ozarks Asian cuisine

It’s not authentic Thai, but rather Thai-style. We like the phrase in the review which says,

Chef and owner Tong Trithara says that Thai food is often misunderstood. While there are always spicy options, the basis of Thai cuisine lies in the herbs, not in the heat, he explains.

The other review talks about the Szechuan Chef restaurant from Seattle, WA. Of particular interest is the “hot pot” which offers

platters bearing thin-sliced raw meat (beef, pork, chicken and lamb) and uncooked seafood (shellfish, finfish and fish balls). These arrive alongside platters filled with lacy white beef tripe, cubes of coagulated beef blood, slender bamboo shoots, cellophane noodles and sliced tofu. Each ingredient adds flavor (the blood is livery) and texture (the tripe chewy) to the simmering broth that sits center stage on a portable burner.

In all honesty, it sorta sounds like a form of Asian fondue. Also attention-grabbing is this about the menu selections,

Note the abundance of chile-pepper icons that dot the menu. Then ignore those useless heat indicators. I’ve sampled no-pepper dishes that drove my heat-sensors wild, like the glorious hand-shaven “dan dan noodles” swimming with ground pork in a heat-stoked broth. And three-pepper items that were decidedly mild — including the delicate, pork-filled, dry-style Szechuan wontons, and the whole fish in hot black-bean sauce (a plump tilapia in a rich brown sauce scattered with cilantro and scallions).

Nice to know that the spicy options can be had early and often. This place puts to shame our local Mongolian grill, but we know that beggars can’t be choosers. Sounds like a great place to eat, though. Anyone who might have eaten here please give us a shout and let us know what you thought of it.

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