One of the more interesting bouts of tasting we had back at ZestFest was this treasure called Tarka Masala, courtesy of the great folks at Kaurina’s. Kaurina’s won a Golden Chile award for their Pistachio Almond Kulfi, but they should have won one for this concoction as well. As it stands, Tarka Masala was a Third Place winner in the Cook-Off - Specialty category for 2006.

While there’s quite a few hot sauces and other spicy sauces that originate here in North America, there’s relatively few that come from overseas that carry any level of popularity. Tarka Masala, with its Pakistani and Indian origins, pays homage to both its skill in preparation and the flavor it seeks to emulate. We first tasted some of this which had been made by stewing it with some chickpeas, which turned out to be pretty tasty. Checking the ever-important ingredients list, this has:
» Continue Reading

We were nearing the end of the shelf-life for our current bottles of DEFCON wing sauce, when we decided it was time to go ahead and whip up a batch of wings over the weekend. One problem was thta we had slightly too much sauce and not enough wings. Rather than take a risk of letting the sauce go bad from lack of use, we decided to try an experiment. We had a box of breaded shrimp in our freezer which we were using to taste a spicy cocktail sauce, so we appropriated about half of them to become our inaugural attemp at DEFCON 2 Shrimp. The results you can see above.

Honestly, they were pretty darn good. The breading tones down the heat of the wing sauce a little and gives a texture reminiscent of Hooters’ wings, but we liked ‘em as a change of pace from regular ol’ shrimp. The next step is to try the same thing, but with the DEFCON 1 sauce to make ‘em spicy enough for Joe.

We are honored and pleased to present a guest writer for us here at The Hot Zone Online. If you’re in the hot & spicy food business, it would be challenging NOT to know who Jim Campbell is. Besides being the owner & proprietor of the Mild to Wild Pepper Co. (which has some fabulous stuff, by the way), he also grows many of the habaneros that hot sauce manufacturers across the country use for their own products. Rather than ramble on about him ourselves, we will just let Jim introduce himself in his own words….

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jim Campbell and I’m my own worst enemy By day, I’m a professional firefighter in Indianapolis but by night, I’m a professional *firestarter* as a commercial chile pepper farmer and hot sauce maker. I guess one might consider it ‘job security’- both fighting and starting fires That, or someone in serious need of some professional help The need for professional help is little doubted by those that know me. For proof, they offer the fact that I just spent 24 hours on a stair climbing machine setting a world record (previously held by another firefighter). Details can be found at http://www.StepUpForCharity.org

I’ve been fighting fires for almost 23 years now. I’d spent quite a number of years wandering aimlessly from job to job before God reached out with His little ball-peen hammer and smacked me upside the head with my life’s calling. Three of my brothers volunteered for the fire department where we lived and they talked me into coming down to do photography work for them. The very first call I answered was an apartment building that was rocking from end to end. I shot one roll of film, tossed the camera aside, found a nozzle and the rest was history. I joined the paid firefighting service about a year later in 1985 on essentially my first try out.

Even prior to the joining the fire service, I was a bit of an arsonist As one of ten kids, my parents always had a bit of a victory garden out back of the house to help feed the family. If you know what a ‘victory garden’ is you’re also either old as dirt or a good student of history From the earliest days I can remember my choice to plant was chile peppers. I didn’t necessarily eat them back then, but I was fascinated with all the shapes and colors… and the fact they could provide some entertainment when given to the un-initiated

Upon joining the fire service I naturally brought chile peppers in to help flavor the food a bit. My fellow firefighters- some of them at least- would always bug me to bring in a few for them. Each year it seemed, I was planting more and more to try and keep up with the demand. As one can expect from someone who’s only bright enough to make a living running *into* burning buildings, I was a bit slow to the fact that there might be a business at this… about ten years slow. When it finally dawned on me (with the help of another firefighter friend) a business plan was born. In the true entrepreneurial spirit, that consisted of throwing a handful of habanero seeds in the ground and, when they starting coming on, calling hot sauce manufacturers to see if they were interested. My list of hot sauce makers was obtained by ordering a mixed case of hot sauces out of a mail order catalog and calling the numbers that appeared on the bottles!

I’d rather be lucky than good, as they say

Lucky or not, we’re looking forward to hearing more from Jim in the future. Thanks, Jim!

Marie Sharp’s Orange Pulp Habanero Pepper Sauce Ingredients: Select yellow habanero peppers, orange pulp, onions, key lime juice, vinegar, garlic, and salt.

I saw Joe’s recent review of Marie Sharp’s Grapefruit Pulp Habanero Sauce and realized what a strange coincidence had happened. I too had just picked up one of Marie Sharp’s products just last week. So, as a follow up, here’s a review of virtually the same product.

» Continue Reading

Linda pointed out an article to me that I couldn’t just let slip by. I hope this is something that our chilehead followers will weigh in with their comments. On Dr. Gupta’s CNN blog, he recently published an entry called:

There’s more to hot sauce than just heat

In one part of his article, he refers to a Baltimore doctor by the name of Spiro Antonaides (which we wrote about in a post called Hot Sauce and Weight Loss) who

came up with the idea to down a shot of hot sauce every time he got a craving for something unhealthy, like doughnuts or cookies.

Besides casually dismissing any notion of science to Dr. Antonaides’ book, Dr. Gupta goes one step further. He writes:

But be careful. Capsaicin can also be harmful. Take a lot of it, and you can actually send your body into shock. Research on capsaicin’s bad side is still in the early stages, but scientists have found that it can cause some tough side effects: abnormal blood clotting, blistering of the skin and severe diarrhea. Long-term use can lead to kidney and liver damage, so go easy.

Dr. Gupta, are you out of your friggin’ mind? Since he quoted this like it was some sort of scientific fact, I noticed that at least one other doctor chimed in on his so-called science. This response was:

Dr. Gupta,
In your blog you state, “There’s no science to it. It’s really simple behavior modification.” Please take note that behavior modification is a science. Please do not discredit my science and I will not discredit yours.
Posted By Dr. Brad A. Dufrene, Hattiesburg, MS

and this reply:

Capsaicin, the active ingredient in chile peppers, toxic? I just finished digging in PubMed for information on that subject. Please provide citations (I couldn’t find a single paper on the drastic effects you mentioned) or retract the comments.

One paper mentioned transient hypotension in dogs, but not in any way sufficient to provoke syncope or any signs of shock. Nephrotoxic effects? No data. Hepatotoxic effects? The ONE paper I saw indicated a protective effect of capsaicin in the presence of other compounds toxic to the liver.

There were a few indications of epithelial tissue damage with chronic high-dose application in Wistar rats, but again, this isn’t on the level any human would be likely to use.
Posted By LisaM, Sparks NV

Brilliant. Positively brilliant. It inspired me to send my own reply to Dr. Gupta. Let’s see if this ever appears as a comment on his blog:

Dr. Gupta,

Your information that capsaicin is harmful is both inaccurate and misleading. Only someone foolish enough to attempt to ingest pure biochemical-grade capsaicin (at 16 million Scoville) could hope to do themselves harm. Otherwise for the rest of us that just eat hot sauce and chile peppers, all you can really hurt is your pride if you eat something too spicy for your tolerance. I’ve search for the other so-called “side effects” of capsaicin, and I can’t find them either. I suggest you get your facts straight as well. Chile peppers, with all their wonderful capsaicin, have been around for thousands of years, and I’ve never run across a documented case of someone suffering any of the effects you mentioned. As a physician myself, I try not to give my patients inaccurate or misleading info. Hopefully, you will review your information and make the changes so you are not doing the same.

Check out the CNN blog entry for yourselves. If you feel motivated, write a comment and tell Dr. Gupta what YOU think about his so-called information.

Joe out.

I always approach one of CaJohns’ hot sauces with a sense of anticipation because they have always been good. That said, this sauce given to me by CaJohn was one I really wanted to try out because I have had pretty good tasting experience with chocolate habanero sauces. For those who may not know, the ‘chocolate’ designation is merely due to their color, not a reference to any of the confectons that originate from the bean of the tropical cacao tree. In fact, Dave DeWitt has info that indicates that the ‘Chocolate Habanero’ variety that rated the highest on the heat scale of all chiles tested in 2001 at New Mexico State University. Looking at that those Scoville test results, you can see this:

Scotch Bonnet 75496
Red Savina 256341
Orange Habanero 295529
Chocolate Brown Habanero 301065

More recent Scoville test numbers have ranked the Red Savina much higher (and the new Nagas may put them all to shame), but that doesn’t change the fact that the chocolate habanero is one hot capsicum chinense. If you got it, flaunt it…right? Looking at the recipe for this sauce, this one has: » Continue Reading

While this info is not purely aimed at the chile pepper horticulturists amongst us, there is definitely an industry bent about this conference as well. We’d definitely attend if we had the chance. Here’s the info:

Annual chile conference set for Feb. 5-6

New Mexico Business Weekly - 11:58 AM MST Wednesday
by NMBW Staff

The 26th annual New Mexico Chile Conference will be held Feb. 5 and 6 in Las Cruces at the Hotel Encanto, formerly the Las Cruces Hilton.

Speakers from Arizona and New Mexico will address a variety of topics, including chile industry mechanization, crop management, product development, plant genetics, and disease and pest control. Workshops will also cover Elephant Butte Irrigation District community water filtration and New Mexico department of Agriculture pesticide licensing.

Click HERE to see the rest of the article.

I saw this bottle of hot sauce while traveling last year, and was inspired to bring it home. After years of collecting and buying a lot of hot sauce, I have learned how to spot the clones. You know the clones…those hot sauces with roughly the same ingredients that come in bottles with all sorts of different labels. Nowadays, I’m just a lot more picky when I’m hunting for new stuff. That said, Marie Sharp’s hot sauces have been a nice surprise for me overall. After doing a review recently on her Fiery Hot Habanero Sauce, I thought this might be a good follow-up to it, not to mention one that had the potential to be a bit different. Looking at its ingredients, I beheld this:

Ingredients: select yellow habanero peppers, grapefruit pulp, onions, key lime juice, vinegar, garlic, and salt

A fairly standard list to me, but with the addition of grapefruit pulp and key lime (rather than regular lime) juice to the mix. Also, it was unusual to see yellow habs, but I was unsure if this would just be a color change or whether or not the flavor of the yellows might really be different than the reds & oranges. I went to the Marie Sharp website to see their description of this sauce:

This special sauce was created in answer to some suggestions from our local friends and it’s made by using yellow Habanero peppers, orange (correction, grapefruit) pulps, fresh vegetables, and spices. The level of hotness is similar to our “HOT” and the added citrus flavor enhances much more of the Habanero flavor.

Well, I wasn’t sure that I was buying into how much the citrus flavor would enhance the habanero, but I was willing to give it a try to test the theory. » Continue Reading

Just thought we would point out another tweak to our blog’s design format. On the right sidebar in the About Us section, we have changed the post we did formerly called “About Our Authors” into giving each of our authors their own page. Now it’s easier to find out info about any of the folks who do some writing on this site.

Also, we have moved the posts that were there about our hot sauce collection & pics and our crazy love of spicy stuff as well. We felt that since this blog has become far more than just about our interests and obsessions in hot sauce & spicy food that we would move those posts to the Joe & Linda page where they can still be viewed.

More changes & tweaks to come. Stay tuned!

If Paul Newman can make just about anything on the grocery store shelves, then dammit…Dexter Holland from the Offspring can make salsa and hot sauce. Odds are it’s probably better as well. If we see some in our ‘hood, we’ll pick some up and report on it. For now, here’s a few links that all say versions of the same thing about Dex’s new salsa venture.

The URL for Gringo Bandito is http://www.gringobandito.com

Some articles to check out:

Rocker Dexter Holland Enters New Market

Offspring’s Dexter Holland dips into salsa

Dexter Holland Goes Right To The Sauce

This site is a member of The Ring Of Fire - a linked list of Chile websites
Next | Skip Next | Next 5 | Prev | Skip Prev | Random Site

Join the ring or browse a complete list of The Ring of Fire Members
If you discover problems with any of The Ring Of Fire site
please notify the RingMaster