Our next reviews come to you courtesy of John & Elaine Farnsworth of the Tiger Teeth Pepper Company from Biddeford, ME. They make a couple of wonderful, homemade sauces that are deserving of your attention. John’s lovely wife is from British Guyana and these recipes are part of her heritage. The sauces are:

Fiery Habanero: fresh habanero peppers, vinegar, and salt

Caribbean Chutney: green mango, garlic, olive oil, mixed masala, mustard oil, habanero peppers, and salt

We asked John to say a little about his products and what he’s doing to try and get them more notice:

I believe the chutney, called achar (Indian for relish), which is an Indian condiment and is traditionally made for Indian weddings; typically a year before the 7-day long ceremony, is intensely spiced and brings heat, and is relatively unique in the market. Ours is the West Indian type. Achar (Caribbean Chutney) is fantastic on roasted duck, chicken, rice and vegetables. Some of our gringo friends like to mix it with their chicken salad!

Yes, we are selling these products, locally and regionally, direct and in stores. Presently we have no distributors, but of course we are actively seeking any distribution outlets; although I thoroughly enjoy turning people on to these intense flavor experiences.

We make these products because we love cooking together, and they are fun to enjoy!

Fiery Habanero review: This sauce is much more of a pepper relish than a traditional hot sauce. With a sharp vinegary bite, it is pure habanero joy. This is like something that we could make ourselves, but not as well as Elaine makes it. For heat, it is definitely a fairly typical 9.5/10 habanero heat product. While this marketed as a “sauce,” its uses for me were more like I’d use for a pepper relish. The sharp bitterness of the vinegar will give you caution for its combinations, but is good in many dishes. I used it mixed into salad dressings, as a sandwich spread (pretty thin…LOL!), scooped into chili, and mixed into some marinades for beef and chicken. We use stuff like this so much that the possibilities were simply endless.

What we’d like to see is this product give birth to a more traditional hot sauce. The base is there, so all it needs is some more liquidity, some other spices, and a blender.

Caribbean Chutney review: Take notice, hot sauce fans! This product is the star of the show. It is so fragrant and aromatic,

that I had people ask me about whenever I used it at work for a meal. People would come from the next room asking, “So who’s eating the curry? That smells so good!” Strangely enough, there’s no curry in it. It’s much more of a traditional Indian pickle than anything else, and we’ve been fans of a good spicy mango pickle for many years. The addition of habanero peppers just makes it an amazing combination of flavors. For heat, it’s moderate hot…perhaps 6/10 for me.

Take their advice on this, though. This is an amazing addition to chicken or tuna salad. We also liked it in rice dishes as well, as it makes even plain cooked rice something amazing. Outstanding combination of flavor and heat.

Overall recommendation: While the Fiery Habanero sauce is simply good, the Caribbean Chutney is outstanding. If this were in my local grocery, I’d be buying a bottle every other week or so. Sure you’ll smell like Indian food a fair amount, but just think of how good the food will taste. Enjoy!