Had a chance to drive by the chile fields today and I am happy to report that they are finally in the ground. It is the latest they have *ever* been planted, but here’s hoping for the best. I think we still stand a pretty good chance at chiles this fall. As noted by someone, the chiles were light last year but I think that was mostly due to the cool, damp summer we had.

This will serve as the first official invite to one and all for the Open Fields.

Dates: Sept 27th & 28th, though arriving early and staying late is not a problem… so long as you don’t hog all the chiles

Location: Somewhere in Central Indiana. For planning purposes, figure your trip to “Waverly, IN” and that will land you close enough to determine mileage and costs.

Who: **ANYONE & EVERYONE** is invited. Due to the rules set forth by the too cool landlord though, it is by *invitation*. To be invited, send me an email with the subject header of “Open Fields”. In late August, early-mid September I will send out the official directions, rules, info, & regulations.

Cost: Zip, nada, none. It only costs you what it takes to get here. There is NO entry fee or purchase required. Help yourself to all the chiles there are to be had. I’ll try to get an official count up shortly.

What: The “Open Fields” is a celebration of all things chile. I plant a little over an acre of chiles (about 9,600 this year of 40-60 different varieties) for folks to come & help themselves. Most folks camp in the fields (*very* primitive though port-o-lets are on site), some choose to stay in hotels (20 miles away), and some just ‘day trip’. The idea is to chat with folks from all over the world (literally- people have come from England, Canada, The Netherlands, Denmark, New Zealand, & Australia), share food (most folks cook up stuff on site), swap stories, and generally enjoy all things chile with great folks.

- -Jim C
http://www.StepUpForCharity.org
Mild to Wild(R)

(this information shameless conveyed from the Chile-Heads mailing list by this blog’s owners)

Rumours of the demise of Nando’s from the American market may have been premature at best. Despite their non-presence on the blogging scene and in the overt sales of their sauces, the international phenomena of Nando’s is now on U.S. soil in Washington, D.C. See this article from the Washingtonpost.com:

Nando’s Peri-Peri in Penn Quarter

Wednesday, July 16, 2008; Page F03

Right or wrong, we tend not to write about chain restaurants. As hard-core food folks, we generally favor the independent guys. But Nando’s Peri-Peri, a South African outfit with restaurants in 34 countries, isn’t just any chain. It’s a food cult.

Oprah Winfrey and comedian Ricky Gervais are groupies, the company says. On Facebook, there’s an international Nando’s fan club more than 30,000 members strong. There’s also a smaller 13-member group called Bring Nando’s to America: “This group is for people who want a Nando’s Chicken restaurant to open in America,” the founder writes. “1 location! Anywhere in the United States. If you build it, we will come.”

Click here to read the source article

It’s ba-a-ack!!! The competition that makes all other hot and spicy wing eating contests look like a bunch of schoolgirls playing jump rope is returning to the 2008 Jungle Jim’s Weekend of Fire this coming August. Whether you be brave of heart (and deluded of mind) enough to participate or just want to come and watch the spectacle, come one and all to see the capsaicin-laden freakshow in all its glory. You can see the DEFCON Creator do his best P.T. Barnum impression as he admonishes the contestants that there is indeed “a sucker born every minute.” Apparently, those suckers eat spicy wings. See you there!

Review graciously donated by Troy “Generallee” Hangen of TTF:

Hey Y’all!

Third review for the All American Hot Sauce Company and the victim this time is the Northeast.

A somewhat delectable tomato and Horseradish blend. I wish I could just jump into this one and rant and rave, but unfortunately I can’t go there with this one. I am sure that Buddah has already listed the ingredients so I will just dive into this one.

Consistency – finally a thickness that I like. In between Tabasco and warm syrup.

Color – nice burnt auburn in color.

Smell – not too much at all. Maybe a bit to tomato-y to the schnoz. (more on that to come)

Taste – bout a C- (now let me explain…

The infamous pizza and Dragon Dog where my specimens.
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Ya know, I’ve never really understood why Ohio is considered part of the “Midwest”. Really, it should be borderline “Northeast”, look at where it is on the map, it’s not mid anything, it’s Northeast! Now, if we’re talking about Wyoming, than ya, that’s Midwest. So for this review, I state that Ohio is Northeast and since I currently reside in Cleveland, Ohio, I’m staking my claim as a Northeasterner.

Suffern Brothers All American Hot Sauce: Northeast Horseradish Tomato Ingredients: Seasoned rice wine vinegar, chilies, tomato paste, lemon juice, prepared horseradish, cayenne, salt, sugar, sodium bisulfate, sodium bisulfite.

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Special guest reviewer Buddah, courtesy of Taste the Fear:

Born and raised on Long Island, I was privileged to have had cuisine of all kinds in the mecca of melting pot communities, New York. The Big Apple was a mere drive away from where I lived and it had much influence upon my neighborhood. New York City is best known for a lot of great American food like pizza, hot dogs, steaks, cheesecake, bagels just to name a few. It has so many restaurants, a visitor could get dizzy trying to decide where to go. Of all the kinds of delicacies New York has, it has never been known for being a hot spot for spicy food. So when All American Hot Sauce named one of their products “Northeast, I am thinking what are they trying to make here?

Ingredients: Seasoned Rice, Wine Vinegar, Chilies, Tomato Paste, Lemon Juice, Prepared Horseradish, Cayenne, Salt, Sugar, Sodium Bisulfate, Sodium Bisulfite.

Well, as many NYers often do, they think when you talk about Northeast, you are talking about them. Yet the Northeast covers much ground. Could the good folks at All American be talking about Pennsylvania and Philly’s Infamous Cheesesteaks? Perhaps they are thinking about Maryland’s crabcakes or Boston’s chowder or maybe even Maine’s lobster? So let us look at the All American Hot Sauce website for some help:
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Special guest reviewer Cajun, courtesy of recommendation by Taste the Fear:

Hey there, chileheads! It’s Cajun once again, this time with a review of the hottest of the All-American Hot Sauce offerings, the “Northeast” flavor. I must admit, it was kind of confusing having the “Northeast” moniker strapped to the bottle that contained the hottest version that the Suffern Brothers company puts out. Growing up in the Deep South, I was always conditioned to believe that the Southern regions of the United States were the true bastions of all things fiery. I guess that appearances are deceiving though, because the Suffern Brothers obviously feel quite differently about things in that regard, and it is reflected in their product offerings.
» Continue Reading

This is a rather sobering reality for a number of chile pepper growers nowadays. Salmonella is no joke, and it can really make you sick. Hopefully, the source of this problem can be found so we can all go back to enjoying our chile peppers in a wide variety of foods and sauces. This article from the online Wall Street Journal spells it out:

Restaurants Adjust Menus After Warnings on Jalapeños
By JULIE JARGON and ANNA PRIOR
July 12, 2008

With raw jalapeños the latest possible culprit in a salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 1,000 people, restaurants are pulling the hot pepper from their menus and finding other ways to give their salsas some kick.

At Picante Grill in San Antonio, Texas, chef Flora Maria Pozo already replaced the tomatoes in her pico de gallo with tomatillos. “Then I took out the jalapeños when I heard the news” this past week, she says. She says she has been forced to create an entirely new recipe consisting of purple and yellow onions, red pepper and lime juice. “It’s not a real pico de gallo anymore; it’s another type of relish.”

The Food and Drug Administration initially warned consumers nationwide June 7 to avoid eating raw red plum, round and Roma tomatoes unless they were grown in certain states and countries — a warning that still stands. Wednesday, federal health officials said that jalapeño peppers caused some of the illnesses and that they are also looking into cilantro and Serrano peppers.

Click here to read the rest of the source article from the WSJ

Absolutely awesome article from Yahoo News that we saw recently. If anyone we know is going to London soon, can you arrange to pick us up a couple orders of these to go?

London restaurant blast at world’s hottest curry title

Thu Jul 10, 12:12 PM ET

LONDON (AFP) - A London restaurant was serving up Thursday what it hopes will be confirmed as the world’s hottest curry, with even the chef admitting it is “too extreme” to keep on the menu.

Vivek Singh at The Cinnamon Club grabbed some of the hottest chilli peppers known to man to create the Bollywood Burner, a lamb-based dish with a fierce kick.

The curry is so hot that diners are asked to sign a disclaimer confirming they are aware of the risks involved before daring to eat it.

The Bollywood Burner is being submitted to Guinness World Records for verification of its status as the planet’s hottest curry. The verdict should be announced within three weeks.

Click here to read the rest of the source article

From Mark McMullan, of thechileman.org and now hot sauce fame, comes the latest in his Naga Morich hot sauces…the Pure Venom sauce. Check out this latest info from Mark about this new sauce:

Naga Morich

Well you definitely enjoyed our Original Recipe and Private Reserve chilli sauces (scroll down to read the reviews), but the hard core chilli heads among you said the sauce was very hot, but not hot enough. At first Mark thought you were joking and that you couldn’t possible want more heat than the Private Reserve - each bottle stuffed with ten whole fresh naga morich pods. Rising to the challenge, Mark has locked himself away in thechileman laboratory and is very close to bringing you our new sauce - Pure Venom.

While we search for the extra thick bottles required to stop Pure Venom melting its way through the glass, we are including a link to our feedback form so that you can get your name down and pre order a bottle now but we aren’t convinced many of you will be brave enough to do so. Prices to be confirmed.

The Pure Venom 6.4m SHU Edition is like the Private Reserve on steroids. My Vindaloo/Phall lovingmate liked it to peeling off all the skin of your lips and then drinking a boiling hot cup of tea!! Its an absolute belter (in my biased opinion) but personally I think it’s almost inedible and for the serious hot sauce head only.

I’ve also been improving the ‘Private Reserve’ recipie for us ‘mere mortals’ making it even hotter, but have also thinned it out to make it much smoother and easier to pour.

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