OK, well maybe not literally. However, I have been the most prolific writer overall and my blogging has slowed to a crawl lately as I am putting in

a lot of time getting ready for my oral Anesthesia board exams next month. It is painful trying to recap everything I learned over 4 years of residency, but that’s where things are.

So, if things seem like posts are coming as quickly as this…

then they probably are. Stay tuned!

Announcing the 4th annual, and LAST, Open Fields Hot Sauce Contest!
Saturday, September 25th 2010

As you may already be aware, this will be the last year of Jim Campbell’s annual Open Fields event. You know… the one held in a “secret location” somewhere in Indiana and featured several times on the Food Network.

As a means to raise money for his “Step Up for Charity” (http://stepupforcharity.org/) efforts, you are invited to enter your hot, or not so hot, products in the 4th Annual Open Fields Hot Sauce Contest. Commercial or non-commercial products are welcome.

This year, in an effort to simplify things a bit, there will be 4 categories:

1. Sauces of any heat level
2. Salsas of any heat level
3. Open Category for candy, pickles, unusual concoctions, or any other foodstuff
4. “Fresh from the Fields” which will include anything created while at the Open Fields event, preferably using the peppers available in the field.

There will be a $10 per product entry fee, ALL of which goes to Jim’s “Step Up for Charity” effort.

All products must either be received by Jim on or before September 22nd, or brought to the Open Fields event and turned in at the judges table by 12 Noon.
[Read the rest of this entry...]

Continuing from part 2, we had just gotten off the Jungle Jim’s monorail. It was time to wonder around some more. We ended up back at Defcon’s booth where he was handing out samples of his new product, Defcon ZERO Sludge on little glow sticks. Chem and I both tried it and like usual, John Dilley’s products never disappoint in the area of heat. We both had to sit down until the endorphin rush subsided.

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.
[Read the rest of this entry...]

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.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

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.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

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.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

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!