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Can’t Make it to the Fiery Foods Show? Here’s a Contest Giveaway Just For You

Giveaway Contest Hot Sauce Prize PackAre you feeling bummed that you won’t get to attend this year’s Fiery Foods and BBQ Show? Here’s something that might lift your fiery spirits – I’m having a contest that’s open for those who are stuck at home or work during the FFS. This is a cool little giveaway that will include the following as the hot sauce prize pack for the winner…

New Spicy Websites Launch and Promise Video Hi-jinks

After much recent teasing and stringing along I’ve done as of late, a
pair of chile-related websites have made their debut – ILoveItSpicy.com
and SpicyRV.com.

I Love It Spicy

I Love It SpicyAl “Buddah” Goldenberg, myself and other chileheads have debuted a new
blog called I
Love It Spicy
that’s geared toward covering everything from
reviews to product recommendations to industry shows & festivals and
more, all on video.

Buddah is currently chronicling activities from this past weekend’s
North Market Fiery Foods Festival in Columbus, Ohio that he captured
on video – a jalapeno eating contest, a wing contest, and lots more
excitement from the show that you don’t want to miss.

There are big plans in the works for I Love It Spicy team getting
clips of next week’s National Fiery Foods & BBQ Show in Albuquerque,
New Mexico on video. There has also been talk about me getting
hypnotized on camera during the show, but I can neither confirm nor
deny those claims…

Catch the fun at ILoveItSpicy.com or follow us on Twitter at @ILoveItSpicy.

Spicy RV

Spicy RVSpicy RV is a
group of wild, ragtag chileheads (headed up by the possibly sane,
probably insane James Beck of EatMoreHeat.com) who will be commandeering a tour
bus and attempt to make a fiery pilgrimage from Houston, Texas to the
National Fiery Foods & BBQ Show (abbreviated NFFS below). The road
trip will be documented on their blog both in written and video formats, so
be sure to track their progress closely as they eat some of the
spiciest food on earth, drink enough margaritas to make even Nick
Nolte’s and Gary Busey’s livers scream for mercy, and hopefully keep
the Highway Patrol at bay before making its grand arrival at the NFFS
next week.

Follow Spicy RV’s psycho circus on wheels on Twitter at @SpicyRV and
through their RSS
Feed
.

Follow the Spicy RV crew individually on Twitter: @EatMoreHeat, @TexasFood, @GunsandTacos, @psedillo and @PedroThePepper

What’s More…

Before I close this post out, I shouldn’t neglect to mention that the
NFFS event that both of these websites will be visiting will be joined
by the Fiery Foods and BBQ SuperSite itself in providing online video.
From March 5th through 7th, you can watch both pre-recorded and live
streaming segments from the NFFS at Fiery-Foods.com.

Letter From the UK – February 2010

david-floydA bit late with news this month from the UK, we had a quick family holiday, but we did use the evening to taste some sauces, the results coming up next month.

So what has been happening at the ChileFoundry since my last report,
well we reported on a number of local UK suppliers
Dartmoor Chilli Farmincluding the Dartmoor Chilli Farm who are taking an Organic and
Holistic view on growing Chillies and the Cambridge Chilli Farm whose
Raspberry and Chilli Jam had a rave review for us by ChilliPepperPete

We also reviewed The Chilli Jam Man’s Oak Smoked Garlic
& Chipotle Jam
, The Chilli Pepper Company’s Dragon’s
Breath
which was a Caribbean Style Hot Sauce that has been made with fresh Bhut Jolokia chillies. The Marie Sharps Grapefruit Pulp Habanero Pepper Sauce was reviewed by Darth Naga and he was very impressed of the combination…

Review – Heartbreaking Dawns Hot Sauces

Heartbreaking Dawns Hot SaucesHeartbreaking Dawns is an up-and-coming sauce maker hailing from upstate New York. They’re steadily making themselves known to the fiery foods world with an intriguing assortment of hot sauces: Classic Gold, Mango Habanero and Jalapeno Pineapple. They and I made out initial communication via Twitter (hey, who says that the social networking giant has no merit?) and before you know it, I had a package of their hot sauces in my hands. Here is my take on each one individually…

FireTalkers – Interview with Wayne Brawley of 2 Brothers Salsa

Wayne BrawleyHere’s the story: Texan Chef Wayne Brawley obtained a large amount of fresh tomatoes from his mother, so instead of letting them go to waste he decided to fire roast half of them and concoct a salsa recipe from them. Wayne’s family became big fans of his newly-spawned product, in particular his brother Wesley, who encouraged Wayne to continue to make salsa and suggested he tried to sell it in stores. Wesley had passed away in 2004. Wayne entered a pair of salsa contests with his chipotle-infused creation and took home First Place prizes for both. Believing he had a viable product on his hands, Wayne decided to take his brother’s urgings to market the salsa to retail locations around Texas. In honor of his late brother, he called it 2 Brothers Salsa.

I’ve asked Wayne some questions to shed additional light on his past, his company and salsa today, and what lies ahead for him and industry…

Scott: Where are you and your family from geographically?

Wayne: We live in the North Dallas area currently. My wife and I both…

A New Heat Scale for Chile Peppers?

Chile peppersA Whole New Scale Of Hot
Feb. 18, 2010

Peter Piper picked a pepper. If he had the new technology developed by one Baylor professor and his research team, he could have discovered just how hot the pepper was.

By Sara Tirrito
Staff writer

Dr. Kenneth Busch, professor and co-director of the Center for Analytical Spectroscopy, and his research team have eliminated the need for liquid chromatography in determining the heat of chili peppers…

Feeling Brave? The North Market Fiery Foods Festival Might Be For You…

CaJohn Hard looking through a Golden Chile Award
Februarys in Columbus, Ohio can count on getting warmed up by the annual North Market Fiery Foods Festival. If you live anywhere in the area, you’ll want to check out the event this coming weekend. As always, our friends over at The Hot Zone Online (being the Ohio natives that they are) will provide excellent coverage.

The Fiery Foods Festival (not to be confused with the national Fiery Foods and Barbecue Show in Albuquerque) also gets some local media coverage, such as this from the Columbus Dispatch:

“You don’t have to be a professional chef to compete in the Fiery Foods Festival

“The 7th annual event Saturday at the North Market includes contests for amateurs. They can compete against other homemade salsa makers or amatuer hot sauce creators.

“The truly adventurous can sign up the day of the event to compete in the Hot Pepper Eating or Wings of Fire contest. The person with the iron mouth can win prizes from Cajohns Fiery Foods.

“Local professional chefs will also compete in the Chef Chili Challenge. There will also be vendors, musical acts and other events.

“Not brave enough to compete? Visitors can still…

Review – Bainbridge Island Barbeque BBQ Sauces and Hot Sauces

Bainbridge Island Barbeque Sauces and Hot SaucesProprietor Gregory Epstein runs BIBBQ, which is short for Bainbridge Island Barbeque, and is named for the picturesque swath of land that is a stone’s throw from Seattle, Washington across the Puget Sound. With BIBBQ, Greg aims to treat those in the Pacific Northwest with some down-home barbecue in an area not typically know for low n’ slow, smoked n’ grilled meats. Greg had shipped me two of his BBQ sauces, Chipotle Honey Barbeque Sauce (a past Scovie Award winner) and Bainbridge Habanero Barbeque Sauce, along with a quartet of hot sauces: Cranberry Star Fruit, Asid Reign, Devil’s Blood and Sour Apple

Chile Pepper iPhone App – ChilliFarm

chilli-farm-iphone-appNeed something that will identify chile peppers on the go? Well, Stefan Wallington sponsored by the South Devon Chilli Farm (SDCF), both from the UK, have whipped up an iPhone app that contains a small database containing information and photos on various chiles plus loads of recipes. Called Chilli Farm, it sells for 99 cents in Apple’s App Store.

I admittedly have not personally bought this yet, and my pre-purchase take on this is that since iPhones can internet access wherever there is coverage, you can simply surf to various websites to obtain this information (especially The Chileman or my own Scoville Scale). Still, the convenience of having all the data in one place coupled with the fact that this most likely leaps and bounds faster than reaching the web with 3G speeds probably outweighs the one dollar price tag.

To get it, just search for ChilliFarm made by SW Comms Ltd or click here.

Thanks to The Chile Foundry for bringing this to my attention.

Video, Video, Video!

Web Cam“Video” is a word you’re going to be hearing a lot of in the online chilehead world over the next couple of weeks. A few days ago I mentioned that James Beck (of EatMoreHeat.com and Dave DeWitt’s right hand man) had something up his sleeve regarding the subject. In addition to that, there’s going to be a brand spankin’ new video project I’ve been working on very closely with one of the most well-known online chilehead/reviewers. It’s really close to be being complete, and should be one of the most fun and informative sites around. Stay tuned; I’ll keep you abreast of things on all the various channels: Twitter, Facebook, etcetra.

Review – Bee Sting Honey n’ Habanero Pepper Sauce

Bee Sting Honey n’ Habanero Pepper SauceOne of my “guilty pleasures” in sauceland is Buffalo Wild Wings’ Mango Habanero sauce. It’s sticky sweet similar to honey, pours thick, has a dynamite taste and packs some chile pepper heat.

I’ve tried out a few honey-infused hot sauces in my day, but to me that Mango Habanero has remained the quintessential “honey”-type sauce. However, I have been and will continue to be open to any syrupy or honey-esque hot sauces on judge them on their own merits.

Along comes Bee Sting Honey n’ Habanero Pepper Sauce produced by the Half Moon Bay Company. Although I admittedly have never tried anything under the Bee Sting line, Half Moon bay has a good track record of sauces and salsas (I love a few of their Iguana sauces in particular), so I was chompin’ at the bit to see if this worth any buzz…

Hear Me Monthly On The BBQ Central Radio Show

The BBQ Central Radio ShowI’m thrilled to announce that I’ve joined another podcast. This is one that I’ve been a fan of for a couple of years…it’s the weekly The BBQ Central Show, hosted by none other than Greg Rempe. I made my debut on last night’s live episode, and I will be returning monthly for a segment where I will be reviewing barbecue sauces, rubs and seasonings and sometimes hot sauces. As of now, I’ll be tentatively scheduled on the first or second Tuesday of the month, depending on what date it falls on (there will be more clarification on the dates as they approach).

Last night’s show I covered Chef Hymie Grande’s Cascabel Express Barbecue Glaze, Outta the Park BBQ Sauce and Christopher Creek Pork Rub.

To listen to the February 9, 2010 edition of the BBQ Central Show, you can click here to download the MP3.

Even if you’re not huge into backyard grilling or barbecueing, The BBQ Central Show is still a very enjoyable and fun listen. You can Subscribe via iTunes or you can Subscribe to the RSS Feed with MP3 for listening on your …

The Most Overrated Hot Sauces in the World

You may actually like them, tolerate them or plain hate them. Do you think that there’s an overhyped group of spicy condiments that boggles the mind why throngs of consumers rave about but that you just don’t get? Yup, me too. Below I present to you what I believe are the most overrated hot sauces in the market today.

Huy Fong Food Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce

SrirachaDo a Google search for Huy Fong Food’s Sriracha Sauce and you’ll be diluged with dozens of results pages containing gushing accolades from food fans on forums, blog comment pages and review sites. The people love this Thai-style pepper sauce.

As much as I tried, I just couldn’t get into this stuff. This one an instance where a sauce had a peculiar atrribute I just couldn’t put my finger on. Perhaps it was too much salt and garlic, but Sriracha had an off-putting dark and bitter horseradish-like flavor, especially in the aftertaste…

The Burn Buzz – Spicy Food News 2/8/10

The Burn Buzz - Spicy Food News 2/8/10Here’s my first 2010 edition of the Burn Buzz, where I list hot n’ interesting links about spicy food and BBQ that have been floating around on the intertubes lately…

chile pepperChick-fil-A Spicy Chicken Sandwich Coming Nationwide

chile pepperLocally Made: Bill Hutchison Solves the New Mexico Pepper Debate – Helping to Answer the Question “Red or Green?”

chile pepperThe Great New Mexico Chile War – More on the Red vs. Green debate, plus a mishmash of other subjects.

chile pepperBuilding A Better Pepper – Chile pepper farmer Ed Curry and growing chiles in Arizona.

chile pepperNestle’s Hot Sauce Heats Up – The food company introduces a new hot sauce in Malaysia.

chile pepperHot times in the city: Farmers process hot peppers on Saginaw ‘assembly line’ – Growing chile peppers in Michigan

chile pepperNew celebrity diet pill Capsiplex hits the UK streets – Capsaicin-based diet pill is claimed to burn as many calories as one would burn in 90 minutes of a brisk walk.