Month: November 2013

While it’s coming up to that time of year when the weather outside will be frightful, online fans of hot sauce, BBQ sauce, fiery foods and more will find these great deals to be delightful!

Yes, it’s once again time to indulge in some of the best offers that a few dozen artisan food makers have to offer for Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the 2013 Christmas Holiday Season in general. These are some of the very best and most talented sauce and seasoning manufacturers around, and these small businesses are highly deserving of your support.

So if you’re a chilehead or spice lover, or would like to know what to get a chilehead as a gift, these are the perfect items to get them this holiday! That way you can order online with great ease, but you can also avoid the crowds at your local big box stores.

Lastly, if you have a sale to announce, simply leave a comment below with all the details – we’d love to know about it!

It’s been hotly contested for the past couple of years, and we finally have some news that will help clear the air when it comes to the title of “world’s hottest chile pepper”.

Since 2010, the offical Guinness World Records title has been passed from the Bhut Jolokia (AKA “Ghost Chile”), the Infinity Chilli, the Naga Viper, and the Trinidad Scorpion Butch T.  In the meantime, another variety related to the Butch T, the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, came to prominence because of an extended study done by the Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University in later 2011. Because of the multitude of independent HPLC testing done (and not a “one shot” test done for other peppers), the Moruga Scorpion was the one myself and many other notable figures in the chile pepper world considered to be the real hottest.

Well, just today, the Carolina Reaper pepper (also closely related to many of the aforementioned chiles) was accepted and declared by the governing Guinness World Record body to be the new heat champ. Grown by Ed Currie of the Pucker Butt Pepper Company, the Carolina Reaper will soon be the talk of the fiery foods community.

Congratulations to Ed for this outstanding achievement! Here is the official press release announcing the Carolina Reaper as the new Guinness World Record for the Hottest Chile Pepper…

Volcanic Peppers is a company owned by Timothy Bader and based in Omaha. They have made their name known with their range of chile powders called Volcano Dust, made from the hottest smoked and dried peppers.

Now the company also produces and sells Hot Garlic ‘n Onion which is a new powder mix, plus Scorpion Stinger Caramels and two sauces: Lava BBQ Sauce which comes in Spicy and Hot Scorpion versions, and finally the one reviewed today: their first hot sauce called Lava Chocolate Lightning.

I discovered their powders last year and immediately became a fan of their awesome smokey taste and good heat, which can be very high if you dared to taste the Smoked Scorpion Dust or the 7 Pot Douglah Dust. Also, knowing that Lava Chocolate Lightning was made with a chocolate Habanero mash and a custom dust blend, I really wanted to try this hot sauce, and I have not been disappointed.

Lava Chocolate Lightning was tasted by itself, and with some chinese dumplings Jiao Zi.

Hanging with Michael Anthony and Sammy Hagar

To millions of Van Halen fans, bass player Michael Anthony was not only the cucumber-cool glue that held the band together and provided their distinctive high harmonies, but was also the member of the band they could identify with the most; more specifically, a down-to-earth, real guy that you’d want to sit down and have a beer with.

Unfortunately, in 2004, Michael was unceremoniously ousted from Van Halen to make room for Eddie Van Halen’s son Wolfgang in the bassist role. Not to throw a pity party, Michael instead formed a new group with close pal and former Van Halen lead singer Sammy Hagar, legendary guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani and Red Hot Chili Peppers stickman Chad Smith. They dubbed themselves Chickenfoot, and have since released two albums; the second of which is humorously titled Chickenfoot III. The four-piece unit is currently gearing up for the second leg of their U.S. tour in support of it.

Many hard rock fans also know of Michael’s extracurricular pursuits – hot rods, collecting Mickey Mouse watches, acquiring old unreleased and bootleg Van Halen tapes, and fiery foods. It’s that last passion that chileheads have taken an keen interest in.

At the most recent Houston Hot Sauce Festival, Puckerbutt Pepper Company owner Ed Currie had a small army of well-known chilehead folks sign several bottles of his I Dare You Stupit hot sauce.  Why? To raise money for the festival’s favorite charity, the Snowdrop Foundation, which funds research to eliminate childhood cancer and scholarships for college bound pediatric cancer patients and survivors.