Review - Captain Thom's Ghost Pepper Chocolate
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One of my true favorites in the fiery foods industry is Captain Thom Edwards of Captain Thom's Chili Pepper Company. He has a full lineup of amazing sauces and seasonings that would please most any foodie who like things on the spicy or grilling side of the proverbial tracks. A few of his products - most notably Thai Monkey sauce (in my humble opinion, a slam dunk blend of Thai/teriyaki/peanuts/wasabi/hot sauce that should be on EVERY chilehead's shelf), Slappin' Fat Bacon Ketchup and White Zombie Hot Sauce - are absolute winners.
I'm happy to give this exclusive first look at Captain Thom's Ghost Pepper Chocolate, a spicy candy bark he will be debuting for sale at the 2012 Fiery Foods and BBQ Show in Albuquerque a mere couple weeks from now. I'm pleased as punch that it's a product that belongs among the good Captain's top tier items in my estimation. It's that good.
Captain Thom already has two things going for him before I even took a bite of this spicy confection.
One, it's made with dark chocolate. Yes! I am not a fan of regular milk chocolate at all. To me, milk chocolate is much too rich, sugary and sweet for my liking. I love dark chocolate, for it usually provides just enough of a touch of sweetness while allowing the natural cocoa tones to shine through.
Two, I adore the winning combination of "sweet and heat". I'm an evangelist for any movement that helps bring about any sweet sauces, syrups, snacks and confections that meld with the beautiful burn of chile peppers.
So after examining the package, I notice that Captain Thom's is using the services of Parfections LLC, a Maryland-based chocolatier, to make his Ghost Pepper Chocolate pieces. I took a gander at their website and I'm definitely interested in seeing what else they have to offer. But back to Captain Thom's wonderful product.
The ingredients list is simple: Dark Chocolate, Ghost Peppers, Mango, Pineapple and Toasted Coconut. The dark chocolate used is not broken down into individual components the way it probably should. And...uh-oh...toasted coconut. I don't care much for coconut at all (even in candied vehicles such as Almond Joy and Mounds bars), and was concerned that this might tarnish my thoughts on the overall taste.
Captain Thom's Ghost Pepper Chocolate is essentially a larger flat chocolate slab broken into irregular-sized pieces and packaged simply in plastic. When the pieces are taken out, you get a good sense of what it looks like and what you're in store for.
There's the base of dark chocolate covered in small shreds of toasted coconut that almost look like finely-diced peanuts. Huge dehydrated chunks of mango and pineapple (two fruits that often go well in a fruit-based hot sauce) are scattered about the surfaced. Even with my reservations about the toasted coconut, it looked delicious. It was time to dive in!
Sinking my teeth into it, I noticed that the chocolate itself was relatively soft. It wasn't overly mushy nor did it have the texture or "give" of fudge, but it certainly wasn't typical of a cold, hard, brittle piece of dark chocolate. I liked this aspect.
The flavor of the chocolate itself was a tad less bitter than expected, possessing surprising smoothness coupled with a little milkiness and richness without crossing over into that dreaded, sickening-sweet, pure milk chocolate territory. was it like semi-sweet chocolate? Well, sort of, in my opinion. Perhaps it was the coconut and the fruit steering the taste in that direction.
The dried bits of pineapple and mango add a nice chewy texture and light flavor, providing a perfect complimentary ratio.
You may ask, how's the burn? Within two seconds after putting this delight into your mouth, you'll feel a medium burst of heat that slowly ramps up are you take subsequent bites. By the time you consume half the package, a small but lovely bhut jolokia brush fire will engulf your tongue. Captain Thom's Ghost Pepper Chocolate may be a bit too fiery for milder mouths, but chileheads will feel right at home.
Overall:
What else can I say? I didn't want to stop eating this! This gets a very big thumbs up from me.
Like I said, this will begin to be on sale at the upcoming Fiery Foods Show in Albuquerque on March 2-4, 2012. Therefore if you plan to attend, get to Captain Thom's booth early before he sells out!
To see Captain Thom's other products, go to http://www.captainthoms.com.
Related Articles:
Spicy Food Reviews - Hot Sauce Reviews, Hot Snacks, Hot Wings, Seasonings, BBQ Sauces, Condiments, and More
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