Review - ChilliPepperPete's Naga Headhunter Red and Dragon's Blood Hot Sauces
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And now for some burn courtesy from across the Atlantic. Peter "ChilliPepperPete" Seymour has been turning some heads and setting mouths ablaze in the UK with his wildly hot sauces, chile peppers and snacks. I met up with Rose Seymour, ChilliPepperPete's daughter and buyer for his company, at the 2010 Fiery Foods Show in Albuquerque where she bestowed upon me a pair of incendiary products to try out. The first is the pineapple and jolokia-infused Naga Headhunter Red Sauce, a sweet but deadly hot elixir. The other is Dragon's Blood, which takes some of the same elements found in Headhunter Red and carries them to screaming heights of pain with (according to the ingredient list) two different kinds of capsicum extract, both dried and fresh nagas/jolokias, and the China-originating "Facing Heavens" peppers.
Naga Headhunter Red (left) and Dragon's Blood Hot Sauces
Naga Headhunter Red
Ingredients:
Pineapple, Onions, Vinegar, Naga Bih Jolokia, Red Bell Pepper, Sugar, Tomato, Garlic, Salt
This sauce smelled slightly fruity and onion-y but mostly softly bitter with the scent of vinegar, jolokia and salt. It's consistency was very thick, and color was a touch lighter and more of an orange/brown than a standard red naga bhut jolokia pod. Headhunter Red was fascinating to gaze upon with multi-color shreds of peppers and fruit.
Upon consuming a spoonful, the flavors that hit first were a sweet, fruity and vaguely pineapple with an onion and almost banana-like overtone. Tomatoes were there, too, but just barely. Seconds later the heat kicked in and proceeded to scorch the back of my throat with a respectable measure of jolokia fury.
The burn doesn't quite reach the summits achieved by extract sauces. Nonetheless, heat junkies would love the fire provided by Headhunter Red. The few of you who still think that a sauce like Tabasco adds heat to their food shouldn't even be bothering with this stuff.
I can say that while I liked the taste of Headhunter Red, I thought that it lacked harmoniousness among the ingredients. It's a like a force field holding in dozens of rapidly whirling and bouncing rubber balls; the sauce holds up enough for me to recommend it, yet "inside" the sauce the flavors are chaotic and all over the place. It's because of this that you're going to find difficulty pairing this with foods. You may just have to accept this on its own terms and use it as a dip or a condiment of some sort.
Overall: 3.0 out of 5. Heat: 4 out of 5.
Very similar, thick textures: Headhunter Red (left) and Dragon's Blood
Dragon's Blood
Ingredients:
Capsicum, Vinegar, Pineapple, Bih Jolokia (Dried), fresh stressed Naga Pods, facing heavens chillis, sugar, 6.4M SHU extract
Not to be confused with the American-originating Dragon's Blood Elixir that I had recently reviewed on camera, this of the same moniker is in a deeper, darker league meant to be treaded only by the truly brave or the certifiably insane (I reckon I fit into that later category). ChilliPepperPete's Dragon's Blood is an extract sauce meant to be cover the same territory inhabited by the likes of Blair's and CaJohn's. It boasts 6.4 million SHU extract among it's ingredients (although the sauce's overall Scoville count has been rated somewhere around 800,000 SHU, accordingly to CPP's website) and wasn't concocted to be a pleasant stroll in the park.
The aroma is like any typical sauce of its ilk - dominated by the bitter, chemical-like capsaicin - yet this isn't too terribly bad. Appearance-wise Dragon's Blood looks thick and rich, like a beautiful marinara sauce with chile seeds. One aspect that impressed me was its ability to hold together rather well without being shaken much. Other extract offerings separate too easily, where a lot of the oil will rise to the top. This didn't.
The taste is surprisingly tolerable (which is saying that it's pretty good for an extract sauce) and the chile peppers and pineapple are discernible in the mix. As expected, the heat will blow your socks off so this should only be used sparingly. Add it to an already-existing sauce or salsa for an extra furnace blast of fire.
Not much more can be said other than a reiteration of the fact one should expect extract sauces to taste nasty, but Dragon's Blood is one of the better ones I've encountered. For a quick thrill with your friends or as a capable additive, you could do far worse than this.
Overall: 2.5 out of 5. Heat: 5 out of 5.
Dabbing some good ol' American fried chicken tenders in the naga bhut jolokia and pineapple-based Headhunter Red hot sauce, where it fared decently.
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2010-05-26 16:46:41
2010-05-26 22:06:50
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