The Official Scott Roberts Web Site

Review - Crazy Uncle Jester's AfterBurner Sauce Redux

scott@scottrobertsweb.com (Scott Roberts) — 2010-09-03 22:24:25

Some of you who closely follow the major hot sauce blogs know that I've had a dislike for Crazy Uncle Jester's AfterBurner Sauce, a spicy chocolate-flavored dessert topper that's similar to Hersey's Syrup but with a scorching chile-induced kick. Many of my fellow spicy food bloggers on The Hot Zone Online (not once but twice), Peppers and More and Taste the Fear absolutely raved about it, and the product was a 2009 Scovie Award Winner, a 2010 Golden Chile Award Winner, an Every Day with Rachael Ray Magazine's Big Bite: Hot Sauce Award Winner, and a Seriouseats.com's Editors Choice award winner.

I felt like the lone wolf by voicing my displeasure of AfterBurner. So what about this product turned me off? It was primarily an unflaggingly nasty, chemical-like flavor that dominated any sign of a delicious chocolate taste. To me it wasn't exactly like the bitter quality of a pepper extract, but it was still very off-putting with a nefarious odor to match. Last but not least, I found AfterBurner's consistency and appearance to be like a runny brown paint - not exactly appealing in my eyes as I would have preferred a lower viscosity liquid....
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Are Chile Peppers Linked to Skin Cancer?

scott@scottrobertsweb.com (Scott Roberts) — 2010-09-03 09:00:00

Times of India website:

"A new study has linked capsaicin, a component of chili peppers, to skin cancer.

Capsaicin, widely consumed worldwide in foods that contain chili peppers, is also used in topical creams for pain relief and its role in cancer development is controversial.

Capsaicin has been shown to induce apoptosis (cell death) in cancer cells. However, research findings have also shown that it can also act as a carcinogen, especially at...

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Directory of Brick-and-Mortar Hot Sauce Shops Being Built

scott@scottrobertsweb.com (Scott Roberts) — 2010-09-02 11:30:17

There's a new online resource that's being constructed as a solution to both of the above situations. It's called HotSauceStores.com, and its aim is to be the essential directory of brick-and-mortar hot sauce shops across the United States. It is planned to have a state-by-state listing of shops, as well as a searchable map that will display the nearest hot sauce selling locations to what a customer types in... ]]>Copyright 2010 ScottRobertsWeb.com.

Weekly Firecast Episode 5 - CaJohns Oaxacan Hot Sauce and Scott's Favorite Seasoning and Spice Combinations

scott@scottrobertsweb.com (Scott Roberts) — 2010-08-31 10:30:00

Subscribe to the Weekly Firecast RSS Feed to see new episodes as they're posted!

In the first segment, my friend John Nemec and I visit a local Chipotle restaurant to tackle CaJohns Oaxacan Hot Sauce on some soft tacos and a burrito. I've eaten the taco-style sauce numerous times in the past but this was Jo...
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Mega Spicy Weekend: Hatch Chile Festival and National Buffalo Wing Festival

scott@scottrobertsweb.com (Scott Roberts) — 2010-08-30 21:09:44

With a dual set of events in the East and in the West, this may be the biggest spicy food lovers weekend of the year in the United States. Both the Hatch Valley Chile Festival and the National Buffalo Wing Festival will simultaneously occur this coming September 4th and 5th, 2010. If you reside in close proximity to either one, be sure to make plans to attend one of these gargantuan celebrations.

Hatch Chile Festival
The legendary Hatch Valley Chile Festival 2010 which will be situated outside the tiny town of Hatch, New Mexico. An expected 30,000 hardcore chilehead fanatics will congregate in numerous activities including a parade, a chili cook-off, chile roasting, chile pod competition, carnival rides and contests galore, plus great...
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FireTalkers: Interview with Doehne Duckworth of Deano's Jalapenos

scott@scottrobertsweb.com (Scott Roberts) — 2010-08-28 23:00:00

Deano's Jalapeños Cheddar Jalapeño Chips. One taste of them and I know they were something special. Produced under the banner of the Ranch Camp Chip Company, owner Doehne "Deano" Duckworth developed these unique snacks at The Cactus Caf�, his restaurant in Stowe, Vermont. With a couple of hot sauce trade shows under his belt, as well as distribution of his snack chips to over 30 specialty food locations, Doehne is in position to explode in the fiery foods world.

Although these products were available in 2009, Deano's Jalapeños are an easy contender for my product of the year for 2010. And in addition to the Cheddar flavor, Deano's Jalapeños are now available in Ranch with Habanero chips on the way, as well as other possible versions and concepts that Doehne mentions below.

I'm predicting a big and bright future for Doehne and his innovative snacks, so when I was recently given the opportunity to interview Doehne I jumped at the chance...

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Review - Chile Boys Mango Chile Jam

scott@scottrobertsweb.com (Scott Roberts) — 2010-08-27 22:12:23

Back? Good. See what I mean? And even if you happened to have picked up a middle-of-the-road chile jam, chances are it was still okay.

Next up at the review table is Chile Boys Mango Chile Jam, made by a New Mexico outfit with roots in chile pepper agriculture dating back over 40 years. Jacob Gutierrez, owner of Chile Boys, had submitted a jar of the Mango Chile Jam to get my take on it.

It is proclaimed on the label, "Jam with a Kick! 100% Real Fruit. No Artificial Sweetners, Colors or Flavors". I'm no food snob who poo-poos chemicals and mass-produced products, but it's hard to go wrong with Chile Boys' "homestyle" process. The question is, does this jam have what it takes to stand apart from the rest? Read on to find out...]]>Copyright 2010 ScottRobertsWeb.com.

Austin Hot Sauce Festival This Weekend

scott@scottrobertsweb.com (Scott Roberts) — 2010-08-26 21:52:17

It's the 20th Annual Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival, being held at Waterloo Park, in Austin, Texas, this Sunday, August 29th from 11:00 am to 5:30 pm. Even though I've never personally attended the Austin show (I swear it's on my to-do list!), from all accounts I've heard it's a great time.

If you reside anywhere in central Texas and love the spice, make it a point to travel to Austin and check this show out. Admission is free, but you are asked to bring three non-perishable food items (as a donation to Capital Area Food Bank [CAFB]) when you walk in.

New 2010 Chilehead T-Shirt Designs Coming Soon!

scott@scottrobertsweb.com (Scott Roberts) — 2010-08-25 20:39:52

If you haven't picked up one of the 2009 designs shown above, the by all means grab one now!

I'm also proud to announce that a new line of new 2010 t-shirts will be joining the previous ones in just a few short weeks at the Chilehead Tees store. I'm sure there will be something sweet for you or the hot sauce fanatic or the pepper lover in your life. Even if you don't get one of these so-awesome-it's-ridiculous t-shirts, there are aprons, mugs, bags, and more for a smaller budget! Get 'em while they're hot!

Link: http://www.chileheadtees.com/

Review - Rippin Red Hot and Original Wing Sauces

scott@scottrobertsweb.com (Scott Roberts) — 2010-08-24 06:00:00

Rippin' Red Original and Hot Wing Sauces in search for buffalo wing nirvana. Produced by Rizzotti Foods LLC, the Rippin' Red line was created in hopes to break out in an overpopulated wing sauce market. Is it capable of doing the job? Read on to see...

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Chile Letter From the UK - August 2010

scott@scottrobertsweb.com (Scott Roberts) — 2010-08-23 08:00:00

ChileFoundry HQ to taste, so please enjoy our review of the past 30 day in the UK.

Events and Visits In the past month we have the biggest UK Chilli Event at West Dean, and you can see a photo review of the event at http://www.chilefoundry.co.uk/2010/08/09/images-from-west-dean-chilli-fiesta-2010/. Coming later we have a number of video interviews and a walk around West Dean video that are just waiting to be edited together.

The West Dean Chilli Fiesta had over 19K visitors this year and was extended to 3 days and with over 150 stalls; it is showing how fast the UK chilli market is growing...

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New Product Review Rating System

scott@scottrobertsweb.com (Scott Roberts) — 2010-08-22 13:21:39

ILoveItSpicy.com and PeppersandMore.com in adhering to a universal grading scale for product reviews.

Each website will still review items as they see fit, with their own style and method that they had used before. The reviewers will still analyze the sauce, salsa, condiment, seasoning, or snack and give the any positives and negatives the product may have, and will have their own way of measuring aroma, appearance and texture, heat, packaging, etc., if they so desire to do so.

But when it comes to one final, overall score, each participating blog will use the following scale. The blogs will use whatever symbols in place of where I use stars, but the numbers that they represent from 1/2 all the way up to 5 will mean exactly the same...
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Weekly Firecast Episode #4 - Weekend of Fire Report and BBQ Pitmasters Review

scott@scottrobertsweb.com (Scott Roberts) — 2010-08-21 12:44:03

The Weekly Firecast is back with a vengence! This is installment, I report back from the recent Weekend of Fire Hot Sauce Show in the Cincinnati suburb of Fairfield, Ohio. I also give my thoughts on the first episode of BBQ Pitmasters Season Two, with it's revamped format.
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The Burn Buzz - Spicy Food News 8/19/10

scott@scottrobertsweb.com (Scott Roberts) — 2010-08-19 12:00:00

Happy National Hot and Spicy Food Day to everyone!

The following is the latest batch of hot n' interesting links about spicy food, hot sauce and chile peppers that have been floating around on the intertubes lately...

Subway Launches Turkey Jalepeno Melt

Scoville scale a 10 with pepper lovers

6 Ways to Build Your Spicy Food Tolerance...

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Winners in the Newsletter Subscriber Contest

scott@scottrobertsweb.com (Scott Roberts) — 2010-08-18 23:00:00

Newsletter Subscriber Contest!

As much as I would have liked to do a drawing of a name on video like I've done in the past, there are simply too many names on the e-mail newsletter to print and cut out.

So what I've done is taken an Excel spreadsheet of the subscribers, placed an incremental ID number by each person, and used Random.org to choose the random numbers for the winners.