Taste review unknown Yellow Crazy Hot,

Now my friend Henry and his friend Beppe from Italy send me one load of chillies you would not believe! They selected the ones I needed to taste, although they have a lot more, they wanted me to taste these ones. So I dug in and as it appears, with the first bite I made a mistake.
Now excuse me please, but I did get a little excited unpacking, and got punished. I unpacked one, bright yellow and a little orange, not pointy but irregular in a funny way.

The paper next to it said Cornetto Calabrese, so not knowing it I was taking good care but took a rather large piece from in between the seed lists. I felt like a chilli rookie again, man that pepper had me sing. Good grief it was hot, but tasty never the less, but boy did I sing. So I asked Henry if they always are that hot. Well then I understood I need to learn to speak and write Italian. Who needs Latin?

So, I thought I’d better taste on, I will get it later. The scent of this chilli is great, perfumy chinense, with fruits and sweets. The chinense part that sometimes has an irritating overtone in both smell and taste is not there, it is in balance. So tasting again, but more, much more careful. Tastng and smelling I get a scent and taste from Tea Rose, perfume. In the middle there is no sweets, no paprika but fruits and a bit of metal like bleeding. You get that in times if you eat superhot chillies like these. Rinse with milk and get back at it, smaller bits I take. In the tip of it I find a bit of sweet and tastes like pineapple. A little piece from the middle does give me a bit of a bitter, but not irritating as such, and again the tea rose and the perfumy chinense. At the top however I get apricot and tea rose as well as some paprika taste. This is one weird lovable chilli that is extremely hot, far hotter than a Fatalii.

So again I have a chat with Henry from Italy, asking what it is. In the end I show him the picture and the label that I thought belonged together. “Ah” Henry says “that is a Bhut Jolokia Yellow, and the best he has selected over more than 10 years”. Every time he only takes seeds from the plant he likes best, and sure did one great job. This my good readers is one chilli to respect, not feared, but used in little bits if you don’t want to be scorched. But this is a chilli that makes me think of a great Chili con Carne, that is subtle on the herbs. Good grief Beppe, I am so digging in the next one tomorrow. Thank you ever soo much, this is a superhot chilli I love !!

Yours sincerely,

Bart J Meijer

Taste report Aribibi Gusano

This worm like chilli has been one of the oddest ones I have seen last year. I got this chilli from a friend of mine in Holland as a must taste chilli, and a must see chilli.
He said the tip of it one could eat without a problem getting the full array of tastes it has. Now that is a greatly said but hard to define thing, because how long is the tip of it? This chilli has no tip, but a sort of like butt if anything. Then again its creamy yellowy appearance does make me wonder how dangerous this could be. So I bit the first bit of the top off, and it was great and really a mouth full of tastes. My son had one to, and did the same, no burn. So we both looked like, well how hot can it be and took another bite. . . . . .

So, this Aribibi Gusano is an odd pepper or chilli, weirdest form, creamy white to yellowish like when it is ripe. More strange, it has a list of possible names about an arm long. Scientifically we are talking about the Capsicum chinense Jacquin cv. 'Aribibi Gusano' but it is also known as Aribibi, Aribibi Gusano, Aji Gusanito, Habanero Aribibi Gusano, Aribibi Gusanito, Caterpillar Pepper, Aribibi Caterpillar, Arivivi Gusano and last but not least Turtle Claw. Now this chilli is supposed to be a chinense, but is also called a Frutescens or a Frutescens / Chinense cross. Now, have I lost you? Well only good as that is how I felt after doing a bit of extra research.

Now to make some clear, chinense is a part of the Capsicum family right? So all chillies are from the Capsicum family, and all peppers are too. The Peppers are from the part of the family called Annuum, so are called Capsicum Annuum. For instance you have the Cayenne chilli, scientifically it should be called Capsicum annuum L. “Cayenne” This scientific stuff would not seem important and sounds like jibberish but it is important. Most people like Annuum chillies and they are among the most used ones in the western world. The Chinense chillies are the group of chillies that bring the hottest ones in the world and have a specific taste that you that you may or may not like. People also call it the Habañero taste, but that isn’t really true. My wife doesn’t like the chinense taste in superhots and does like Habañero, and she is picky. . .

Sorry, this was a taste report?

Well, after the first bite, the second bite is overpowering to say the least. It had me and my son running for the milk and peanut butter. This chilli is hot, 150 K scoville easy, but has a matching taste to come with it for sure. It is very perfumy and very rich in taste. If you cut one open and leave it for half an hour, you will smell it throughout the house. It has a lot citrus and sweet wood like a taste that makes you remind of vanilla. The undertone taste that is in the Chocolate Habañero that makes it lovely is the upper tone in the Aribibi Gusano. It is very strong with its Chinense taste and scent, which you will find in the super-hot chillies. This makes this chilli about the most perfect chilli for people that like the taste of the superhots but do not want to go superhot with their food. Due to its size you can dose it very well. I pop 2-3 Aribibi Gusano in 1.5 Kg of Chili con Carne, and 5 minutes later my neighbour calls me he smelled it and if he can have dinner with us! Yes, all in all a chilli that deserves to be in the top 10 for sure !! I do have seeds available, so you can try them too!

Yours sincerely,

Bart J. Meijer

Chocolate, me and chilli - Grimreapers Chilli Chocolate !

I am not really one for candy or sweets, in the sense like eating a bag in a day or a chocolate bar in a day. Sure I do eat a candy once in a blue moon, or a piece of chocolate if my wife puts in on the table. But really, I seldom see myself raiding the fridge for something sweet. One exception is drop; that is what is Dutch for Salty Liquorice (in North America called black Licorice), a candy made with salmiak and Liquorice root. Dear readers, you can say anything about that stuff, but it is wonderful. It has a nice balance between sweet and salt, and got an odd rich taste. I can eat a box a day easy, but I try not to. While writing this I just could not help myself, or did help myself with a good handful. Really if I would be send off to Alcatraz, I would take Sambal, a pen and some paper and a box full of Liquorice with me! Ok, where was I, sorry for rambling. . .

So, I am not one for candy, chocolate and so on. What made it worse I think is having kids. At times I get a so-called lovely sweet from the kids when they are sharing. Some of it is so sour it feels like my teeth are eaten, awful. And the stuff with chocolate, boy, everything seems to have chocolate in it. Crispy whatever chocolate things for breakfast, cookies with chocolate, even cruesli bars with chocolate.

Believe me, after weeks not being able to eat a cookie without chocolate, or breakfast without chocolate you get sick off the stuff . . . 

Worst of it all, it is a cheap excuse for a chocolate containing very little chocolate if at all. So I get this big box in from Grimreaper food UK, Russell Williams and guess what is in it? Chocolate. . . .

 But as this is work related, I will have to eat the stuff, thanks Russel.

I tasted the bar of Hellraiser, the milk chocolate version. But first, this is not simply chocolate in wrapper; no this is really nicely looking packet with a ribbon in it. A ribbon that my daughter fancies rightaway, and I do have to admit, this looks stunning! The kids wanted to dig in, and told them not to. They were a bit surprised and started protesting; “You don’t even like chocolate !!!” So I took a little myself to see if it wasn’t too hot first, and was stunned with the taste. This is one chocolate with a capital C! The taste is superb and extremely well balanced, I can even taste the liquorice tones that you have in the dried Naga Jolokia chilli which is used to spike this chocolate. I hoped that I did not spoil the surprise that it was one good chocolate, with the kids looking at me to try and see if I liked it. So I offered them a piece and told them to take care not to take a big bite at once. They both took a good bite, and even my wife wanted some. We all agreed it is superb, and the kids wanted more. . .

We compared it with another very good chocolate, and that really surprised us all, the Grimreaper chocolate is by far better in its chocolate contend and taste!

This chocolate has the classic combination of cinnamon and orange, with a twist of garlic that is hardly noticeable but complementary and the full taste of Naga chillies. Surprisingly you can taste the herbs and fruit tones that you can find in the real Naga Jolokia, unbelievable! I don’t think it is too hot really, no, it is well spiked with the full array of tastes the Naga has without going over the top.

Now my daughter wanted to make a video review for Grimreaper foods, and that was not done in one take. So after about 10 tries thus eating 10 pieces, it was on video. Half an hour later or less I got the buzz of eating Naga chillies, almost a high I would say, that I also got from eating a wild chilli from the Galapagos Islands. The video was received with great comments, and the chocolate was received by us with great joy!

This chocolate I think is one to recommend, not only for hotheads for sure. No, this is one I can recommend for anyone that wants to try something different, something new and great !

Yours sincerely,

Bart J. Meijer