[CH] Calvins Powder and other random comments
Susan Callaghan TRsales-SA (scallagh@madge.co.za)
Wed, 4 Feb 1998 11:58:18 +0100
Hi all,
Gee I love this list. It's like being a member of an exclusive worldwide
brotherhood. A while ago I sent seed to a few folks in the States and
Europe and have received seed and a few other goodies in return from
those kind and generous members. I sent Calvin an email offering to test
his powder and deliver a South Africans opinion and before I knew it a
little baggie had arrived in the post. (Lucky me!)
Anyway to comment on the powder... My husband collected the post
yesterday evening on his way to his favourite local for a pint or two. He
mentioned the arrival of the sample to his mates in the pub and needless
to say a few CHs emerged from the woodwork and asked to taste the blend.
Apparently the general consensus was that it is "quite mild" apart from
one fellow who claims to be a chili aficionado who said that it was "very
hot". Anyway, I got home from work some time later to find him in the
middle of making a beef stir-fry supper. I grabbed the bag and stuck my
finger into it and licked it as an initial test. (This seems to be the
accepted method on the list!) Hubby told me about the comments from the
pub and my first impression was also that it's quite mild, so I put about
1 teaspoon of it into the stir-fry. A few minutes after my finger test
however, my lips started to glow and stayed that way till supper. After
supper we both had a fairly strong front of mouth and lip burn and the
stir fry definitely didn't taste mild! I felt that there was a good
flavour, but miss the back of mouth and throat glow - maybe the addition
of some dried habs would solve this problem. Also I found the colour
misleading. The distinctly yellow shade reminded me of some of the
ghastly mild curry powders on the market here (mostly tumeric). Maybe a
few more red chiles to lift the colour. But all in all a very pleasant
blend and far nicer than the commercial chile powders on the market here
in SA. I intend to use the rest of the sample as inventively as I can and
if I have any stunning culinary revelations, I'll share them with the
list.
Calvin, I hope that you get the red tape and other hassles out of the way
and are able to market this superior blend successfully. Thanks for
including me in your test.
Cheers
Sue (in SA waiting for those darn chiles to ripen)