Seven Pot Supernova

Hello again everyone and welcome to the third of my Burning Desire Foods reviews. Reviews of a brand I found ahead of time and merely met up with in person at Reading.

Today’s, however, is a little bit special because it’s actually a request. One that came to me from an online card gaming buddy under the username MeowMeowCat. Or, as he’s more recently started calling himself, “Solaris”.

When I let slip that I was looking at a sauce with his new name on it, he absolutely had to know how hot he was.

Me, though, I’m more interested in the flavour. The blend of honey, mustard, 7-pot/pod peppers and lime.

But, before we get to either, let’s talk a little about the packaging.

It’s a bit busier than their last label but its blacker background really makes its gold text and fiery heart logo pop, while also serving as the cold backdrop of space.

Because the sauce’s main image, even if it’s not as attention grabbing as that logo, is what appears to be a supernova. A metallic, golden star exploding diagonally across the bottle, amidst the orange glow of its superheated gas and dust cloud.

Which isn’t as scientifically accurate as the previous item I shared from them. Supernovas tend to be a lot hotter than orange – Either blue or purple – but it does fit a lot better with the rest of the bottle, sauce included, with this colour scheme.

And it doesn’t say a lot about the contents with its visuals but they definitely fit its stellar theming and look pretty spectacular all the same. As before, photos don’t really do justice to a metallic label.

But they can, at least, show you what the sauce looks like on a spoon:

Somewhere between a yellow and a golden brown, with whole seeds and small shreds of pepper alongside tiny specks of red oil strewn throughout. Oil that is, I’m sorry to say, entirely absent from its mouth feel.

It hasn’t been blended in here. It’s not giving us the smooth, creamy emulsion that we saw in East Coast Chilli Co’s best seller but it is giving us something – Information.

It tells us, before we even try the sauce, that something in here is red. And, judging by the ingredients list, it can only be the chilli:

Yellow Peppers, Onion, Cider Vinegar, 7 Pot Scorpion Chillies, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Lime Juice, Garlic, Mustard (Water, Mustard Seeds, Vinegar, Salt), Sussex Honey, Citric Acid & Sea Salt.

Nothing else in there would colour the oil so.

As for what type of chilli it actually is, that’s a little unclear. “7 Pot Scorpion” could refer to a number of things, not least of all the trinidad scorpion butch t strain, but, fortunately, I thought to ask about it when I was speaking to the company owner.

It’s the 7-pot/pod jonah. A particularly fruity superhot from the 7-pot/pod family that bears a strong likeness to the scorpion family in its appearance. Any actual relation is, so far as I’m aware, pure speculation, but it does seem highly probable.

I’d not tried this chilli before so I was quite interested in seeing what it brought to Burning Desire’s Solaris but, when I tried that spoonful, all I got of it was its burn. A high

7.5/10

Heat

across the back of the roof of my mouth.

It’s no first ingredient scorpion or reaper sauce but it’s still no slouch by any means. Definitely one for serious heat seakers.

Flavour-wise, though, it’s more gentle. Yellow pepper combined with garlic, lime and just a touch of mustard. Its bell base is by far its most prominent feature but that savoury garlic tone and the small touch of tart, fruity acidity build upon it nicely.

It’s an ok sauce but nothing special. Or, at least, it wasn’t.

But then I tried it on food.

For whatever reason, pairing it with a nice hot meal really brings out the exquisite blend of orangey scorpion fruitiness and berry-like 7-pot/pod fruitiness from its chilli, and the honeyed mustard becomes just a little more prominent, too.

Both of these sweetish flavours pair beautifully with its savoury, slightly acidic and very much yellow pepper base and the whole thing becomes a stunning addition to cheese, ham and strong-flavoured fish dishes.

Solaris may not seem so great on his own but he makes for some of the best toasties and panini melts that I’ve ever had!