COOL CHILE COMPANY

I've come across the Cool Chile Company before, as I was given a jar of their Chipotle in Adobo sauce for my birthday, but last weekend I was lucky enough to meet the ladies who run the company and get more of an insight into what they do, and their excellent products. Whilst working for the boy at Vegfest, Olympia, our stall was opposite the Cool Chile Co, and when they presented me with all their samples from the weekend to take home I was so excited about getting in the kitchen and having a go with them! 

The first thing I tried was the Tomatillo salsa (made from small, green, sour tomatoes) - mixed with mashed avocado and a squeeze of lime, as recommended on the jar. If you ever want a quick dip to eat with flatbreads or crisps, then I really recommend this. It was so good. The creamy avocado is cut by the tang of the salsa and sharpness from the lime. I nearly polished off the whole jar! The salsa/avocado mix would also be brilliant with fajitas or tacos.

The Cool Chile Company are based in London and import all sorts of delicious chillies, herbs, chocolates and spices from Mexico that they then sell on. In my box of goodies I also got Chipotle chillies - dried and powdered, which have a smokey tobacco flavour, ancho chilli (tobacco and dried fruit, and used to make mole sauce), habanero chilli (fiery with a tropical fruit flavour), chilli de arbol (hot with a grassy essence), pasilla (herbaceous and fruity), some Mexican herbs and powdered smoked paprika. It really is amazing how different all the varieties of chilli smell and taste.

I used the chipotle and ancho chilli to spice up some cherry tomato chutney I made, grinding them up in the pestle and mortar with the rest of the herbs I was using... Recipe for this coming soon!

I then used some of the chilli de arbol, and the pasilla chilli, along with Mexican oregano, to liven up a week night chicken tray bake. The chillies were excellent with the chicken and potatoes, giving what was quite a straightforward dish a really good kick.

Cool Chile products range from less than £3 to £4.20 for the 40-60g pots of chilli and come whole, diced or powdered. They are fairly substantial tins so should keep you going for a while. Cool Chile also sell corn tortillas that are made at their factory in England, as well as black beans, turtle beans, chile con carne packs, hibiscus flowers, vanilla pods, and lots of other Mexican goodies.

You can order their products online - http://www.coolchile.co.uk/ and they deliver throughout Europe. They are also stocked in Wholefoods and various other independent food stores.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on all these samples, but when they run out, I will definitely be ordering more from their website.