Friday, March 18, 2022

Check Out These Spicy Foods You've Never Tried Before



Incorporating spicy foods into your diet can do more for you than give your taste buds a kick.

Spicy foods are often linked to antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Many can boost metabolism or have been linked to fighting things like Alzheimer’s and even cancer.

Eating spicy foods can also be fun – it’s not just about overdoing it on the black pepper or simply throwing chopped peppers into meals.

Take a chance on these spicy foods that you may not have heard of until now.


Photo by Alena Shekhovtcova from Pexels



Pepper Jelly

Pepper jelly is a great way to add spice, as it provides a combination of both sweet and hot.

Pepper jelly is a preserve made of peppers, sugar, and salt in a pectin or vinegar base.

The peppers used can be any kind: habanero, jalapeno, chipotle. They are combined with flavors like cherry, bacon, or bourbon to make a jelly that can be used for many things.

Pepper jelly goes well with cream cheese as a dip. You can also use it to glaze chicken or meatballs. Whish it into salad dressings or just slather it on toast – control how much heat you want with how much or little of it you use.


Hot Honey

Hot honey is easy to make at home, a honey infused with fresh or dried chili peppers. The balance of sweet and spicy can be used on anything from cheese and meats to dessert.

It’s a must-have over chicken and waffles, or added to fruit and yogurt.


Papa a la Huancaína

This Peruvian dish is deceiving as it looks incredibly bland upon first view. It’s boiled yellow potatoes covered with a creamy yellow sauce, accompanied by hard-boiled eggs and black olives.

The kicker is in that golden sauce, which contains the Peruvian yellow chili pepper, or aji Amarillo. This pepper registers 30,000 to 50,000 on the Scoville Heat Unit scale.

It’s unique, because it also has hints of passion fruit and mango, making for a unique twist to any dish.


Sriracha Butter

Another easy condiment to make at home, sriracha butter kicks any dish that usually utilizes butter up more than one notch.

This is a fun addition to grilled cheese or spaghetti.

Simply mix together one cup of softened butter and one-quarter cup of sriracha – or more, if you’re feeling adventurous.

Piri Piri Chicken

This Portuguese dish is a classic, grilled and charred whole chicken pieces covered in a chili-based sauce. This piri piri sauce can be used on many things, but chicken is widely favored.

The chili used to achieve the sauce is the African Bird’s Eye Chili, which ranks 50,000 to 100,000 on the Scoville Heat Unit scale.

Piri piri literally translates to “pepper pepper” in Swahili.

Harissa

Harissa is a bright red paste that hails from North Africa and the Middle East, and is a foundational building block of many spicy dishes.

It’s made from dried chiles that are blended with olive oil, toasted spices, and sometimes garlic or citrus.

You can mix harissa into burger meat, salad dressing, or hummus, and use it on pasta, yogurt, or chicken wings.

18 comments:

  1. Interesting food, the piri piri sounds yummy and haven't tried it before. Thank you for sharing!

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  2. Never knew about that hot honey. Would be looking out for that to try. Good list!

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  3. I’m a wimp at spice! I’ve never heard of hot honey, it sounds really interesting to try.

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  4. I'd give these a try. I have always enjoyed spicy foods.

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  5. These all sound great. I love spicy food, and I've actually had pepper jelly. I'd love to try the rest.

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  6. I love many of these products. Harissa is my favorite to use in hummus.

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  7. I love spicy foods so this post is amazing to me, haha! I love pepper jelly but I've never heard of a lot of these.

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  8. We love Popper jelly! A convo at our house today was over my Mexican stew. It was HOT!! I was so excited to read the health component of your article to my husband!! 😉

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  9. Wow, im such a fan of spicy food. I will surely try these. I will start with Piri Piri Chicken

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  10. I always have loved spicy foods but since I have gotten older? Spicy foods no longer love me. Which makes me sad.

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  11. I’ve actually tried hot honey, and it was pretty tasty.

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  12. I’ve actually tried hot honey, and it was pretty tasty.

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  13. I’ve tried honey hot sauce, and it was pretty tasty.

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  14. Wow, these are so interesting! I'm only familiar with plain Sriracha sauce but didn't know that you can make a a butter out of it.

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  15. I'm familiar with harissa and sriracha butter, and I'll have to try the others.

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  16. I am a huge hot honey fan and sriracha. I eat sriracha every day on my eggs. Yumm.

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  17. These foods are perfect for my husband. He loves extra hot foods!

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  18. I do enjoy spicy foods, and these would be fun to try. It is nice to try out some different products.

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