Rudy Reviews is back with an offbeat review today. Why is this offbeat you may be asking, well today I’m reporting on a non-sauce review. Today I’ll be looking at almonds from Chile Spot. The Chile Spot is the creation of a gentleman named Jeff Porter from Downingtown, Pennsylvania. Jeff established his company in 2005 but his love for everything spicy began long before that while living in the finger lakes area of the state of New York. Jeff started out creating wing rubs and sauces as well as other sauces. He teamed up with fellow chileheads in the area and with some convincing, Jeff decided to take his passion to the next level.
The Chile Spot totes an impressive line of products which include: relish, hot sauce, jam, jelly, caramel corn among a variety of other items. Jeff gave me a little bit of a teaser in that he’s in the process of creating a whole milk cheddar cheese that has Moruga Scorpion in it. The Chile Spot will be at the New York City Hot Sauce Expo in April selling their products. Today I will be sampling their Ghost Pepper Honey Roasted Almonds.
Ingredients
Almonds, Honey, Turbinado Sugar, Pepper (Ghost, Red & Cayenne) Kosher Salt
Aroma
Removing the seal and cracking the lid of the plastic tub I caught a strong almond and honey aroma. I can’t smell any sugar or the ghost or cayenne pepper, it’s mostly honey to be honest.
Appearance and Texture
There are times where I wish that I had a macro lens so I could produce some nice up close exposures. These almonds have a nice gloss to them which is because of the honey and also have a a nice little dusting of sugar coated on them. There is also pieces of pepper and pepper seeds, not too much but they are present.
Taste Straight Up
3.5 out of 5. The almond itself is very fresh. I thought initially that these were going to be overly sweet and sugary but they are not. The sweetness is complemented nicely by the peppers which add a sharp bite to them. The Chile Spot Ghost Honey Roasted Almonds aren’t sugary at all, the sugar adds a nice subtle depth of sweetness to the rich honey taste.
Taste On Food
4 out of 5. I decided to have these almonds on a light side salad to a turkey pesto sandwich. The textural difference between the strawberry and almond made this a delightful bite. The sweetness and heat complemented the tangy dressing that I used (not pictured). I could see these almonds being a nice addition to a stir fry or even on a pizza for a contrast of texture.
Heat
2 out of 5. A nice medium burn is what I’m experiencing with these. The taste of the ghost pepper is there and the heat isn’t overwhelming by any means which is nice. These are a sweet heat almond and the level of heat present is just enough to make them real enjoyable.
Overall
I liked these quite a bit. I haven’t concerned myself with spicy almonds or other nuts really because I mostly enjoy hot sauce and powders but these are good. I’m going to blend some of these down into a butter and have a almond and jam sandwich. I could also see these being delightful in a trail mix or just by themselves as a quick snack. If you’re a spicy nut fan then I’d highly recommend these to you. They aren’t blisteringly hot but they are damn tasty and will satisfy not only your sweet tooth but your need to a little heat as well. I’ll provide a link to Jeff’s website below. Thank you for reading and stay on the spicy side of life, it’s more fun that way. Have a lovely day and thank you for reading.
I tried these almonds from Jeff…and they are very good. Nice review Rudy!