Prototype Club Box 07

This is part of a series of posts covering the contents of each Prototype Club box dating back to November 2022. An overview of the thinking and circumstances around each prototype hot sauce.

SASKATOON BRAINSTRAIN

Sounds like a tremendous power metal band from the 80’s. Or a weird off-grid creepy horror film. The truth is much more exciting.

We were given a load of saskatoon berries a while ago and we weren’t sure what to do with them. So we thought we’d introduce them to mangoes and blackberries. Punch up their almond vibes with much more fruitiness…

And we enjoyed that.

Then we remembered we had a stash of UK grown 7 Pot Brainstrain chillies in our freezer. Memories returned to that moment on Insta all those years ago when Mark ate one of those and had a realisation. There may well be hotter peppers out there. Nothing, and we do mean NOTHING has ended him quite as quickly as that brainstrain did.

So we threw them all in there on top of a foolishly large bed of red habaneros. Just so there’s no escape.

And we sent you on a wild ride.

Heat: 4/5

HOT CURRY KETCHUP

It’s one of those things we’ve been trying to make for years. At one stage HET SASS: Curry was a kitchen experiment, but it never quite came together the way we wanted it. We’ve fixed that now.

This came down to a few things. Learning how to properly cook onions. Nigella seeds. We’ve been experimenting with them for something else but they shone in this sauce. Finding the right garam masala and learning how to treat it right so it doesn’t go sour or too bitter in the cook. Then we got a bit inventive with sweetening it. We used date syrup for this. It was a joyous, gloopy, jet black experience and it tastes phenomenal as part of the hot curry ketchup.

And it is a ketchup. Even though it’s never seen a tomato. Deal with it.

You know where this one has to go. On hot dogs, burgers, chips and indeed, all your potatoes and sandwiches. But that’s not all. Know when you come home after a night out and you’d love a curry with some naan or a chapatti? Well if you’ve got the bread (even pitta), this sauce will scratch the itch.

This might be the greatest thing we’ve ever made.

Heat: 2/5

WE PROMISE YOU LIKE CARROTS

“A hot sauce made out of carrots?” — That was the reaction when we first did such a thing…back in 2018. Not everyone was convinced. Those brave enough to actually taste it, told us good things about it. Indeed, it went on to form a bit of a cult following. That was “Habaneros & Carrots”. We got nothing but abuse, sadness and perpetually asked “but why?” When we stopped making it.

We always thought it felt a bit unfinished and until we figured out how to complete it, we pulled it from our range.

But here is an iteration in prototype club. We gave it a ton of influence from Jamaican “carrot juice” and then we did our thing withthe heat. Smash this on salads, get it in soups, use it as a dip. Just get it in your face however you like. If fish is your thing, try some with lightly smoked haddock in a fish taco.

Oh and the carrots? They come right out of the ground less than 20 mins away from our lab. They’re the star of the show here.

Heat: 3/5