We have been hard at work these past couple days. Super Sauced already has 3 amazing sauces under its belt but we thought we should give you a little extra.
Here is a sneak peak of the new products we have been working on
Chilli Paste
Have you ever had a burger or boerewors roll and just ate it because you’re hungry? The whole time you’re thinking that something is missing. Well we are working on this amazing chilli paste that we want to debut. We have had it on nearly everything but we are just tweaking the recipe a little. It has a hint of cumin and is made with the best Thai chillies you can imagine.
2. Chilli Relish
Freshness is the name of the game with this relish. There’s nothing else we can say to describe it, except freshness. It’s like you’re taking a bite of fresh chilli infused with tangy, crunchy, and yes you named it, freshness. We say throw some of this relish on a green salad for that extra kick or on a perfectly poached egg for that morning wake up call.
3. Chilli Jam
Where do I start with one? We found the ripest red flesh plums and harnessed their grape-like fruity sweetness, mixed it with Thai chilli and herbs to create a royal purple jam with excellent consistency and killer taste. Yes, that was very descriptive but you’ll understand once you spread this jam on a fresh roll, add some mayo and some chicken strips and BOOM, perfection.
We are having so much fun making chilli magic and can’t wait to share it with you. Look out for our updates for these delicious new products…
Iâve been putting this on everything. Eggs, steak, sandwiches, you name it. Pretty much anything savoury. The best thing about this recipe is that you probably have all the ingredients in your fridge right now.
#Ingredients
-4 chillies of your choice (I used Serrano)- pickled or fresh -1 medium sized onion -2 cloves of garlic -2 tablespoon vinegar -1/3 red pepper -3 red cocktail tomatoes
#Method
I used a chop chop but you can use a blender. Put altogether and blend!
Before I start the story behind this meal, I have to get the pronunciation of this word out the way.
You order it at a restaurant and the waitress is like: âwhat? You mean ja-la-pe-noâ and Iâm like: âno, itâs ha-la-pe-noâ I would like to say that a real Spanish speaking Mexican confirmed it so do not call it the former!
Breakfasts set the tone for the day so I do like to step it up when I have the time. Inspired by a restaurant meal where they underwhelmed this element, I, in true LadyVera fashion, decided to recreate the meal because I do happen to own a sauce company so thereâs always an abundance of chillies just like pickled jalapeño.
If your mind canât stay off it and itâs the only thing that excites you, take what you have and go for it.
Regret is for all the things we never attempted.
We as humans all have superpowers. One of them is that gut feeling you get when something does not sit well with you. It is something you have to tend to otherwise it will just fester and grow into unending anxiety. This is how the working world felt to me. It would always serve my most basic needs but something would always be missing. So, in 2016 I set up my marketing consultancy from home which gave me something that a job could not. I finally had that extra time to find out what excites me and how I could make it into a career. I like to say that Super Sauced just happened, however, it did take one powerful recipe and spoiled surprise to get me excited about it.
At the end of 2018, my husband was turning 30 and I wanted to throw him a small gathering. My plan was to give out an inexpensive but amazing party favour to friends and family who came to the birthday braai. Consulting wasnât the most fruitful venture at that time so I used to my growing food knowledge, combined it with very few ingredients, and made the batch of favours which were sauces. I stored it in the back of my fridge so my he wouldnât see but I didnât take into consideration that I couldnât be on fridge watch 24/7. He found the sauce, put it all over his food and when I got home, he raved about it and I had to spill the beans. Instead of giving it out, I decided to bottle it up and sell it at markets. Every weekend from then on was dedicated to my sauces. On Fridayâs I would make it, Saturday bottle it and Sunday sell it. Judging from that feedback I knew I wanted to focus more on Super Sauced.
From juggling motherhood and my consulting, Super Sauced had taken a back seat until now. I have been working on the branding and certifications. Since receiving interest from sample drop-offs that I conducted at the beginning of 2020, Super Sauced has taken more of time which aligns with my passion too.
Our slogan is and will always be, âThereâs nothing in our bottles you canât pronounceâ. I love that my products have very little additives to make them taste great. We tend to focus on whatâs delicious and health is sometimes an afterthought. I do feel like Iâve hit the nail on the head with flavour and health mixed into one. Super Sauced is a brand of homemade chilli pepper sauces and condiments. The ingredients are freshly sourced from the best local suppliers and made with little or no artificial preservatives. Super Sauced products are also made with little salt and sugar and the best care is taken to ensure that each product is freshly made.
All our products are: oil & thickener free, not made with emulsifier, flavourant & colourant free, vegan and halaal friendly.
Currently, you can interact with the brand on social media channels for orders. Weâre upping our website game as you read this and will soon be able to order from www.supersauced.co.za as well as get some really cool recipes that compliment Super Sauced products.
I referred to our superpowers at the beginning of this article. Use that gut feeling as a guide. Starting your own thing is not easy, especially when it is a side hustle. If your mind canât stay off it and itâs the only thing that excites you, take what you have and go for it. Regret is for all the things we never attempted. Only lessons can come from failure. We owe it to ourselves and our future generations to strike while we still have the energy to.
– Vera Khumalo-Gildenhuys (Founder of Super Sauced & Marketing Manager)
If you love to cook with a little heat then read on because weâre talking about all different types of chillies â from the very mildest piquant peppers, right through to the hottest of the hot.
THE SCOVILLE SCALE FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF CHILLIES
To avoid a similar situation, how can you tell what kind of heat different types of chillies are packing? Well, the Scoville scale, invented by a smart fellow by the name of Wilbur Scoville, is used to measure hotness by determining the capsaicin content â the compound that gives chilli peppers their sting. Back in the day, human beings were used as the guinea pigs to test heat levels â the method related to how diluted the pepper would need to be in order for taste testers to no longer taste its effects (originally diluted in an alcohol-based extract). Besides possibly getting hammered, this method was a bit trial and error. Fortunately,
Fortunately, scientific ability has advanced and weâve figured out a way to separate the capsaicinoids and use liquid chromatography to measure the heat. This method is still measured in SHU (Scoville Heat Units), keeping Wilburâs legacy intact. Using SHU as a guideline when reading the label of your favourite chilli sauce will come in very handy when you need to know whether youâre dealing with a spicy kick or full-scale tastebud warfare.
Did you know? The infamous Carolina Reaper chilli is currently the hottest chilli in the world as determined by the Guinness Book of World Records in 2013, scoring more than 2.2 million SHU (official record). To put that into perspective, the jalapeño pepper has a range of a between a rather paltry 1000 and 20 000 SHU when compared.
The theory is that the more spicy food you eat the better youâll be able to tolerate it but weâre not sure if that theory holds any water. Just in case, be sure to bump up your chilli knowledge with our handy guide to different types of chillies so that you donât get caught unawares.
A GUIDE TO DIFFERENT TYPES OF CHILLIES
PEPPADEWÂź
The heat: A tangy party in the mouth⊠Length: 4 cm
This pepper is native to South Africa. It was discovered in the 90s and has been popular worldwide ever since. The PeppadewÂź name is trademarked in South Africa as a means to control the commercial growing of the pepper. It has a unique taste with hints of spice and sweetness. It is very mild with a Scoville rating of 1100 to 1200 SHU. This versatile pepper can be sliced and used on pizzas and in bread, pasta, salads and more. It can also be filled with cheese for a quick snack. The PeppadewÂź resembles a cherry tomato or a miniature red pepper and is mostly sold pickled, with the seeds removed, to give a milder flavour.
Youâre still in safe territory if youâre eating a poblano chilli.  This larger size pepper ranges from 7-15 cm long and packs a Scoville rating of 2500 to 5000 SHU. It comes from the Puebla state in Mexico and its name means âan inhabitant of Pueblaâ. These types of chillies are much more potent when ripe and red as opposed to its raw, green state. As they mature, they turn a dark, almost brownish red colour and are a good chilli for drying because of their thick skin. When dried they are known as an ancho chilli and where it hails from is also accepted by many as the origin of mole poblano â the spicy chilli sauce enriched with very bitter dark chocolate, which is one of the most iconic dishes in Mexico.
GUAJILLO
The heat: Youâre getting warmer⊠Length: 5 â 10 cm
This chilli, often sold dried, is deseeded, soaked and ground into a thin paste to be used in salsa, soups or stews. It is most commonly used to make salsa for dishes such as tamales and it adds a rich, aromatic taste. The guajillo chilli is relatively big measuring 5-10 cm in length, their medium hotness ranges between 2500 and 5000 SHU on the Scoville scale. Due to its thick and leathery skin, this chilli requires a longer soaking period than most other dried chillies in order to unlock its flavours.
JALAPEĂO
The heat: Whoa, weâre in Mexico son⊠Length: 4 cm +
This is probably one of the most popular peppers out there. It has a Scoville rating that is pretty broad, ranging from 1000 right up to 20 000 SHU. Being that the heat range is so broad, it can be a bit of a gamble â you never know what youâre going to get. Something to remember though is that as jalapeños get older they turn red and become much hotter. The hotter jalapeños also have white âstretch marksâ which indicate their age and hotness, while milder jalapeños will be smooth. Jalapeños contain vitamin C and A, so besides being tasty, theyâre a good addition to your diet. We love them stuffed, wrapped and fried.
The heat: The Cheech & Chong of chillies⊠Length: 5 â 7 cm
The word chipotle means smoked chilli and just like the name says, these little flavour bombs are smoke-dried jalapeños. If youâre wondering why they have a reddish hue when most of the jalapeños you would have seen are green, itâs because they are smoked when they are ripe, and jalapeños turn red when ripe. The two most common varieties of chipotle are the Chipotle Morita and Chipotle Meco.
Chipotle Meco is much harder to find and is dried out for a much longer time than the Chipotle Morita. The vast majority of Chipotle Morita are made in Chihuahua state in the north of Mexico, while the less common Chipotle Meco, are made in the central and southern parts of Mexico. These types of chillies are medium to hot with a Scoville rating of 2500 to 10 000 SHU. It can be used in salsas, stews and soups as well as many other dishes to add a mild to spicy and smoky kick.
The heat: Enough to make your nose run⊠Length: 5 cm
Serrano peppers look very similar to jalapeños but donât be fooled by the look of these types of chillies â the serrano pepper is much hotter, with a Scoville rating of 10 000 to 25 000 SHU. The average size is of a serrano pepper is about 5 cm long â the smaller the serrano the more potent it is. This pepper also originated in Mexico and is one of the most commonly found peppers in that part of the world with 180 000 tons produced in Mexico every year. The taste can best be described as âcrispâ and they are usually eaten raw. The serrano has a very thin skin which makes it easy to eat raw but tricky to dry. They are green when raw and turn into a multitude of colours including red, brown, orange and yellow when ripe.
The taste can best be described as âcrispâ and they are usually eaten raw. The serrano has a very thin skin which makes it easy to eat raw but tricky to dry. They are green when raw and turn into a multitude of colours including red, brown, orange and yellow when ripe.
RED CAYENNE PEPPER
The heat: Mother of dragons⊠Length: 12 â 15 cm
This is probably quite a familiar one, with the ground version of it being a popular spice rack favourite. Also known as the red hot chilli pepper, the cow-horn pepper or the aleva, it is rated at around 30,000 to 50,000 SHU. If youâre interested in growing chillies, this is a good place to start as the plant grows well and the fruit dries well and can be ground to powder. It is named after the capital city of the French Guiana, âCayenneâ.
PIRI PIRI (AFRICAN BIRDâS EYE OR PERI PERI)
The heat: Ring sting⊠itâs happening. Length: 2 â 3 cm
Ah piri piri, peri peri, however you say it or spell it, we love it. The direct translation from Swahili means pepper pepper, but do not be deceived by this or its small form â butt burning ability comes in small packages. Said to have been brought by the Portuguese from Goa, this little chilli has comfortably found its home in the hearts of South Africans, most notably in the dish of peri peri chicken. Peri Peri sauce is also a national treasure and an important ingredient that accompanies meals across the country on a daily basis. Ask any Portuguese-South African and theyâll claim their recipe is the best!
The heat: Bombay bottom territory⊠Length: 2 â 4 cm
These types of chillies are very small and the seeds are often spread by birds, hence the name Birdâs Eye. If youâre wondering how our feathered friends manage to eat them, itâs because they canât taste capsaicin. Itâs meant to deter mammals, but so far that hasnât stopped us. They can either be red and green in colour. The Birdâs Eye chilli, although small, packs quite the uppercut, with a Scoville rating of 100 000 to 225 000 SHU.
Birdâs Eye chillies have surprising health benefits including helping to control arthritic pain, stomach pain and toothaches, possibly because theyâre so hot that you forget about any other ailment. This chilli has its origins in the South American country of Guyana. Although it comes from South America, it is widely used in many south-east Asian dishes. In India, it is used as an antibacterial agent to prevent infections.
HABANERO
The heat: Refrigerate the toilet paper⊠Length: 2 â 6 cm
This chilli is named after Havana (La Habana), the capital city of Cuba. Most habanero chillies come from the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. It is a very hot chilli, with a Scoville rating of 100 000 to 350 000 SHU. The habanero chilli comes in many different colours although some growers consider the orange habanero to be the only real habanero. Very limited research has revealed that habanero peppers may be helpful in controlling insulin levels in diabetics. Be careful when trying this chilli as its heat is very intense for a novice chilli taster. Add very carefully in small quantities to a salsa or chilli con carne to provide a significant bite.
GHOST PEPPER
The heat: Donât handle without protective clothing⊠Length: 6,5 â 8, 5 cm
The ghost pepper is known by a few names but most commonly Bhut jolokia. It held the top honour as the worldâs hottest pepper for quite a while but has since been pipped by the Carolina Reaper. It still rates at a cool (or rather boiling) 1 million SHUâs though, so nothing to sniff at. The ghost pepper originates from India and grows in the north-eastern regions of Nagaland and Assam. It grows to its most potent in this area and studies have shown that growing it outside of these specific places lowers its potency. Even at a lower potency, it is still killer hot â just touching the flesh can cause skin burns, so why you would want to eat it or cook with it we really donât know.
CAROLINA REAPER
The heat: Hospitalisation probable. Length: 3 â 7 cm
The final chilli in our guide to different types of chillies is the Carolina Reaper â a mean, gnarled and pointy-tailed looking pepper, which makes total sense given its devilish demeanour. Perhaps devilish is too kind of a phrase for this chilli, which quite literally bestows the wrath of hellfire on anyone who dares eat it. It should be noted though that this is a âman-madeâ pepper and is not an original product of Mother Nature. A man by the name of âSmokinâ Ed Currie, owner of the PuckerButt Pepper Company in, as you guessed it, South Carolina, crossed a ghost pepper and a red habanero to breed this evil spawn.
