Hi,

I just wanted to let you know that I've been busy making some very hot chocolate truffle this afternoon!

Well I went for broke and used the 'Worlds Hottest Chilli' according to the SDCF label. To be precise I used a variety known as Bhut Jolokia from North-East India.

I didn't need to use very much and in fact only one small chilli was required. In the past I've had to chop and crush the dried chillies and almost pound them to pieces. Well this chilli is totally different, it maybe small but it packs a huge punch! I gently split the chilli apart and left the seeds whole and immersed in double cream for half an hour. I then strained the mixture through a sieve without crushing the seeds. The cream was then mixed with dark chocolate from Venezuela to produce a fantastic hot chilli truffle!

When you eat the truffle the cool dark chocolate is the first sense followed soon after by a slight tickle at the back of the throat that gradually rises in intensity! Wow! I'm so pleased with the result I just hope I can repeat it in the future.

Thank you SDCF for a great chilli!

Christine

Hot Chocolate Truffles!

Hmm - This is one to go on my homemade Christmas pressie list.

What quantities of chocolate to cream did you use, and having shaped t hem did you dip them in chocolate?

This does sound like an absolute treat.

For my part, on a much less ambitious scale but in equal deference to the wonderful combination that is chilli and chocolate, I made homemade chilli hot chocolate. Id actually bought some from SDCF, and no disrespect to that as it was very nice. But as I was drinking it I thought, surely there is no reason to fork out for this when I could just as easily use the ordinary hot chocolate granuals we have and then add some dried bhut jolokia powder (also procured from SDCF). So I tried that - the usual amount of hot chocolate, in this instance 4 tea spooons, with about a quarter of a tea spoon of the bhut.

Have to say it packed a heftier punch that the stuff id bought ready mixed. It was a triumph. The bad news for SDCF is I doubt I will be buying their hot chocolate bags again. But the good news is I will be buying plenty of bhut powder (as well as sauces and assorted other things) for years to come.