Chillies and Chocolate in Fife - Part One

So where do you think Claire, Foodie Quine, and I are posing?  Are we on a cruise the Med or the Norwegian Fjords?   Well, no actually, we are in the Kingdom of Fife in Scotland on a Chilli-Chocolate Food Trip with Welcome to Fife. More about where this sunny photo was taken in part two.


We started our chilli-chocolate tour of Fife in Ceres and travelled a few miles to visit Chillilicious, Scotland's first chilli farm.  I met with Patricia Galfskiy at the chilli farm where she and her daughter have developed this family run food and art venture cretaing homemade chilli food and gift items. The  new visitor's centre provided an opportunity to taste some of the Chilli chutney that Patricia makes, I tried them all, well it would be rude not to, and they were all very good.  Most memorable for me was the Monkey Punch Chilli Chutney which contains banana, kiwi, lime and jalapeno chillies.  I loved this combination of flavours really unusual.

 Possibly my favourite thing in the Chillilicous shop was the Pimento Ginger Beer.  I love ginger beer and this has the most amazing chilli kick, right at the back of your throat, a must for all chilli lovers.


We then moved on to the chilli tunnel  where you can pick your own chillies or buy plants.  Chillilicious grow approximately 4,000 chilli plants per ear and their speciality is the wide and varied range of rare and super-hot chillies, growing between 50-75 different varieties every year.  Last year the talk of the chilli world was the Carolina Reaper and this year it's all about the Chocolate Bhutlah, both of these chillies are grown at Chillilicious.


These are the chillies that I picked, unfortunately I can't remember the name of them all.  What I did learn is that the more crinkly the chilli, the hotter is going to be!  I'm hoping to cook up some recipes with these chillies soon.



Sophie had made a tray of Chocolate Chilli Truffles for us to try and she cut them and coated with cocoa powder, the chilli heat was subtle although I have to say that Sophie kindly gave us some to take away and when I tried them again at home, I felt that there was more heat, it may have been that my palate had been blunted by too much chocolate and whisky!


Behind the chocolate boutique there is a quirky cafe, The Cocoa Tree Cafe.  Here you can enjoy a relaxed lunch, coffee, afternoon tea or one of those gorgeous hot chocolate drinks.  There is plenty of reading material in the cafe, some of it under the glass on the table tops, but also a range of chocolate themed books to read.  The staff were delightful and it is clear that Sophie's passion and high standards pervade the whole establishment.  I would highly recommend a visit to the cafe and chocolate boutique.

Coming in part two of Chillies and Chocolate in Fife - Seafood and Gin! 

Disclaimer: I was the guest of Welcome to Fife and I'd like to thank them and the host organisations  who made this a truly memorable trip.

Labels: chilli, Chillilicious, chocolate, chutney, Drinking Chocolate, Fife, Laphroig, liqueur, Pittenweem, review, The Cocoa Tree Cafe, truffles, Welcome to Fife, whisky

posted by Janice @ 07:00 10 Comments

Hot Chocolate and Comfort Foods

As autumn becomes winter, a walk on a cold bright day is a real treat.  I'm treating you to a few photographs from my weekend walk as well as some ideas for to warm you up when you get home,


A nice bowl of porridge will do the trick and this Hot and Steamy Porridge from Nature's Path hits the spot.  It's organic and gluten free and comes in three different flavours: original; maple syrup and Spiced Apple.  Add milk or water and either cook on the hob or 70 seconds in the microwave and enjoy a very tasty bowl of porridge. The porridge has a lovely texture and the flavoured sachets don't taste in any way artificial, we enjoyed them all, however the portions are quite small (hubby said he would need two!) but ideal for a healthy snack.



Chilly water, running fast after all the rain we had recently.  Brrr, that does make me feel cold, the ground was muddy and wet too and if I hadn't had my walking boots on my feet might have got cold and wet.
A lovely cup of hot chocolate to warm me right down to the toes! Hans Sloane Drinking Chocolate comes as pure chocolate beads, it melts easily and tastes of real chocolate, because that's what it is.  A packet of Hans Sloane Drinking Chocolate would be a perfect stocking filler or treat yourself to a Hans Sloane Cocoa Pod, a chocolate shell full of drinking chocolate beans, watch the video below to see how much fun it is to make hot chocolate this way.



It's even more fun if you add some mini marshmallows and candy canes to dress up your hot chocolate.


Maybe you would prefer a nice cup of tea.  I've reviewed Tea Vivre teas before (All the tea from China) they are very high quality teas sent direct from China. This time I was invited to an Oolong tasting and have the following teas to tell you about:
Anxi Monkey King (Ma Liu Mie) Tie Guan Yin Oolong Tea

• Grown and produced in Anxi, Fujian
• Hand made into small, rolled up, jade colored leaves.
• Pale yellow-green colored tea when brewed
• Delightfully fresh floral taste and aroma

Taiwan Jin Xuan Milk Oolong Tea (Flavored)

• Grown and produced in Alishan, Nantou, Taiwan
• Evenly and tightly rolled tea leaves
• Pale yellow-gold tea liquor
• Strong milk fragrance

Taiwan Monkey Picked (Ma Liu Mie) Tie Guan Yin Oolong Tea
There is a baked flavor when brewed Monkey Picked Oolong tea, which was ever named Maliumie in China. It is come from Li Mountain, Taizhong, Taiwan, which belongs to the top 10 of Taiwan teas.

Labels: Carolyn Caldicott, China, chocolate, Comfort, Drinking Chocolate, Frances Lincoln, Hans Sloane, Hot Chocolate, Nature's Path, Oolong, review, tea, Tea Vivre

posted by Janice @ 20:36 7 Comments