Has anyone eaten the Tesco brand 'Extreme Chilli Hummous? It's supposed to be quite hot, but tastes quite mild to me. I've eaten the ASDA Scotch Bonnet Hummous, and that was so mild that I could barely taste any heat.

What's up with these hummouses that claim to be hot, but aren't?

The chick peas probably dampen the heat I guess. It's creamy-textured and would probably soothe the burn?

But then you have to factor in bastard lying supermarkets..

Blitz some chillis in a blender, mash them tp a paste, bung the paste and hoummous in a blender then scoop It all back into the hoummous pot.

I think it's pretty obvious that supermarkets do not understand the chilli level that the average Brit is at these days and/or are totally lagging behind.

As you say, things like chilli hummous, hot salsa, fiery chicken wings etc. are pretty much mild by todays standard.

I always have several hot sauces and chilli powders in the cupboard to add to supermaket products and ready meals.

Toby I love you but "make it at home" by the third post has to be a record for DS F n D.

I blame marketing. If it wasn't for that, there'd be no craze for 'extreme chili' anything, just maybe hot, medium and mild. I'm guessing it's a precautionary measure from supermarkets to avoid complaints from customers that it's too hot. Or it means customers can actually taste the food, not just the heat. Scotch bonnet's a good one, I think that has a really nice flavor, if you can taste that over the hotness.

Thanks for the answers everyone. I looked up some online reviews, and they agreed that it is mild. The theory above that supermarkets have failed to keep up with the British public's impressions of heat is probably correct, along with warning customers so that they don't complain.

BTW: With the ASDA Scotch Bonnet Hummous you can definitely taste the scotch bonnet as there is hardly any heat at all.

That's not "Make it at Home", it's "Pimp it up".

But if you want to make hummus from scratch I have a nice recipe.....

I've tried making hummous. Other people can make it, but when I do it lacks something in both texture and taste. It's too 'bean pasty', for want of a better descriptio. I have no tahini, so making hummus from scratch would require an investment.

I once had a recipe for cucumber hummus that had a better texture, but I lost the recipe.

After a few attempts I decided it fell in the "not worth it" category - and that was with tahini.
I haven't given up though

It is very tiresome that people who don't like hot spicy food were ever allowed to have things like chilli con carne. It has been degraded to the level of savoury rice because "oh we can't make it too hot because people might not like it".

I've tried and failed several times - even using tahini and extra doses of sesame oil in desperation! It always comes out tasting watery even though its actually quite solid.

I've also tried many supermarket hummuses (hummi?) with extra stuff in - never liked any of 'em so stick to the plain stuff

Quite - I love a chilli but unless its in a Mexican restuarant will avoid it as its generally way too mild. I do make it a lot myself and its a favourite freezer standby.
BTW I'm a recent convert to adding a couple of squares of dark chocolate to my chilli - delish!

Never brought myself to do that but I do add a splash of honey.

You should try chocolate - it doesn't make the chilli sweet or chocolaty - but the sauce is much richer.

But.. but... but.. where will the madness end*? So we have this 'extreme' hummous. Something I don't normally eat on account of it being pretty bland, boring and tasteless. So some marketing type figured they may be able to shift some more if they jump on the 'extreme' chilli bandwagon. We have Doritos Roulette.. which I saw some people making strange faces over, but taste just fine to me. As in taste. They thought it just tasted of hot.

So we have a succession of record breaking chillis people are sticking in their S&M chillis. Some are hotter than the Police pepper sprays. Can people honestly say they can taste more than just the chilli? Plus for fans of extreme heat, there's always stuff like this-

http://www.dartmoorchillifarm.com/Na...4_7843609.aspx

to pep up their hummous, or porridge, or whatever they fancy prior to utilising a Section 5 weapon against their taste buds..

*Probably with the humble Resin Spurge. Not a chilli, but producer of resiniferatoxin. If the toxin part of the name doesn't put people off, it's Scoville rating of 16 billion might. Or I'm betting if I google hard enough, I'll find someone who's tried it already..

Another nice idea (when you have it - say Christmas) is a good splosh of port at the outset.
I bung it in bolognaise too rather than a splosh of red wine.
And, of course, chef gets a complimentary glass

I don't know, but I would just like to be able to order a chilli-style meal while out, and it to actually be hot and spicy. Instead of just mince with kidney beans in. Which is what has been passed off as chilli con carne to a whole generation now.

A pub in town does a fairly mild chilli but sprinkles rounds of halapeno chilli over it.
If you like heat and take one of those with each forkful it does the trick.
If you can't take the heat just put them aside.

For the same reason you mention, I pass whenever I see curry on offer in pubs.
They're always conservative with the heat.

That's a way round the problem, but most places seem to assume that people don't want proper hot chilli.
When I ask "Is it hot?"
the reply is usually "Oh, no, it's not too hot"
in an annoyingly reassuring tone.

They think it's what I want to hear. It's not.
The concept of chilli has been completely subverted by non-specialist food outlets.

Ive seen a few programmes about "chilli heads" who always have a small supply of hot sauce with them.
You could always apply a few shakes from a small bottle of tabasco

This is kinda what my mate suggested. He's Mexican and a chef & reckoned it's a bit like 'Indian' curry, ie British-Indian made for the extreme chilli market. First questions were "What do I mean by chilli" and "hot". Then pointing out typical chilli (con carne) is a Tex-Mex dish, and traditional versions like this-

http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson...ipes/chili.asp

which just say '6 teaspoons of chilli powder' were probably quite mild. So his suggestion was to check the recipies, ie-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale

If it's got habeneros in it, it's probably at the hot end, otherwise typical Mexican chillis could be considered relatively mild.. At least compared to the modern varieties bred for the "chilli heads". His solution to that is to just say if anyone wants it hotter, ask and he'll give'em extra hot sauce. Seems sensible given it's easier to add spice than remove it.

That's fine, but I imagine he works in a proper restaurant. A lot of the places that serve it are not, it's pre-packaged meals.

My point is that chilli as served in pubs, canteens etc is not proper chilli - it's something else that tragically is now the norm, and is what people now expect chilli to be - bland. A Wetherspoons chilli. [eyeroll]

I guess the only solution for that is perhaps these-

http://www.singleportions.co.uk/taba...tion-766-p.asp

39p a bottle, or for a more extreme solution, free in some ration packs..

That's handy!

I should make it clearer though - I wouldn't order a chilli out, unless I was in a proper Mexican restaurant, or similar.