3 Alarm Hot Tamales Candy Review

I was pleasantly surprised to see that my boyfriend had come home with the cinnamon candy I had asked for, and even more glad to see that there was a bit of novelty to these specific Hot Tamales.

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As I examined the box I noticed the little description of each color from hot to hottest. This is sort of reminiscent of the Taco Bell hot sauce package colors which indicate how hot they are. I popped a yellow one in my mouth and it actually tasted a bit like what you’d expect something yellow to taste like. It was hot, but not painfully so. Definitely had that nice artificial cinnamon flavor that I’ve come to love. Next, I tried the orange-red one which looks just like the regular Hot Tamales, and unsurprisingly, it tasted just like a regular Hot Tamale. Next, I popped the dark red into my mouth and as soon as I began to chew I actually felt my mouth burn as if I had just chewed on a Jalapeño. I definitely experienced a pleasant burn which lingered a bit afterward.

Before trying these I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to tell the difference, but the level of hotness was pretty obvious. And just to make sure it wasn’t just all in my head, I did a blindfold test. I had my boyfriend give me one of each while I had my eyes closed and I have to say that even without looking at them it was very obvious which one was which. As soon as I started chewing on the first one I immediately suspected it was the orange-red one, but to make sure, I asked for a second one. As soon as I had the second one, which was milder, I was sure that the first one was the orange-red one and thus the second one was yellow. And finally he gave me the dark red one which was again, very obvious.

As I was looking inside the box I notice that a good majority of the candy pieces were dark red which luckily was my favorite color, but it would have been nicer to have something closer to an even amount of each just so you can keep it varied a bit. I am hoping though that other boxes are different. Either way, I definitely enjoyed these candies and hope that they continue producing this variety of Hot Tamales, or at the very least, release a box variety of just the dark red ones.

One of the main reasons I truly enjoyed these is because I like to buy cheap bags of cinnamon imperials where each candy seems to vary in its spiciness. I would really recommend these to anyone who loves cinnamon-flavored candy.

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Recipe: Fake Wannabe Somewhat Cabbage, Potato and Ground Beef Curry (or FWSCPGBC)

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I was making coleslaw and still had a half a cabbage head left so I thought I would make a hot dish with it. I had already made Korean cuisine-inspired pork cabbage wraps, so I wanted to make something different, in this case, a soupy faux-curry dish. It didn’t exactly start out as a curry-ish dish, but instead I wanted to make a basic cabbage and beef stew. I was going to make dumplings with it, but instead I ended up toasting up a flour tortilla and eating some of it with some cream cheese, and fire sauce from Taco Bell. It reminded me a bit of a dish an Indian woman had prepared me and the tortilla is actually an acceptable substitute for naan bread when you just can’t get a hold of any or don’t feel like baking your own. I had a few servings of the stew this way, then I put it in the fridge to eat the next day. Since I didn’t want to eat the same thing again, I decided to turn it into a pseudo curry, which actually works quite well especially because the cabbage at this point had become almost part of the soup.

Note: If you want to reduce the calories from fat, you can allow this dish to cool in the pot, let the meat fat solidify and scoop it up with a spoon. Or you can render the fat from the meat beforehand by frying it up in a pan and draining it (you can save the fat for other dishes). You may also eat this dish with dumplings or rice.

What you will need…

• A pound of ground beef (or whatever protein you would like).

• 1 onion and 2 cloves of garlic.

• Herbs, spices, curry mix (I like to try different herb combinations, in this case I used thyme, rosemary, chili and a curry powder mix).

• Half a head of cabbage.

• Two medium sized potatoes.

• Sour cream or yogurt.

• A tablespoon of vinegar (caper vinegar can be used).

How to prepare…

1. Slice the cabbage into strips and chop the onions and garlic.
2. Add to a slow cooker (or pot) with the ground beef.
3. Add enough water to cover 3/4 of the contents in the pot.
4. Add the curry mix (and whatever other herbs you want) to taste.
5. Add the vinegar and slow cook for at least two hours. The longer it cooks the softer the ingredients become — it depends on your texture preference.
6. Dish out, top with sour cream or yogurt, garnish with chives, capers or even roasted nuts.
7. Enjoy!

Tip: This dish also works well with with a toasted flour tortilla, or if you have it, naan bread. If you are going to use a tortilla, the best kind for a soupy dish like this is a tortilla that is a bit chewy like Guerrero. I like to toast them up where they’re a bit crunchy and puffed up.

Note: I may not post as many reviews/recipes this week because I’m working on two animation projects, though hopefully will be finished by Tuesday. Thanks to everyone who has been keeping up with my blog. I hit 100 views in one day yesterday which I didn’t expect, so thank you to The Impulsive Buy for linking me on one of their pages!