Naples Valley Brand Red Pepper Jazzy Jam
A food review by Daniel Berman
I love football season even though I don’t follow sports.
Baseball is played during the summer. And it’s inextricably linked to hot dogs and peanuts. But by the time football rolls around we’re gearing up for winter, and it’s time to start loading up on pizza and chicken wings.
More than anything else, I love any excuse to eat chicken wings. Mostly because I’m a Frank’s Red Hot pepper sauce fanatic, and the classic Buffalo style wing sauce of Frank’s and butter fills me with a deep sense of pleasure and joy. The human heart has a tremendous capacity for love. So there is room for many more pepper sauces in my life: Huy Fong Sriracha, Texas Pete’s, Cristal, Tabasco, Cholula, and more clog the shelves at home.
But there are some places where hot sauce cannot go.
When I first encountered a jar of Naples Valley Brand Red Pepper Jazzy Jam, I knew my problem was solved. I could finally get my spicy red pepper fix on toast!
It hadn’t been for a lack of trying. But slathering Frank’s Red Hot onto an amply buttered piece of toasted bread isn’t quite satisfying. It lacks a certain texture and viscosity, all that can be found in a jam.
Now granted, the Naples Valley product isn’t Frank’s. It has a different profile. In fact opening it up and having a sniff of the red pepper and jalapeno, the aroma was more redolent of a jarred salsa than anything else.
What’s a little bit unexpected is the hit of sweetness along with a tart, bright heat from the jalapeno. It’s pleasantly balancing to the tingling front-of-the-mouth spiciness, and I would expect this jam to go fantastically well with a good blue cheese.
Sometimes pepper sauce is just too thin, sharp and focused.
A splash of Tabasco is great at enlivening fried or poached eggs. but it would difficult to get a good distribution of the stuff on an omelete. But adding this jam to an omelet made with some aged cheddar would result in a much tastier dish than just pepper sauce alone.
Naples Valley Brand products are all made in the Finger Lakes. Robin Voorhees makes them in the kitchen of the Bristol Mountain Winter Resort. She works there over the weekends during ski season at the bar Apparently she specializes in making Bloody Mary’s. Given her penchant for hot pepper jams, this is hardly a surprising fact.
But she’s been at this since 1994, starting with a line of mustards and growing her line of products over time. In truth, any home cook with a modicum of care can make their own mustards and jams. It’s not rocket science. But the more you make them, the better you get.
For me, I’m happy to let someone else do the work. Especially when they are making such fun things that would likely never attempt on my own. Red pepper and jalapeno jam. Breakfast will never be the same.
About Daniel B.
A west coast transplant now living in Albany, Daniel Berman is applying his communication strategy background to food writing with the ultimate goal of improving the culinary landscape in the Capital Region. He writes the FUSSYlittleBLOG and contributes regularly to All Over Albany.