A recent trip to the supermarket had me questioning the labelling and ingredients in many of your regular household pantry staples.
For example, I was extremely surprised to find that most Australian tinned tomatoes have additives in them. I expected to find 100% tomatoes listed on the labels, but instead found that they often also contained: Firming Agent (509), Calcium Chloride and Citric Acid (E330).
What’s in your hot sauce?
I always stop and look at the hot sauces in every supermarket, deli and grocer (because, that’s my passion/obsession) and I was shocked to see the number of additives in your every day supermarket sauces (look at the ingredients, I dare you!). Ingredients such as Potassium Sorbate and Sodium Bisulfite appear in some of the most popular brands (mostly those in plastic bottles)! Whilst I understand the need and desire for supermarkets to keep sauces shelf stable for a period of time, you have to wonder what all of these additives are doing to your food, and also your body. Here at The Chilli Project we pride ourselves in producing delicious hot sauces from fresh ingredients and we don’t add any chemicals or shelf stabilisers to our bottles.
I am also shocked by misleading statements on hot sauce bottles. This week I was very surprised to find a household name in chilli sauce’s current packaging, suggesting that there is nothing but chilli in the bottle by stating “Made with 100% chillies” (which being a buyer of this sauce and familiar with the flavour, I knew could not be true)… when you look at the ingredients, it is only 40% chilli. To their credit, there are no artificial additives or preservatives in their sauce, but I do think the packaging is very misleading and I wonder how it even made it to the shelves like that?
So…. what’s in The Chilli Project Hot Sauces?
We manufacture our hot sauces using a range of real ingredients. Fresh Australian grown produce, Australian grown chillies (no extracts or powders) and we do also include sugar, salt and vinegar in our sauces for both their flavour and their preservative effects. Where spices are required, we source the highest quality we can get our hands on, and we don’t add any thickeners, emulsifiers or artificial preservatives to our bottles. We are proud of our sauces and our commitment to keeping our ingredient list natural, and we think it shows in the flavour!
Tell us…. what’s the most shocking additive you’ve discovered in one of your regular pantry staples? We’d love to hear what else you’ve found!
