Some HOT stuff in the fridge

Now that chiles are finding their way into all kinds of food, including pricey chocolate in some parts of the world, it probably shouldn't be all that surprising that it's a key ingredient in... a Turkish soft drink.

Pictured here is a small bottle of Şalgam suyu (hot, fermented carrot juice), which is pretty strong stuff, and explains why it's sold in such a small bottle. [As always, you can click on any picture here at this blog to see the original (larger) version of the photo.] It's not all that bad when cut with some fizzy water, though that's not exactly the thing to do when drinking among purists. We didn't try the un-spicy version; perhaps that's better.

A little less exotic is Hot Ajvar (jar shown below), a spicy veggie spread that's pretty tasty on crackers or as a condiment. According to the back label, red pepper is the first ingredient (red peppers in Turkey are longer and a little spicier than, say, red bell peppers, but hardly in the same league as actual chiles), followed by eggplant, then "hot peppers" (there ya go!), garlic, sunflower oil, salt, vinegar and sugar. Kinda refreshing to not have Red Dye No. 13 or some other caustic chemical! What is great about this label are the 5 languages it's written in: Arabic, Dutch, English, German and Turkish.

In any case, the whole spiciness issue is kinda interesting, given that Turkish food is, on the whole, extremely bland for those of us who appreciate New Mexican and Indian food. But at least if you have a craving for peppery fermented carrot juice (by the way, on the label they look like beets, not carrots), you can try a Turkish market.