Jules and Sharpie Very Hot Mango Chutney

Those of you who follow me on twitter will know that I have been having this chutney on just about everything over the past week. It was very kindly sent to me by Jules and Sharpie who have been making hot stuff for the past 7 years and have won countless awards, so you can imagine my delight when a nice big parcel of various chilli jams, chutneys and jellies arrived.

The packaging on all of the jars is great, it is very simple and clean with one stand out image of a chilli (habenero i think) The jars retail at £3.99 for a 340g jar – which when you consider all of their contents is hand made, is pretty good value for money.

When they arrived I didn’t really know which one to start with but as it turned out i was making curried cod for tea so the Very Hot Mango Chutney seemed to fit right in.

My first taste was with a bit of naan bread, the flavour hits you straight away, sweet but not sickly mango then a lovely chilli heat hits you, it’s not mega hot but you certainly know the chilli is there and the more you eat the more you feel your lips tingle. The main problem with the chutney for dunking is that the chunks of mango are quite big (which isn’t a bad thing) so it’s more of a spreadable chutney than a dunkable one.

The jar also suggests having it with ham or strong cheese, so i thought i would give both a go, two days running I had the mango chutney with some ham, cheese and salad in a nice big brown bun, it worked really well, there was enough flavour in the chutney so that you could still taste it but at the same time it didn’t overpower the cheese or ham.

I also tried it with some blue cheese which worked surprisingly well, the sweetness and heat cut through the saltiness of the cheese and it turned out to be a real flavour treat, having said that my favourite way to eat it is on a cracker with a slice of nice stinky brie, the sweetness of the mango and the texture of the brie with the little bit of crunch from the cracker followed by the heat from the chilli is just awesome.

Finally I tried to compare the chutney to our regular hot mango chutney from a well known brand and to be honest the Jules and Sharpie one ate up the big brand and spat it out, there is simply no comparison.

Chilli Up North Verdict: Super tasty mango chutney with a great blend of spices, could possibly do with a bit more chilli to justify the very hot label but non the less its bloody good! 9.5/10 (Heat rating 7/10)