Tasting Notes
We imagined stepping into a Victorian sugar mill where the sugar cane was being crushed by rollers powered by steam engines. The noise coming from the pistons, pressure gauges, cogs, levers and belt drives, as well as the intoxicating scent of steam, sugar and oil, made this a sensory adventure. So did the taste, like licking sugar cane juice off sandpaper, plus petrolic cough sweets, black pepper and tarragon – are you up for it? You could dowse the fyah with some water. The aroma now turned to exotic fruits including mango, papaya, kiwi and physalis. On the palate, however, there was still plenty of heat like ‘‘chipotles in adobo’’ – a smoky, tangy paste made with chipotle chillies and tomato purée.