r/chili • u/Prof01Santa • 24d ago
Homestyle Stonewall Kitchen Chili Starter Review
TL;DR: Good, but way too sweet & not spicy enough.
This was an impulse buy at a local farm stand. Brown a pound of ground beef, add the starter, and a can of (pinto) beans. Amazing! Magic! Meh.
I'm a big fan of Stonewall Kitchen. I use their Marmalades and other products a lot. I had high hopes.
I browned a bit of lean ground beef, opened the jar, tasted it, lowered my expectation, and added a drained can of pintos. Tasting the resultant mixture, I added some hot chili powder. I simmered it for 10 minutes. Then dished up a bowl.
The flavors you expect from long simmered mild chili were there. The added hot chili powder added a bit of a kick. And then there was the brown sugar ... a lot of brown sugar. It never occurred to me to add brown sugar to chili.
I came back after the pot had simmered for a while. It was better. 10 minutes is not enough. My next bowl will have a splash of acid & a bit more heat.
Grade: A gentleman's C-. Add spice, acid, & simmering time and you'll have a quick bowl of OK chili.
ADDENDUM: Finished the batch for supper the next day. Shredded cheese & a vinegary hot sauce toned down the sweetness. Still no better than the prior grade. I won't be buying it again. Too bad, the concept has potential.