It’s been a while now since receiving a couple of bottles of HP Mild Indian Curry, and I’m pleased to say that our rationing strategy is so far proving effective. We’re down to half a bottle (415g squeezy), but it’s all good as our stock has been replenished thanks to a Christmas gift from my brother-in-law & family. Thanks Sean!

When I first wrote about this new fangled HP Mild Indian Curry, I speculated on the possibility of other “worldly” sauces in the works. Seeing as I don’t have a ready supply of all HP varieties here in Canada, speculation was about all I had to go on; what with HP Foods’ website also being down at the time.

Fast forward to yesterday’s evening meal when my son suddenly decides he no longer wants chicken nuggets after seeing them arrive in front of him - steaming hot and maticulously prepared to his specification. No, this evening he wished to dine on some cream of mushroom soup - the one with the “old fashioned” label on it. So, with that being the case, we had a bit of a dilemna in front of us - namely, how to divide the cut up pieces of chicken nuggets between my wife and I, and more importantly, how much HP Mild Indian Curry to use in the process. It was at this time when my wife, having just poured some sauce on the plate asked me: “Did you read this side of the label??”. “Why do you ask?” I said. “I knew there ought to be other ’sauces of the world’” she said “..and they’re listed right here!”. LOL

Ahh, the excitement of receiving a new sauce. Not only does it produce glares from others sitting around the dining room table should one be unfortunate to use one squirt too many (rations), but it also totally blocked out our…..ok MY own powers of deduction. Still, when you taste a sauce this delicious, one does tend to forget about labels & such, doesn’t one?

So, without any further ado, the HP 2005 “Sauces of the World” line consists of:

• Mild Indian Curry
• Spicy Mexican Chilli
• Tangy American Sauce
• Sweet Thai Chilli

I have to admit, the “Tangy American Sauce” name puzzles me a bit. What’s that supposed to taste like I wonder? (aside from ‘tangy’ that is). I honestly don’t know any ‘tangy Americans’. Perhaps my American cubicle mate could help me out on this one. LOL

This week I discovered a new HP Sauce variety - HP Mild INDIAN CURRY which was provided compliments of the Marmalade Cat Company. Please refer to the Where To Buy? section.

With this sauce added to my collection of HP varieties, I figured the time had come to introduce a new section to the site entitled “HP - The Sauces“. Here, each HP variety will be featured on it’s own page with available information and a brief writeup. I encourage you to share your thoughts on your own favourite sauce.

An observation of current HP labels; the Mild INDIAN CURRY label is a little different than other HP branded Sauces and continues a trend towards revised labeling - first spotted earlier this year. What catches my eye on this label is the “Sauces of the World” text at the bottom. Could this signal an expanding line of HP Sauces? How about a HP branded Thai red or green curry sauce?? Yum.

Well, I comitted to doing this a few posts ago so here goes my attempt at trying HP Sauce in tea. In case you haven’t been playing along, the reason for doing this is simply this; the site has received a few hits from people coming in from google, searching for…yes you guessed it - “brown sauce in tea”. I kid you not. Not one to leave something like this alone, I find myself compelled to try it!

So….after much considering, deliberating and avoiding, I finally take the plunge. First, let’s prepare the scene. We have a very used bottle of original variety HP Sauce, some decaffeinated English Breakfast (black tea), a kettle full of boiling water and a glass mug. It should be noted I could’ve chosen most any mug from our extensive collection, however I figured a glass one would provide the best photographic potential.

Here we have said mug full of prepared tea and no there’s no milk or cream entering the scene to spoil this very scientific test! A sharp eye will reveal a few drops which ended up on the stove and on the edge of the mug. This bottle of HP has had it’s run. To the recycling bin with ye!

With vigour, the tea is stirred by hand with a standard issue teaspoon. I was curious how readily the sauce would dissolve in the hot tea. While the tea was no longer clear - it didn’t become nearly as cloudy as I would’ve guessed either. The sauce is now completely dissolved.

Anxious to find out what this concoction tastes like, I raise mug to lip. I pause as my wife takes the picture and I burn my tongue! Pfth. How silly of me not to wait for the tea to cool!

Now before I say anything about how it tastes, I should point out that anyone I dared mention this to always responded to the idea with simply “Eeewwwww!”. I can’t say I blame them really, something as unprecedented as this isn’t to be attempted by the faint of heart. The taste itself surprised me somewhat; it starts off clean and finishes with a warm spicy flavour. I taste it again…and again. It tastes like Chai Tea! I must say I’m not a big fan of Chai, but from what I’ve tasted - this mix of English Breakfast and HP Sauce isn’t far off. It tastes like something I’d drink when feeling poorly….like Neo Citran? LOL

In the end I managed to drink half the tea before putting it down on the counter and moving on to other things. Returning to the kitchen some 5 minutes later, we found our 1 1/2 year old cat Brindy perched on the counter lapping up the hot tea! Perhaps she has a cold.