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Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Refrigeration
Yes. The Red Chili Pepper Spread is a Deli item that requires refrigeration at
all times.
All of our other products are shelf stable until they have been opened and then
they require refrigeration.
Shelf Life / Storage
Red Chili Pepper Spread is a refrigerated item that must be stored at refrigerated
temperatures both before and after opening.
Keeping good food handling practices in mind, after opening it is recommended that
all products be refrigerated and consumed within 90 days.
The best before date is an ink-jet code that is found on the side or on the top
of the lid. It is in the format B/B YYYY MMM DD. For example, an ink-jet code that
reads B/B 2013 NOV 15 means that the unopened product is best consumed before November
15, 2013.
The stability of the antipasto is the result of a number of factors.
• Gourmet Antipasto is boiled which destroys enzymes and bacteria that normally
spoil fresh food.
• After all ingredients have been added the pH of the Gourmet Antipasto is below
4.0, which prevents the growth of sporeforming bacteria that are not destroyed at
boiling temperatures.
• Gourmet Antipasto is filled into the jars at very high temperatures. As the gourmet
antipasto cools a vacuum is formed and the lid seals itself from the outside environment.
This prevents any external contamination.
Unopened antipasto, Gourmet Red Chili or Gourmet Jalapeno can be stored at room
temperature. After they are opened, they must be stored at refrigerated temperatures.
There is yeast, mold, and bacteria in the air. When the product is opened and exposed
to the air, it will eventually spoil. Refrigeration will prolong the quality of
the product.
The lid should be concave by the vacuum created from hot product being filled into
the jars. The 940g/33oz jars use a lid that will pop up when unsealed. For other
lids, a popping noise will be heard the first time the lid is open. All jars undergo
a seal inspection before being labeled and shipped from our facility to preserve
the product quality and consumer safety.
Cholesterol
There is 0.90mg of cholesterol per 30g (2tbsp) serving which accounts for 0.30%
of the Daily Value (DV). According to Nutritional Labeling guidelines, values less
than 2mg (0.66% DV) are considered to be “free of cholesterol” and are to be stated
on the label as zero.
Cholesterol is only found in animal products such as meat, fish, eggs, and dairy
foods. Only the tuna contributes cholesterol to the Gourmet Antipasto.
No. However, saturated and unsaturated fats found in specific fruits (examples:
olives, avocados) and vegetable oils (examples: canola, corn, safflower, sesame,
soybean and sunflower), are used by our bodies to make cholesterol.
For more information regarding cholesterol, please follow this link to the
American Heart Associationsweb page.
No.
Fat Content
Vegetables make up the largest portion of the Gourmet Antipasto. The amount of fat
contributed by the lesser ingredients is 0.28 grams per 2 Tablespoon serving (0.43%
Daily Value). Labeling guidelines dictate that an amount less than 0.5grams of fat
is considered “free of fat” and is to be stated on the label as zero. Note: the
insignificant amount of fat that is present is primarily unsaturated (the good fat).
Ingredients
No. The vinegar has been triple distilled to ensure that no gluten is present. Therefore,
individuals with Celiac disease are able to enjoy our Gourmet Antipasto, Gourmet
Red Chili and Gourmet Jalapeno.
No.
No.
A small amount of artificial coloring is added to enrich the green color of the
jelly. Tartrazine (FD and C Yellow #5) is one of the artifical colors used.
Nut Free
No. Our products are completely nut free. There are no nuts used in our manufacturing
processes.
All About Peppers
We select a special blend of hot red Chili peppers that are grown specifically for
Something Special that deliver a unique tongue tingling heat and beautiful rich
red color.
A chemical called capsaicin in the peppers irritate trigeminal cells throughout
the mouth, nose, and throat. These cells send messages of pain to the brain which
responds by releasing endorphins throughout the body. Endorphins act as natural
pain killers giving a temporary euphoric feeling. Some people can experience increased
heart and salivation rate, faster gastrointestinal motions, runny nose, and perspiration.
The amount of capsaicin present in the Chili peppers determines its heat. The system
for measuring the heat of a Chili pepper was developed by a chemist named William
Scoville in 1912. Originally the testing was based on a form of dillution tasting.
Today machines called chromatograms (like in CSI) are used to measure the amount
of capsaicin present in the pepper.
Scoville Chile Heat Chart
|
Pepper Variety |
Rating
|
Heat Level
|
Bell, Sweet Banana, Pimento |
0
|
Negligible
|
Mexi-Bells, Pepperoncini |
1
|
100-1000 Scoville Units
|
Ancho, Pasilla, Poblano |
2
|
1000-1500 Scoville Units
|
Sandia , Cascabel, Rocotillo |
3
|
1500-2500 Scoville Units
|
Jalapeno, Chipotle |
4
|
2500-5000 Scoville Units
|
Yellow wax |
5
|
5000-15000 Scoville Units
|
Chile de arbol, Serano |
6
|
15000-30000 Scoville Units
|
Aji, Cayenne, Tabasco |
7
|
30,000-50,000 Scoville Units
|
Santaka, Chiltecpin (tepin), Thai |
8
|
50,000-100,000 Scoville Units
|
Habanero, Scotch Bonnet |
9
|
100,000-350,000 Scoville Units
|
Red Savina Habanero |
10
|
350,000-855,000 Scoville Units
|
Naga Jolokia
(Naga Morich, Bhut Jolokia) |
10
|
1,000,000 – 1,500,000 Scoville Units
|
Pure Capsaicin
(origin – Chemistry Lab) |
|
16 Million |
Fun Fact:In the big picture, the objective for all living things
is to spread their seed! Capsaicin discourages animals from eating the Chilees.
But birds, which are highly effective at distributing seeds, can eat them. Birds
will not experience the burning sensation the way we mammals do. The seeds will
pass through the bird's gut intact and spread to new areas. And voila, more peppers!!
Jalapeno chili peppers are harvested when the pepper is still in the green stage.
If left on the plant, the peppers would ripen until they turned bright red. It's
this early harvesting that allows for the milder green chili pepper.
Gluten Free
No. Our products are gluten free. The vinegar has been triple distilled to ensure
that no gluten is present. Therefore, individuals with Celiac disease are able to
enjoy our products.
Trans Fat Free
No. Our products are trans fat free.
Spices
Additives
No.
No.
A small amount of artificial coloring is added to enrich the green color of the
jelly. Tartrazine (FD and C Yellow #5) is one of the artifical colors used.
Policies
Our Privacy Policy is designed to assist you-businesses, consumers and the general
public-in understanding how we collect and use the personal information you provide
to us, and to help you make informed decisions when using our web site and all of
our related services therein.
To request a correction or deletion of your private information, or if you have
any questions and general comments about this privacy policy, please contact us.
When visiting the our web site, you may provide us with two types of information:
personal information you voluntarily choose to disclose that is collected on an
individual basis, and Web site use information gathered on a collective basis as
you and others browse our Web site.
Personal Information You Choose to Provide
You will provide us information about yourself, your firm or company, and your practices
when you register to be a user of our services, register for certain services, or
register for email newsletters and alerts.
If you choose to correspond with us through email, we may retain the content of
your email messages together with your email address and our responses. If you use
our "Email this page" feature to send a copy of that page to someone else, your
email address will appear as the sender of the email. Both your email address and
the recipient's email address will not be used for any other purpose.
Generally, we use personal information for purposes of managing and expanding our
business activities, providing customer service and making available other products
and services to our customers and prospective customers. Occasionally, we may also
use the information we collect to notify you about important changes to our Web
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We allow you the choice to opt-out of having your information used for purposes
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Until you explicitly opt-in for the first time, we consider you in the opt-out category.
We always notify our customers when their information is being collected by any
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or not they should proceed with services that require an outside party.
If you do not wish to receive any promotional or marketing e-mails and/or surface
mail marketing letters, you may opt-out of receiving those communications by using
the opt-out mechanism on the User Account Settings Web page, or by sending an e-mail
with the subject line "Unsubscribe" to our e-mail address. See above.
A cookie is a very small text document, which often includes an anonymous unique
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As you visit our Web site, the site uses its cookies to differentiate you from other
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Cookies, in conjunction with our Web server's log files, allow us to calculate the
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site and better serve our customers. Cookies do not allow us to gather any personal
information about you and we do not generally store any personal information that
you provided to us in your cookies.
Email is not recognized as a secure medium of communication. For this reason, we
request that you do not send private information to us by email. Some of the information
you may enter on our Web site may be transmitted securely via Secure Sockets Layer
SSL, 128 bit encryption services. Pages utilizing this technology will have URLs
that start with HTTPS instead of HTTP. Please contact Eric Farrell, Director of
Technology, at 570-602-1885, if you have any questions or concerns.
You may request access to all your personally identifiable information that we collect
online and maintain in our database by contacting us.
We are not responsible for the practices employed by Web sites linked to or from
our Web site nor the information or content contained therein. Often links to other
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browsing and interaction on any other Web site, including Web sites which have a
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read over those rules and policies before proceeding.
By using our Web site you consent to our collection and use of your personal information
as described in this Privacy Policy. If we change our privacy policies and procedures,
we will post those changes on our Web site to keep you aware of what information
we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances we may disclose it. At any
time you may request to view any and all changes and updates, via surface mail.
The Privacy Policy is subject to periodic review and change. In order to view the
current Privacy Policy, simply check this section of the website. If we materially
change our privacy policy, we will post those changes to this privacy statement
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how it is used, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it. In some cases
where we post a notice, we may also email user who have opted to receive communications
from us, notifying them of the changes in our privacy practices.