Food App Review of the Week: Central Market Hatch Chile Pocket Cookbook

Central Market Hatch Chile Pocket Cookbook
Developer: Adaptdev LLC
Cost: Free
Runs on: iPhone
Website: www.centralmarket.com

One of these days I’d love to travel around the country to hit up all the food festivals. In Texas, the Central Market food grocer is holding their 16^th Annual Hatch Chile Fest. To make the experience a modern one, they have launched the Central Market Hatch Chile Pocket Cookbook app.

In short, this pocket cookbook provides dozens of recipes and a little background information on this hot green pepper. Most of this app is a cookbook, but there are a few add-ons that are nice.

When you launch the app you’re greeted with the Recipes page that includes: Starters, Mains, Sides, Desserts, and Drinks. All of these recipes feature the hatch chile and finding them is easy. The navigation is simple: click on the course, scroll up and down the recipe list, click on the recipe and you get a page with tabs for Ingredients and Instructions. Both tabs are well laid out and simple to follow. Since this is a free app, there are a few things missing that would be nice.

For example, there is no search function for the app and there are also no pictures associated with the recipes. Even without the images, however, the app looks good. In the top right corner of each recipe is a star button to add a recipe to your Favorites list. This list is the second of three global navigation links (the first being Recipes and the third is More). The Favorites list is nothing more than a quick reference guide to the recipes you’ve bookmarked.

As a nice touch, when you star a recipe it will show that star when browsing through recipes. Users will also notice a crown icon next to a few recipes. This icon represents contest finalist recipes for the Central Market recipe contest—now in its fifth year.

The last navigation point, More, links to two videos, a store locator and a background page on the growing relationship between the hatch chile and Central Market. The videos are nicely shot, but could use some improved audio. Also, clicking on the video launches YouTube and takes you out of the app. Not the most egregious navigation system in a free app, but something I would crush a paid app for.

Overall, this is a nice app that will be helpful for those looking to add a little spice to their life. The app has some really interesting recipes that I may or may not try out, like the Hatch Avocado Milkshake or the Peaches and Hatch Chili Relish. One thing’s for sure, I’ll definitely pick up a hatch chile during my next outing.

Toque Rating: 3/5