Kathryn Rem at the State Journal in Springfield, Illinois asks:

“Does anyone really like food this hot?”

To which I reply: Hell yea!

Eating in a restaurant is a minefield for me. I have learned to ask servers about the spiciness of menu items, but the answers are subjective. Usually, they tell me the dish has “a little heat.” And it often does, compared to the surface of the sun.

Come on, you live in Illinois! If you lived in Texas, or got lost in Mexico, I just might believe this. You sound like someone who is deathly allergic to peppers, much like someone asking if there are any peanuts or shellfish in a particular dish.

The fact of the matter is, there are possibly a FEW new items added to the menu to cater to those who like it spicy. With a cute little picture of a pepper next to it to warn (or attract) diners to the heat level.

True Chile heads will still be bringing their favorite hot sauces or powders to spice up whatever meal they order.

In part, I blame TV chef Emeril Lagasse for this unfortunate trend. He uses bold ingredients like a lion tamer uses a whip, inducing his studio audience into a frenzy as he steps up the flavors. In goes the onions. BAM! In goes the garlic. BAM! In goes the screamin’ hot chile peppers guaranteed to cause death before the second bite. BAM! BAM! BAM!

Exaggerate much? Emeril is guilty of only one thing: Entertainment. Yes, I know it’s a real shame that some people may go out and spice up their next meal with a pinch of cayenne powder and enjoy themselves. Oh the horror! Open up the Burn Unit at the E.R.!

They are just as likely to caramelize their onions, or make a risotto. There are a lot of things Emeril does on his show.

The influence of Latin cuisine is another culprit. Although I enjoy the relatively mild flavors of cumin, cilantro, oregano and mint, those tastes are overpowered when serranos are tossed into the mix. To me, fire overpowers the complexities of flavor.

Yea it’s a real shame we open up our borders to anyone, Adolf. Truth is, the world is getting smaller. Thanks to growing diversity and the internet, we can experience a slice of other cultures at Farmer’s Markets, World Markets & Imports. All this is really doing is adding more options for people. Last time I looked, you can still order a boring Chicken Parmigiana at the Olive Garden. Wait a second, that’s Italian!! Who let those guidos in?

Let’s be honest: I suspect that most Americans don’t even like super-spicy fare. But they ride the wave because it’s cooler to be part of a trend than to be the only one at the table not digging into the Tex-Mex sampler platter.

Let’s be honest, I’m sure the tone you wrote this piece was just for emphasis and reactions. Personally, I’d have to say that I don’t hang out with junior high kids, which is what you’re describing in your last paragraph there.

“What is spicy” is subjective to everyone. I’ve never seen my dad happier than eating a pepperoni pizza, wiping the sweat off his forehead. He thinks black pepper is spicy, and good for him.

My coworkers occasionally try out the hot sauces I bring in. Some use a lot, some not at all. But when we go out to lunch at our favorite chicken wing shack, they ALL order the exact highest level of heat they’re comfortable with, and enjoy every sweat-inducing and nose sniffling moment. Some foods are just MADE to be spicy!

There is this magic sweet spot everyone can experience… Where the spice is just a notch above comfortable, but not too hot. The spice must compliment the food, and it must be delicious enough that the diner can’t stop eating. After the meal is over, they’ll sit back and mellow in the afterglow of endorphins. Their face will be flushed, their body will bathe in a warm glow. Certain body parts may even tingle a little bit.

It’s these few moments that people will remember forever, and a feeling they may attempt to achieve again and again.

Does anyone really like food this hot?

McIlhenney’s makes half a million bottles of Tabasco a day. And they are only a fraction of the market.

I think the true answer lies in finding out what people eat when they’re all alone, and no one to show off to. I’ll be putting some homemade habanero sauce on my burgers tonight. You’re free to stop by and join me. Believe it or not, I can BBQ you a plain burger.
(But you better hurry, I hear farmers are now force-feeding jalapenos to their cows to make a spicier beef!)

A dog who likes spicy food and chile peppers is definitely our kind of dog! Thanks to Mick & Rita from Kato Productions for donating a couple of sauces and a not-big-enough Habanero chocolate bar (for us) to the cause. Woof!

Kato Productions is the creation of Mick and Rita Pinckney. The name for their sauces came from the love of their beloved Dalmatian, Kato, who is featured prominently on all their products. (What a cutie!) Besides being previous Scovie award winners, the Pinckneys are also veterans of the Food Network’s Food Finds show. From their glorious hacienda in the Sunshine State of Florida, Mick & Rita graced us with a little bit of info about their products and themselves….

Tell us a little about yourselves. What else do you do besides create really tasty sauces & chocolate bars?

We started making hot sauces in 1998. Then we decided to start our website business in 1999. Kato has always been the spokes-dog for our line of products. Kato’s Island Sauce is our original product and has been our best seller. Our other sauces came along shortly afterwards. We are continually refining our recipes. We just recently changed Kato’s Mean Green to Kato’s Meaner Greener to incorporate green habaneros instead of Jalapenos.

How would you describe the ‘perfect’ hot sauce?

The perfect hot sauce should incorporate both flavor and heat. But as we know, heat is relevant so what is hot to one is just spicy to another.

Most habanero sauces have a great deal of heat to them, yet yours manage to keep the heat from being too overwhelming while maintaining the great taste. Was that by design or did it just turn out that way when you mixed it up?

Our first batch of the Island Sauce was super hot! We started cutting back on the habanero peppers until we found what we thought was the perfect balance between heat and flavor.

So is Kato the official taste-taster of all your products, or does Ms. Skidmark REALLY rule the roost?

Kato is the President and CEO of Kato Productions. He has been the inspiration of our company since the beginning. His picture looks much better on a bottle of sauce than either one of us. Skidmark just looks pretty. She doesn’t even answer the phones around here.

[After this article was written, Kato the Dalmatian passed away at the ripe old age of 13. He will be much missed by those who knew and loved him. Fare thee well, Kato…perhaps you can share your chile peppers wherever you are.]

Any plans for new products from the drawing board there at KP’s?

We have BIG plans for the future of Kato Productions. We have one sauce in the works now and several in R& D. We have just recently relocated our operations to the St. Augustine area and plan to grow datil peppers for our sauces.

So what’s in all this stuff? An Ingredient List!

Kato’s Meaner Greener Sauce: Tomatillos, green habaneros, garlic, onions, cilantro, cider vinegar, lime juice, and spices

Kato’s Island Sauce: Habanero & cayenne peppers, mangoes, mustard, brown sugar, vinegar, spices

Kato’s Habanero Chocolate Bar: Sugar, chocolate liqueur, pure habanero powder, fractionated palm kernel oil and hydrogenated palm oil, cocoa powder, non-fat dry milk, milk fat, soya lecithin and vanillin

Joe’s $0.02 “Listen up…”

Kato’s Meaner Greener Sauce: I expected this sauce to be hotter since the sauce features green habaneros, but the tomatillos mellow this sauce out a bit. The garlic and spices give great FLAVOR and make this more of a multi-purpose hot sauce, and I found it tasted fantastic both in AND on food. I liked it best as an condiment on top of chicken salad. I hope no one saw mean licking my fingers after I ate….

Kato’s Island Sauce: Unless my taste buds have gone to meet their maker, I also expected this sauce to be hotter, but I found it mild enough to pour on food liberally. Meat-wise, this sauce seems ideally suited for chicken. As a marinade or even used like a light glaze on the grill, the taste is top-notch. The ingredients are simple but well-chosen, and I liked this one almost as much as the Meaner Greener.

Kato’s Habanero Chocolate Bar: Dark chocolaty taste at first which tasted quite yummy. My first thought after I ate part of the bar was, Great flavor, but not all that much heat. Then I ate another bite, and the heat grew?and grew. The more I ate, the hotter it got. Bottom line is that it?s the hottest of the chile chocolates I have ever tried, and that?s a compliment. Might also taste good, melted or not, with your favorite ice cream or to make some campfire s?mores that you won?t soon forget.

Linda’s $0.02 “I’m brilliant…”

Kato’s Meaner Greener Sauce: Mmmmm…chocolate. Wait. Wrong product. OK…so this is a habanero sauce I can get in to. It’s not so hot that it renders your taste buds useless, while still keeping that traditional habanero flavor. This sauce literally goes in and on everything. The bottle here is nearly gone, and I can’t say that about every habanero sauce. I think this is a great sauce to try if you’re afraid of habanero sauces, but still want to get the flavor of the pepper.

Kato’s Island Sauce: Really nice flavor balanced with appropriate heat. This sauce is tremendous on chicken, but don’t rule it out to spice up boring things like rance dressing, sour cream or cream cheese. It adds a pleasant burn while punching up the flavor.

Kato’s Habanero Chocolate Bar: So, maybe it’s because I’m pregnant, but the instant I tried this, I thought of using it on frozen bananas. Remember the chocolate covered frozen bananas you had as a kid? It’s just that the flavor of the chocolate combined with the building heat of the habanero screams out for something cool and fruity. Or, maybe melted as a fondue with some chilled cheesecake. It’s wonderful, but I can’t see myself eating a whole bar of it because it seems like it needs a buddy.

Don’t just take our word for it! Here are some online reviews of these products:

Saucerater
TheHotPepper Reviews
Island Sauce Reviews
Meaner Greener Reviews
Habanero Chocolate Reviews
Hot Sauce Blog review

Give these reviewers a shout and ask them to review Kato’s products as well:

Feeling Saucy
Alien Zombie
Carl’s big list

Want to review Kato’s products for yourself? Go here and leave your own opinion:

www.rateitall.com/t-1125-hot-sauces.aspx
www.thehotpepper.com/viewforum.php?f=3

Recipe Ideas

Kato has own recipe forum (not bad for a dog, huh?) and you can check it out HERE. Lots of recipes to be had, and some do use some of these sauces.

Joe’s Hamburger Condiment

3 tbsp. mayonnaise
1 tbsp. mustard (we used Gulden’s brown)
2 tbsp. Kato’s Meaner Greener Sauce

Mix together in a small bowl until smooth consistency. Ad hoc creation by us during a night cooking on the grill. Makes enough condiment for a couple of burgers, depending on how much you use on each.

FIRE! FIRE! No, no…not in a building or anything, but on our palates after infusing them with some of the habanero sauces that Jim sent to us. Thanks, Jim, this is the kind of heat & fire you don’t have to call your homeowners insurance about.

Jim Campbell, head honcho of the Mild to Wild (R) Pepper Co., is a double threat in the hot & spicy food world. Not only does he make some great sauces and powders, but he also grows his own peppers in the process. We’re not talking about any old chile peppers, but Red Savina Habaneros. We grew them once ourselves, and they polluted every other pepper in the garden with their heat! Besides his sauce-making domain, Jim is also a professional firefighter. We were able to convince them to drag Jim away from sliding down the firepole to answer a few quick questions for us….
» Continue Reading

Slowly but surely, we’re getting caught up after the big move. Fortunately, we have some cool companies who want us to feature their products…so we’ll keep doing it as long as the demand is there.

That being said, here’s the upcoming schedule of companies whose products we will be doing Features on, in order of their future postings, plus an estimated timeframe of posting:

1. Kato Productions - late June

2. The Art of Chipotle - early July

3. Rojo’s Gourmet Foods - late July

4. Red Lion Spicy Foods - early August

5. Loco Luna Gourmet Foods - late August

More to come! Please keep checking back!

We’ll try to keep this updated as we get more, or use up, new hot sauces in our collection. Some purely as for collecting purposes, but we keep 2-3 dozen different ones open at all times for our fiendish culinary uses.

9 1/2 Weeps Hot Passion Sauce
Acid Rain
Aji Amazona - Red
Alberta Crude
Amoy Chili & Garlic Sauce
ANALize This XXX Garlic Hot Sauce
Around the World Hot Sauce
Arriba! Salsa Mordita
Ass in Antarctica
Ass in Space
Ass in the Tub
Baboon Ass Gone Rabid Hot Sauce
Baboon Ass Brand Habanero Hot Sauce
Baby Rasta
Bada Bing Bada Boom Mal Occhio
Bada Bing Bada Boom Probable Cause
Bada Bing Bada Boom Sauce
Bailey’s Irish Scream
Baron Classic Pepper Sauce - red
Baron West Indian Hot Sauce - yellow
Batten Island Extra Hot Sauce
Batten Island Hot Sauce
Belligerent Blaze
Blackburn’s Powderkeg
Blackburn’s Sourpuss
Blair Q Chipotle Slam
Blair Q Habanero Mango
Blair Q Jalapeno Tequila
Blair Q Wasabi Ginger
Blair’s 2am Reserve
Blair’s 3am Reserve
Blair’s 4am Reserve
Blair’s 5am Reserve
Blair’s 6am Reserve
Blair’s After Death Sauce
Blair’s Death Sauce
Blair’s Holiday Reserve 2004
Blair’s Hot Pot
Blair’s Jalapeno Death Sauce
Blair’s Mega Death Sauce
Blair’s Possible Side Effects
Blair’s Salsa de la Muerte
Blair’s Smokin’ Hot Pot
Blair’s Sudden Death Sauce
Blair’s Sweet Death Sauce
Blind Betty’s Blind in the Rind
Blind Betty’s Original
Blind Betty’s Pineapple Pizzazz
Blues On the Bayou ‘98
Bobarosa’s Scorpion Stinger Juice
Braswell’s Vidalia Onion & Fla. Orange Hot Sauce
Brother Bru-Bru’s - Mild
Brutal Bajan Hot Habanero Sauce
Bucky Goldstien’s Hot Sauce
Bufalo Jalapeno Sauce
Burchell’s Gourmet Africa - Harissa
Burchell’s Gourmet Africa - Mamba
Burchell’s Gourmet Africa - Peri Peri
Busha Browne’s Pukka Hot Pepper Sauce
Bustelo’s Habanero Pepper Sauce
CaBoom! 2 2 Hot
Cactus Carlos Hot Stuff
Café Louisiane Hotter’n Hell Sauce
Calido Chile Traders Kiss of Fire
Cape Fear - Near Death rating
Cap’n Gator
Capsico Classic
Century Hot Pepper Sauce
Chef Ivo’s Fucowee Indians P.O.W W.O.W.
Chef Shaikh “Raging Inferno”
Chile Today-Hot Tamale
Chili’s Fire Pit - Dark Vader
Chili’s Fire Pit - Limelight
Chilli Peppers Hot Sauce
Chipotle Del Sol Smokin’ Hot Sauce
Cholula Hot Sauce
Colon Blow
Congo Sauce
Cool Million Pepper Extract
Coyote Cocina Chipotle Hot Sauce
Coyote Cocina Howlin’ Hot Sauce
Craig’s Hot Sauce - Green
Craig’s Hot Sauce - Red
Crazy Jerry’s - Brain Damage
Crazy Jerry’s - Devil’s Brew Garlic Hot Sauce
Crazy Jerry’s - Orange Rush
Crocodile Soup
Denzel’s Apples & Cinnamon
Denzel’s Dangerous Goods
Denzel’s Fire Hazard
Denzel’s Kamikaze
Denzel’s Lil’ Smokehouse
Denzel’s Pineapple Punch
D.L. Jardine’s Blazin’ Saddle
D.L. Jardines Texas Champagne
Da Bomb - Beyond Insanity
Da Bomb - Ground Zero
Da Bomb - The Final Answer
Dancing Fire Chipotle Hot Sauce
Dat’l Do-it Devil Drops
Dave’s Cool Cayenne Pepper Hot Sauce
Dave’s Gourmet Ginger Peach Hot Sauce
Dave’s Hurtin’ Habanero Hot Sauce
Dave’s Hurtin’ Jalapeno Hot Sauce
Dave’s Insanity Sauce - Private Reserve 1996
Dave’s Insanity Sauce - Private Reserve 2002
Dave’s Insanity Sauce - Private Reserve 2003
Dave’s Roasted Garlic Hot Sauce
Dave’s Roasted Red Pepper & Chipotle Hot Sauce
Dave’s Scotch Bonnet Hot Sauce
Dave’s Temporary Insanity Hot Sauce
Dave’s Ultimate Insanity
de la Grenade Hot Forte Pepper Sauce
Deathwish Cayenne Sauce
Deathwish Peach Jalapeno Sauce
Demon Ichor
Dia De Los Muertos Piquine Tequila Pepper Sauce
Dragon Fire
East Armageddon - Post-Apocalypse
El Paso Chile Co. - Tequila Hot Sauce
El Yucateco Mayan Sauce
Endorphin Rush
Engine Number 1
Flaming Ass Friendly Fire Habanero Sauce
Flavors of the Rainforest - Green Habanero
Flavors of the Rainforest - Papaya Pepper
Frontera - Tangy Toasted de Arbol
Frostbite
Gator Snowbird Surprise
Gator Vertigo
Gecko Gary’s OUCHipotle
Gecko Gary’s Roasted Red Pepper
Gib’s Hellbanero Fire
Gib’s Nuclear Hell
Gil’s Crying Tongue Hot Sauce
Goya Hot Sauce
Guess What
Habanero Hurricane
Hard Time
Harold’s Dangerously Hot Sauce
Havoc Maker - green
Hell Sauce
Holy Shit! Habanero Sauce
Hot Bitch At The Beach
Hot Chocolate
Hot Crotch Sauces “Bonerrific”
Hot Sauce From Hell - Devil’s Revenge
Hot Spots - Blaze
Hot Spots - Ember
Hot Spots - Fireball
Hot Spots - Flame
Hot Spots - Smoky
Hula Girl - Chipotle Habanero
Hula Girl - Jalapeno Sauce
Iguana Red Cayenne Pepper Sauce
Iguana XXX Habanero Pepper Sauce
Jamaica Hell Fire - “Doc’s Special”"
Jim Beam Hot Sauce
Joe Perry’s Rock Your World Boneyard Brew
Juanita’s Picante Hot Sauce
Jump Up and Kiss Me - Spicy Moroccan Date Sauce
Jump Up and Kiss Me - Original
Jump Up and Kiss Me - Passion Fruit
Jump Up and Kiss Me - Smoky Chipotle
Kato’s Island Sauce
Kato’s Meaner Greener
Key West is Going Bananas
King Tut Hot Sauce
Kiss of Fire Ultimate Hot Sauce
Kryptonite Super Hot Sauce
La Fama Hot Sauce
Laughing Bull Hot Sauce
Lava Hot Sauce - Medium
Lava Hot Sauce - Mild
Lava Hot Sauce - Hot
Lawyer’s Breath
Liquid Stoopid
Los Andes Aji Hot Sauce
Louisiana Gold
Mad Cat Hot Sauce
Mad Dog 357 Collector’s Ed. w/ Bullet
Mad Dog 357 Hot Sauce
Mad Dog Green Amigo
Mad Dog Inferno 1999 Private Reserve
Mad Dog Liquid Fire
Mad Dog’s Revenge
Mad Pepper Co. “Green With Envy”
Mad Pepper Co. “Mother’N Law’s Revenge”
MAGMA Hot Sauce
Marie Sharp’s Habanero Sauce - Fiery Hot
Matouk’s West Indian Flambeau Sauce
Maui Pepper Co. - Apple Sass
McCutcheon’s Vidalia Onion Hot Sauce
Mean Devil Woman
Medicine Man Hot Sauce
Melinda’s XXXMas Sauce
Melinda’s XXXXtra Reserve
Mo Hotta-Mo Betta Cayenne Garlic
Mo Hotta-Mo Betta Chipotle Adobo
Mo Hotta-Mo Betta Red Savina Habanero
Mo Hotta-Mo Betta Thai Tamarind
Montezuma - Smokey Chipotle
Montezuma - Wild Pequin Sauce
Montgomery’s Fire Lizard Habanero Hot Sauce
Monty’s Smoke & Fire Apple Smoked Habanero Sauce
Moonlite Bar-B-Q Very Hot Sauce
Mountainman Fire Roasted Habanero Sauce
Mountainman Roasted Corn Garlic & Chipotle Sauce
Mrs. Dog’s Dangerously Hot Pepper Sauce
Nor’Easter Hot sauce
Oak Hill Farms - Jalapeno Pepper Sauce
Oak Hill Farms - Scorned Woman
Oak Hill Farms - Three Pepper Lemon
One Eyed Willy’s Peter Pepper Sauce
Orange Krush
Pa Chai’s Super Hot Sauce
Pain is Good Batch #114 - Jamaican style
Pain is Good Batch #218 - Louisiana style
Pain is Good Batch #37 - Garlic
Panola Bat’s Brew
Panola Clearly Hot Sauce
Panola Vampfire
Pepper Girl - Bad Girls in Heat
Pepper Girl - Big Top Fantasy
Pepper Girl - Fifi’s Nasty Little Secret
Pepper Girl - Kitten’s Big Banana
Pepper Girl - Sultan’s Main Squeeze
Pepper Girl - Wrong Number
Phamous Phloyd’s Hot Sauce
Pickapeppa Hot Pepper Sauce
Pirate’s Attack
Pop’s Pepper Patch - Hot & Smoky Habanero
Predator Great White Shark Sauce
Pure Cap
Purgatory Brand - Sweet Heat
Purgatory Brand - Voo Doo Chile Sauce
Purple Haze Psychedelic Hot Sauce
Pyrodiablo
Quaker Steak & Lube - Hot Sauce
Ralph’s Righteous Habanero Sauce
Rectal Rocket Fuel
Red Savina Garlic Sauce
Redneck Gormay - Sweat Thang
Religious Experience “Apocalypse”"
Rhino Peri-Peri Pepper Sauce
Ring of Fire Hot Sauce
River Bank-Trinidad Tomatillo
Roberto’s Baja Style Original De Arbol
Rohoboth Beach Boardwalk “Lime-Cilantro”
Ron’s Nucking Futs
Salsa Cancun
Samson’s Sauce
Satan’s Blood
Saxis Island Fulcanelli Pepper Sauce
Scottie’s Habanero Blues Sauce
Screamin’ Demon
Screaming Rasta - Lost in Boiling Lake Xtra Hot
Screaming Rasta - Lost in Boiling Lake XXXtra Hot
Screaming Rasta - Lost in Sulphur Springs
Sexabi medium
Sexabi mild
Sexabi XXXhot
Shag’s Own - Green Heat
Shag’s Own - Original Redneck Sauce
Smack My Ass & Call Me Sally
Smack My Ass & Call Me Sally Habanero Sauce
Smokey Pig’s Habanero Hot Sauce
Smokin’ Habs Mole Style Hot Sauce
Solar Flare
Son of Beast Hot Sauce
Southwest Spirit - Smokin’ Oranges
Southwest Spirit - Zen and Passion
Southwest Spirit - Zia Fire
Spice Exchange Cayenne Pepper Sauce
Spice Exchange Habanero Pepper Sauce
Spice Exchange Jalapeno Pepper Sauce
Spice Exchange Tabasco Pepper Sauce
St. Blazes Cure
Sweet Mama Jamma’s Mojo Juice
Tabasco - Chipotle
Tabasco - Habanero
Tabasco - Milder
Tabasco - Original
Taheati’s Tropi-Garlic Hot Sauce
Tahiti Joe’s Polynesian Hot Sauce
Tamarindo Bay Pepper Sauce
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Hot Sauce
Tejas Tears Habanero Chile Sauce
The Beast
The Beast-”Terror In a Bottle”
The Boulder Hot Sauce Co. “Harry’s Habanero”
The Boulder Hot Sauce Co. “Smokey Serrano”
The Reaper Hot Sauce
The Source
The Thing Hot sauce
This the Hot Sauce Your Parents Warned You About
Three Banditos Salsa Habanero
Toad Sweat Chocolate Orange Dessert Hot Sauce
Toad Sweat Lemon Vanilla Hot Sauce
Toe-Tally Gator
Tongues of Fire
Toxic Waste
Trader Joe’s Jalapeno Pepper Hot sauce
Trader Jose’s Tena Pepper Sauce
Trinidad Habanero Sauce - Xtra Hot
Tropical Classics - Banana Jama
Tropical Classics - Maya Moon Sauce
Tropical Classics - Rica Red
Tropical Pepper Co. Xxtra Hot Habanero
Tropical Pepper Co. XXXtra Hot Habanero
Two Flaming Arrows
UnBEARable
Uncle Billy’s Wild Blue Yonder
University of Kentucky Fire ‘em Up Hot Sauce
Vicious Viper Hot Sauce
Walker’s Wood Jonkanoo Pepper Sauce
Wanza’s Wicked Temptation
Wicked Wolf
Widow
Wizard’s Habanero Hot Stuff
You Can’t Handle This Hot Sauce
Z…Nothing Beyond

We are lucky enough to live here in Columbus, OH, along with the Caboom!-meister himself, CaJohn. Late last week, Joe paid a visit to his store.

You would never know it, but the CaJohn’s hot sauce empire resides in an unassuming brown brick building in north central Columbus, OH. Joe stopped by to pick up a couple of hot sauce display racks, and struck up a conversation with CaJohn (a.k.a. John Hard) about various topics. John talked a bit about the perils of the FDA stopping in for a visit, competition at various Fiery Food Shows, the linguistic talent of Chris Tevis from Perfectly Pickled fame, and even a little about making his hot sauces. He even offered to let Joe help make some hot sauce in the Fall when all the peppers come in! Hey, a little “free” labor would be cool by us!

One of the strange, but true, subjects we talked about was the fact that despite how well CaJohn’s products are known nationally or how many awards he’s won, most people in central Ohio have never heard of him. Hopefully, articles like this will change that:

READ THE ARTICLE

Dave Hirschkopf was the first person to link hot sauce and insanity…and thank goodness for that! Besides being an industry leader in the hot & spicy biz, he was insane enough to send us a bunch of products to try. Thanks, Dave!!

Dave’s products come with the disclaimer, “Warning: This product may be addictive for those with taste buds, but don’t worry, we’ll make more.” None of the products have any preservatives, and we dare to find the bacteria that could live in any of the hotter stuff anyway.

Our funny story about Dave Insanity sauce goes like this. We went to the D.C. Chili Cookoff back in 1998. It was the end of May, but hot as hell outside. It must have been in the 90’s and very humid. Not the most perfect day to eat chili, but we did it despite the heat. Anyway, we’re walking along tasting all these chilis. We stopped at one stand that had a bunch of hot sauces out on the table as condiments. Linda got her little 2 oz. cup of chili and put about a teaspoon of Dave’s Insanity on top and promptly chugged & swallowed the whole thing. There were no stands that sold drinks for what seemed like a block. It was all she could do just to try to breathe, let alone talk. So, she didn’t. Joe didn’t understand why Linda wasn’t talking. She was way too embarrassed to tell him what she had done. Eventually, Linda began talking again, but the sweat that was coming from her had little to do with the temperature outside and EVERYTHING to do with that sauce. It is just one of the many times we’ve watched each other suffer for our love of hot sauces.

Dave had some great things to say about his sauces, his company, and what it’s like to be something of a pioneer in the hot & spicy food industry:

What gives you the most pleasure in creating & producing your products?

I like to see ideas become reality. It is great to take a concept, stretch it in different directions and then, after all the time spent, have something concrete. It feels even better when people enjoy it or it solves a problem, but you can’t win them all.

As former Marylanders ourselves, what do you miss most about the good ol’ days back at Burrito Madness?

Owning and operating a restaurant is a unique experience. Despite the long hours and the hard work of staffing and running a kitchen, Burrito Madness had that immediacy and intimacy that felt great. In a restaurant, you touch the food every day and see your customers face to face. Even though restaurants have a fast pace, there is a simplicity about the experience. If you make the food as tasty as you can for the price, you get to see people enjoy it. It was also a bonus to see some deserving souls writhe in pain from overdoing our Insane sauces. (We like to see that too!)

What led you to going from making your super-hot and/or humorous products to the diversified line that you have now?

The Super hot sauces that I pioneered are a fun idea. I am proud that we were the first super hot and that so many people have enjoyed that part of our company. Like most people, I have more than one idea. I have never viewed my company as only a hot food company. We are about creating great memorable experiences with food. I think that Insanity Sauce is memorable, but I hope that Heirloom Tomato Pasta Sauces and Porcini Spice Rubs are also special and memorable.

What gives you your inspiration in creating your products?

I guess that I tend to daydream. Somedays I get ideas that tend to start with “wouldn’t it be great if…”. Many of my ideas are products or services or government policies or charitable works. The ideas that are aren’t too weird, I evaluate for our business.

Is there anything new going on in the labs at Dave’s Gourmet? If so, what?

We are getting ready to launch several new items. These include a hot sauce where you turn the top of the bottle and it actually changes the heat level of the sauce. Another great item is a pump spray hot sauce that is also a garden spray. You can season your barbeque and keeps deer out of your garden. We are also working on a line of dessert sauces (Gingerbread Crème and Apple Pie & Ice Crème). There are also many more ideas.

So what’s in all this stuff? An Ingredient List!

Burning Nuts: peanuts, salt, habanero chile, dextrose, spices, monosodium glutamate, onion, garlic, natural flavors, citric acid, extractives of paprika, not more than 2% silica gel

Insanity corn: yellow popcorn, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, salt, pepper, spices, natural and artificial flavorings

Hurtin’ Habanero and Honey Mustard: water, red chili peppers, honey, sugar, mustard seed, white distilled vinegar, wheat flour, salt, habanero peppers, garlic, xantham gum, lemon juice, paprika, onions, citric acid, soybean oil, natural vitamin E, turmeric & annatto spice, natural flavor

Insanity sauce: onions, hot peppers, tomato paste, hot pepper extract, salt, cane vinegar, garlic, citric acid, xantham gum, spices

Ultimate Insanity sauce: red habaneros, hot pepper extract, onions, red chile, tomato paste, salt, garlic, cane vinegar, vegetable oil, xantham gum

Hurtin’ Habanero sauce: water, red chile pepper (red peppers, salt, acetic acid), onions, habanero puree (habanero peppers, salt, citric acid), white cane vinegar, garlic, spices, salt, xantham gum

Scotch Bonnet sauce: water, scotch bonnet peppers, cane vinegar, peaches, salt, citric acid, glucose, sugar, onions, xantham gum, ascorbic acid, spices

Hurtin’ Jalapeno sauce: chayote pulp, cayenne pepper pulp, leek, salt, garlic powder, fresh coriander, cane vinegar, jalapeno pepper pulp, lemon juice, acetic acid, citric acid, xantham gum, cumin

Joe’s $0.02 Dig it…

Burning Nuts: Once taste of these and you’ll never even consider most other brands of spicy peanuts ever again. Unlike those, the heat from the habanero chile gets me to put these darlings within my reach whenever I have a taste for snacky-type food. I only wish they came in a bigger container.

Insanity corn: There is a shortage of good hot popcorn out there, and this fills the need precisely. It has some heat which is cumulative, but not lethal compared to other of Dave’s products. The flavor was good enough that even our 2 year-old was chowing down as fast as he could shove kernels in his mouth.

Hurtin’ Habanero and Honey Mustard: One great thing about this mustard is that it doesn’t taste like a typical mustard, and has this great balance of habanero and honey that doesn’t seem to favor one over the other. It’s positively delectable with meat, veggies, or whatever use you might find for mustard.

Insanity sauce: The signature sauce of Dave’s line of sauces. It has overpowering heat which hits you about the time your tastebuds are grasping for the taste of the sauce. It’s what one might call stupid hot, as in you are stupid if you eat too much of it with its pervasive heat.

Ultimate Insanity sauce: Let’s face it, I can’t disguise that this sauce has ummm…limited uses. It’s an extract sauce, and a mega-powerful one at that. I like extract sauces, and use them…but one bottle is likely to last quite a while. Taste a little on the tip of a toothpick and you will see what I mean. BEWARE!

Hurtin’ Habanero sauce: Definitely a step down in heat from its brethren sauces, it is a pretty straightforward habanero sauce with lots of that characteristic taste. It’s not fancy with a long list of ingredients, but it works great as an everyday hot sauce when you want to add a little heat.

Scotch Bonnet sauce: Further proof that scotch bonnet peppers are NOT habaneros. Less heat than the Hurtin’ Habanero sauce with just a hint of peachy flavor, it’s pretty tangy. I liked it as an accompaniment to any kind of grilled chicken.

Hurtin’ Jalapeno sauce: Probably the sauce that I thought had the best taste of this bunch, accentuated by chayote pulp and leek. It tastes very green, and that’s a good thing. A little tart, but endows great flavor to all the food that it touches. Yummy!

Linda’s $0.02 Far out…

Burning Nuts: These are the best nuts I’ve ever tasted. *ahem* Let me rephrase…I LOVE Dave’s nuts. Um…OK…well, this isn’t exactly working for what I want to say. All right…these peanuts are hot, tasty and best served with some cold beer. They go down a little too easy, so be sure to buy more than one if you like hot nuts. Yes, I’m done.
Insanity corn: Our toddler loves this stuff. I’m not saying that I don’t. I’m just saying that it’s so good that it passes a toddler’s palate. That really DOES say a lot. Much like the nuts, it goes quickly…too quickly. It makes you wonder how to take the regular market popcorn and tailor it to get the same taste, but you really can’t. If you’re a popcorn fan, you must try this.

Hurtin’ Habanero and Honey Mustard: I LOVE this mustard, though it wouldn’t be my first choice to use on a plain ol’ hot dog. I like this mustard used IN other products. It’s amazing added to other sauces to spice things up. Try it in egg salad or deviled eggs and potato salad. It’s just so flavorful that it punches up the plain everyday meals and makes them extraordinary.

Insanity sauce: So, Joe and I tried a TINY bit of this on a cucumber. Yes, a cucumber. We both put the cuke in our mouths at the same time and as soon as that happened, Joe said, “Dumb-ass.” He was talking about both of us. After a few spoonfuls of ice cream we were able to talk about the event. (This is not the first time that I have erred in using Dave’s Insanity Sauce. Review the story of the 1998 Chili Cook-off above.) Anyway…I really do like this sauce, but it has to be used in moderation. That’s a word both Joe and myself confuse sometimes, but it must be done.

Ultimate Insanity sauce: Admittedly, I was not brave enough to try this outright. We do use extract sauces around the house, especially when we’re making large quantities of something like chili. I’m pregnant right now and I just didn’t want to be set on fire. Sorry Dave. I’m already going through a bottle of Tums per week and was running short.

Hurtin’ Habanero sauce: Normally I’m not a big fan of Habanero sauces because many producers go for the heat and forget about the flavor. Not this bad boy! It certainly goes for the burn, but it hardly lacks flavor. I’ve liked adding this to soups. It’s been a cool spring and soups have been a main staple around here. This bottle is very close by the stove.

Scotch Bonnet sauce: The flavor of the Scotch Bonnet pepper just pops right out as soon as you try this. It’s not masked by other ingredients, which I just adore. It’s a very unique pepper flavor and gives you a break from all the regular sauces. I like the saltiness of it as well. I tend to add this to bland food. It boosts the salt content and natural flavor of the foods you are eating while adding that unique pepper zing. Any veggie preparation is begging for this stuff.

Hurtin’ Jalapeno sauce: I’ve been a huge Jalepeno fan this pregnancy. This sauce just rocked my world. I feel the same way about the salt content that I did about the Scotch Bonnet, and it’s ability to stay true to the Jalepeno pepper flavor. There’s just no mistaking this for anything other than pure Jalepeno. I’ve enjoyed adding this to chicken burritos and rice preparations. Next up is trying it with black beans and rice. This stays close to the stove as well. Baby bug thanks you for this one, Dave. So does the Tums company.

Don’t just take our word for it! Here are some online reviews of these sauces:

www.geocities.com/alienzombie13/hot_sauce.html
www.saucerater.com
www.geocities.com/jgano2/hot_sauce_guide.htm
www.feelingsaucy.com/

Want to review Dave’s Gourmet sauces for yourself? Go here and leave your own opinion:

www.rateitall.com/t-1125-hot-sauces.aspx

www.thehotpepper.com

Recipe Ideas

Dave has a number of mouth-watering recipes listed on his website. You can find them at:

Dave’s Recipes

On some blogs, you can find out a little bit about the authors themselves. This is one of those blogs. Duh!

Linda was born in Chicago, IL and raised in the Chicago area until the age of 17, when the wind, cold and snow finally got to her. Sick of the snow, Linda “followed the sun” to Austin, Texas where she swapped the snow for the 105-degree heat of Texas summers. After 11 years of personal and professional growth, Linda hit the road again thinking she wanted to relocate to Boston, MA. She stopped a little south of there, settling into northern Virginia just south of Washington, D.C. in 1997. After meeting the eclectic other author of this blog, Joe, she relocated up the road to Baltimore, MD in 1998. This was followed by a job stint working & living in Brussels, Belgium from 1999-2000 before relocating back to Lexington, KY in April, 2000. Now a resident of Columbus, OH, Linda is a full-time mother of two sons and will also be pursuing her bachelor’s degree in Pyschology in Spring 2006 at The Ohio State University.

Joe was born in South Bend, IN and lived there until the age of 7, when his whole clan uprooted and moved to the Sunshine State of Florida. For 11 years, Joe resided in Bradenton, FL and dodged hurricanes and half-blind senior citizens until he graduated high school and started college at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA. One year in New Orleans was more than enough (temptations on sobriety and all), and he relocated to Lexington, KY where he graduated from the University of KY in 1994 as a medical technologist. From there, he spent 1994 to 1999 in Baltimore, MD working as a lab tech and getting ready for medical school. He met Linda in 1998, and the rest, as they say, is history. It was his job that ultimately led both of them to Belgium and then back to Kentucky again. He enrolled at the Pikeville College School of Osteopathic Medicine in 2001 and graduated with his D.O. degree in 2005. Now a resident of of Columbus, OH, Joe will be starting his internship in July 2005 and plans to enter his Anesthesiology residency next year.

Joe and Linda have been married since 2000. They have two sons, Ari (born in 8/02) and Joshua (born in 9/05).

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