1) Where does your passion for food come from?
A belief in the promise of sustainable agriculture
2) Tell us about your culinary journey.
I started making hot sauce from my boss’s mother’s recipe while working on a small truck farm on the Klamath River. My friends there were all plant nerds, and they turned me on to seed saving, so when I discovered an off-type pepper that I liked, it seemed an obvious project to try and isolate the traits that I liked, and to develop a new variety. By the time I left the farm, I’d begun making larger and larger batches of hot sauce, and also had a seed variety that was fairly well stabilized, so I combined the two projects: scaling up the recipe and featuring my own variety, as well as several of my favorite heirlooms.
3) Where do you source your ingredients?
For Hot Winter, I grow a lot of my own peppers, and some of my own garlic. Any additional peppers and garlic are purchased farm direct from Organic growers in Oregon. I purchase organic commodities (vinegar and sugar) primarily through Azure Standard, which is based in Dufer, OR.
4) Tell us about a new product you are working on.
Chile Vinegar. This is the brine created by my fermenting peppers. It’s a bit salty, but is magnificently and aromatically piquant. It makes a fantastic spritzer/cocktail, and is downright magical for brining meats.
5) What will our fans find at your booth this fall?
Organic Fermented hot sauce. I will have at least one Limited Edition variety (not available at grocery stores), as well as Chile Vinegar, on sale for Turkey brining. And tea towels! (They show off botanical renderings of the chiles used in my hot sauce).
