My first and accidental forays begun really at school eating and stealing noodles from Asian classmates.  I was addicted to noodles as a teenager and was accused by one teacher as being “the most efficient calorie burner I’ve ever met”. I didn’t necessarily associate the flavours of Korean, Chinese and Japanese noodles with heat or spice it was mostly the meat or fish flavour I was drawn too.

I (Deja) came to love hot sauce while growing up in Southern California, eating house made hot sauce from a little hole in the wall Mexican food restaurant in high school.  It was only a drive- thru but it had the best burritos and the hot sauce that I have ever had. This was the inspiration for our Morita sauce. My true love of cooking with chilies began when I became the executive chef at a boutique Thai and Indonesian fusion restaurant in Manhattan Beach California where I worked with two wonderful Thai ladies

Laura and Jared of Poor Devil Pepper Company share their journey with starting their fermented hot sauce company, collaborating with artists, sourcing from local farmers, and their zero waste approach.

Town Tine Hot Sauce was created by Bernard King and Eibhlín Cooke in the summer of 2020 and was a product of their keen interest in hot sauce, fermented foods and, in reality, boredom as a result of the Covid-19 restrictions that were in place in Ireland at the time. Although both parties had loved hot sauce prior to making their first batch, neither had ever thought that they would ever be making and selling it in their local community and beyond.

Brian from Craft Hot Sauce and Craic Sauce is interviewed on the 495 podcast. Brian shares how to started growing peppers, making his first batch and going on to start an educational hot sauce website and hot sauce company.

Geoff Barker, fermented hot sauce maker and owner of Sabarac (Australia) shares different techniques of fermenting and discuss some tips for beginners.

I grew up in a small rural village in the South Island of New Zealand. My parents were trying to live a post hippy, self sufficient life. They grew most of our food and made lots of the things we owned and used in our lives.

My name's Mark and I run Singularity Sauce Co. I'm a Scottish sauce maker based in Aberdeenshire. I create sauces using local and seasonal produce, wherever possible. You want to know more? Great! Read on.

It all got started in 2014 when I started my first garden in my backyard. I had always liked peppers and wanted to try something different. So I looked around the internet and found the Carolina Reaper Peppers from Puckerbutt Pepper Company and I was hooked!

Jolene Collins of the Colorado based artisanal sriracha company Jojo's Sriracha talks about why she decided to start her business and why her motto is love hard, give a fuck!