Though the temperature outside was a cool 93 degrees, thousands of mouths were on fire at the 19th annual Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival on Sunday at Waterloo Park.
“I’ve seen people come in with bread, chips and even a carton of milk,” said Carrie Hartwell, a volunteer for the food bank.
As Hartwell directed festival-goers — pointing and saying, “That way to fun,” — vendors from all over Central Texas touted the freshest and hottest ingredients to hungry customers. According to The Austin Chronicle’s Web site, the festival began as a friendly rivalry between Austin and San Antonio. More than 100 gallons of hot sauce are consumed each year.
UT marine biology senior Logan McClinton was one of many vendors trying to meet people and promote his relatively new brand. McClinton has been making his famous habanero relish for the past three years, which is created with a blend of habanero, serrano and jalapeño peppers, as well as onions, carrots, fresh garlic, salt and vinegar. After he first created the mix, friends and family encouraged McClinton to sell the recipe.
“We did all the canning in my apartment, and we just used a small food processor to make about 30 gallons worth of relish,” he said.
Despite his tedious start, McClinton hoped to make enough money at the festival to purchase better equipment. This will allow him to continue distributing Logan’s Habanero Relish locally.
The festival draws about 15,000 attendees and more than 350 entries every year, each vendor vying for a win in one of three competitive categories: best individual (homemade) sauce, best restaurant sauce and best commercial bottler. The winner had not yet been announced by press time.
A three-time winner and the first company to be inducted into the Hall of Flame, Texas-Texas Salsas is owned and operated by a father-son team, Eddie and Brian Sanderson. With roots in the specialty food business, Eddie Sanderson took note of the surge of public interest in salsa in the early ‘90s and decided to create the best tasting bottled salsa on the market.
Brian said the brand’s new fire-roasted salsa was hands-down the most popular at the festival, though it is not yet in stores.
“We use roasted ingredients that give the salsa a distinct flavor,” Sanderson said. “You’ve got to have a good blend of spices. There’s not a science to it; it’s just getting it down to a good recipe.”
Hopping from tent to tent, I ended up in front of a line of Big Dawg sauces and salsas and sampled the Big Dawg DNR (Do Not Resuscitate). Since I hadn’t heard what I was trying, I ended up taking a big scoop of the sauce that sent me reeling. Choking back tears, I spoke with Big Dawg creator Darrell Fitch, a firefighter, who had been encouraged to develop the brand by his wife and fellow firefighters.
I listened through gulps of lemonade as Fitch told me Big Dawg is now distributed in more than 40 stores throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He then graciously provided me with a free jar of Big Dawg FlatLime for my troubles.
Be the first to comment on this article!