2017 Screaming Mi MI Award Winners!

screaming-mi-mi-champion-dirty-dicks-hot-sauceThe Screaming Mi Mi Awards were announced this year at the 5th Annual NYC Hot Sauce Expo.

Grand Champion Winner!

CONGRATS To :

Dirty Dicks Hot Sauce

In addition to the prestigious honor of being the 2017 Screaming Mi Mi Grand Champion, Dirty Dicks also won:

50 Case purchase from Peppers.com distribution
Hot Sauce featured in June subscription of Fuego Box
Full Page Ad in Chile Pepper Magazine
1 Year of Free banner advertising on the Official Scott Roberts website: www.scottrobertsweb.com
Free 10 x 10 Booth at the 2018 NYC Hot Sauce Expo (or another High River presenting Expo)

A Big Time Congrats To All of the 2017 Winners!!

The panel of Judges that include celebrity chefs from CBS, FOX & Food Networks, writers from Bon Appetit Magazine, Rachael Ray Magazine, Food Network Magazine, Huffington Post, NYC Newspapers, NYC Food Bloggers, Sirius XM Radio, NYC Chefs and other industry professionals.

 

Screaming Mi Mi Winners Full Listing…

Announcing…the Hot Sauce Hall of Fame Class of 2017 Inductees!

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Hot Sauce Hall of Fame Class of 2017

After a long period of anticipation, the Hot Sauce Hall of Fame Foundation is very proud to announce the Hot Sauce Hall of Fame Class of 2017. The Hot Sauce Hall of Fame will induct 4 people all of which have been very instrumental in the fiery foods, which will take place at the NYC Hot Sauce Expo on April 22nd and 23rd at the Brooklyn Expo Center in Brooklyn, NY.

This year’s group continues to celebrate and honor the biggest and brightest names in the industry. Here is your Hot Sauce Hall of Fame Class of 2017!

  1. Luther Hearn – Peppers: Luther has built one of the biggest distributors in the United States that specializes in Hot Sauce, BBQ Sauce and Salsa. Peppers.com was one of the original websites to sell hot sauce and related products.
  2. Dave Lutes – Hot Shots Distribution: Dave was founder of Hot Shots Distribution. One of the original hot sauce distributors and one of the biggest. Still operating for almost 20 years.
  3. Wilber Scoville: Wilbur was an American pharmacist best known for his creation of the “Scoville Organoleptic Test”, now standardized as the Scoville Scale. He devised the test and scale in 1912 while working at the Parke-Davis pharmaceutical company to measure pungency, “spiciness” or “heat”, of various chile peppers based on the amount of the chemical capsaicin found in them.
  4. Buddy Taylor – Gator Hammock Hot Sauce: Buddy started this influencial hot sauce company in 1989. Buddy has created a full line of sauces that have won numerous awards within the fiery foods industry. With over 25 years in the business, his sauces are available nationwide.

The Hot Sauce Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony will be held on Saturday April 22nd  on the main stage of the NYC Hot Sauce Expo.  Inductees will receive a distinctive Red Jacket and a Hall of Fame Ring.

For More Information Please Contact Steve Seabury: steve@highriversauces.com
Info on the NYC Hot Sauce Expo: www.NYCHotSauceExpo.com

5 Days of Eating Clean BBQ

BBQ Portobello Mushroom Burgers with lemon

Acting parent for a fully grown up bearded man or a tattooed lady can he horrifying. I mean how I even start telling you on when to brush your teeth, how many tequila shots you should take, or even flush down the toilet when you are done with your business inside! Is that not downright appalling?

However, there is one thing I know I can never go wrong with, BBQ! Yeah, I SAID THAT…

Help Support Tasting the Heat!

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Tasting The Heat is currently the best media show ANYWHERE that does hot sauce reviews, interviews and live shows for small batch gourmet hot sauce and spicy food makers. I consider Tasting the Heat host Kendall Stadler to be the man who is most suited for picking up the mantle once held by people like Brian & Marilyn Meagher and also myself with our various fiery foods industry podcasts and YouTube videos.

Kendall is currently raising money to help cover the costs of attending the New York Hot Sauce Expo, April 22 & 23-2017. This is one of THE premier fiery food events on the planet! If your’re a fan of Tasting The Heat, we’re sure you can easily imagine the excitement of being able to deliver live interviews with sauce and fiery food makers, as well as showcasing some of the products…

Zach’s Chili Challenge

ZCC-LogoZach is a fighter. After being diagnosed with a Medulloblastoma in 2008, he has since had two relapses and is currently battling this sneaky, nasty, disease called cancer. Zach is in his senior year of high school and while going through awful chemo and radiation treatments, he fights though, going to school full time all the while getting straight A’s! He got his driver’s license, he’s even the home coming king! Zach’s perseverance is an inspiration. Zach is asking you to Bring the Heat and Bring the Hope to Zach’s Chili Challenge and…

Fiery Foods Challenge 2017 Winners List

Fiery-Food-Challenge-Golden-Chiles-ZestFest-2017-Awards-WinnersCongrats to the winners of the 2017 Fiery Foods Challenge, AKA the Golden Chile Awards, which were announced at this past weekend’s ZestFest 2017.

Thanks to John “CaJohn” Hard of CaJohn’s Fiery Foods for providing the list.

The Winners

Barbecue Sauce: Alcohol Infused – Consumer Ready
Born to Hula, LLC Imperial Apple Barbecue Sauce 1
LaRae’s Bar-B-Que Sauce, Inc Tequila Garlic 2
LaRae’s Bar-B-Que Sauce, Inc Tequila Sunrise 3

Barbecue Sauce: Exotic – Consumer Ready
C & J Farms Jalapeño Honey 1
Moore’s Marinades & Sauces Moore’s Honey BBQ Wing Sauce 2
Southern Belles BBQ Blueberry Blues 3

Barbecue Sauce: Fruit Based – Consumer Ready
Johnson Berry Farm Strawberry Stinger Ghost Sauce 1
Culley’s Culley’s Rib ‘N’ Chik’N 2
Southern Belles BBQ Blueberry Blues 3

Barbecue Sauce: Mustard Based – Consumer Ready…

Houston Comes Alive This Fall with the Texas Hot Sauce Festival!

texas-hot-sauce-festival-september-2017I’m ecstatic to report that a hot sauce festival is once again happening in the Houston, Texas area this coming Fall!

Since show producer Carol Borge lost the rights to the name Houston Hot Sauce Festival last year, both disappointed chileheads and fiery foods vendors have wondered if this beloved annual event would cease to exist or if it would ever return in some shape or form. Carol is indeed roaring back with a show that promises to be bigger and better than ever with the new Texas Hot Sauce Festival!

Borrowing the mantra of its predecessor event of “Always in September,” the Texas Hot Sauce Festival will be held on September 23 and 24, 2017 (with Saturday hours of 11am – 6pm and Sunday hours of noon – 5pm). The locale for this new THSF will be the Bayou City Event Center at 9401 Knight Road, Houston, TX 77045…

National Hot Sauce Day is Coming… January 22, 2017!

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If all of you chileheads didn’t know, this coming Sunday, January 22, 2017 is National Hot Sauce Day!

Not that hot sauce addicts, heat lovers and spice junkies need any excuse to eat any fiery foods; but still, it’s a time to “officially” celebrate, knowing that the capsaicin-infused foods we all love are finally getting some publicity all
over the country.

You are encouraged to post up your hot sauce-laden foods all over Twitter, Instragram or Facebook using the hashtag #nationalhotsauceday.

You can view the “official” NSSD pages here:

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/nationalhotsauceday
Website: http://www.natlhotsauceday.com

Viva la Hot Sauce! Power to the Pepper!

Calling All Hot Sauce Makers! Get Listed in an Upcoming Hot Sauce Book

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Enrique Monroy, Hot Sauce Shop owner and maker of Monroy’s Original Hot Sauce,  is creating new hot sauce book this is, in his hopes, as comprehensive as the original Hot Sauce Bible (written by Dave DeWitt and Chuck Evans) was. Enrique’s passion and enthusiasm for this project is bubbling over, and I am more than happy to share this latest bit of information from him.

Enrique is looking for any and all hot sauce producers to be featured in his forthcoming encyclopedia book. For the details, I will hand this over to Enrique on how to submit and where to get more info on this exciting new project…

2017 Screaming Mi Mi Awards Are Coming!

screaming-mi-mi-awards-nyc-hot-sauce-expoIf You Want To Be The BEST Then You Have To WIN The BEST!

The NYC Hot Sauce Expo is pleased to present the 2017 Screaming Mi Mi Awards Show on April 22nd. Each year hundreds of hot sauce companies from around the globe compete and try to win the most esteemed and most admired award in the hot sauce industry. Past winners have been featured on TV, national magazines, newspapers and blogs which has lead for their product distributed by wholesalers and national retail outlets.

This year the Screaming Mi Mi Awards have partnered with Peppers.com, Fuego Box, Chile Pepper Magazine and the Scott Roberts hot sauce blog. These companies are the most respected and leading outlets within the hot sauce community. “I wanted to maximize the profile of the winners and there is no better way than to partner up with these amazing companies” states Seabury organizer of the NYC Hot Sauce Expo. “I want spicy connoisseurs to have easy access to the BEST Hot Sauces in the World and the BEST are Screaming Mi Mi Award winners” adds Seabury.

Scott’s Best Products of the Year for 2016

scott-picks-the-best-fiery-foods-products-of-2016-of-the-year-favorite-hot-sauce

It’s time for another rundown of what I thought were the Best Spicy and BBQ Products of 2016, AKA the “Scottvie Awards” (with apologies to Dave DeWitt)! All qualifying sauces, seasonings and snacks must have been tried by me for the first time within the calendar year of 2016, even if they might have released to the public in 2015.

This year’s list marks a massive departure from what I have done in previous years. Before, I had broken down my favorite products in categories such as “Best Hot Sauce,” “Best BBQ Sauce,” “Best Wing Sauce,” “Biggest Burn,” and so on, and awarded those products accordingly.

Here in 2016’s list, I’m going to merely list 10 products of all kinds, and in no particular order.

Congratulations to all of the winners! You all have made some phenomenal products.

The 2017 Hot Sauce Hall of Fame Final Ballot

Hot-Sauce-Hall-of-Fame-Crest-LogoThe Hot Sauce Hall of Fame is proud to announce the 3rd Annual Hall of Fame ballot for the Class of 2017. With almost 800 nomination ballots voted on from the Selection Committee, the Hall was able to determine the Top 10 people for the final ballot.

This year the Hall will induct 3 people to the Class of 2017 on April 22nd at the NYC Hot Sauce Expo‘s main stage. The Class of 2017 will receive a distinctive Red Jacket, Hall of Fame Ring and will be enshrined with legendary of honors into the Hot Sauce Hall of Fame…

Pepper Palace Joins Forces With ZestFest To Help Market and Promote Best Spicy Food Products

zestfest-ffc-marketing-with-pepper-palaceDALLAS – Dec. 10, 2016 – PRLog — As an industry leader, Pepper Palace is interested in mentoring smaller companies and encouraging their participation in ZestFest and the Fiery Food Challenge as a way to grow their business and promote the fiery food industry. The Fiery Food Challenge is a featured event at the annual spicy food show, ZestFest, produced by Spicy Food Productions, LLC.  Each year a panel of expert judges comes to ZestFest in search of the best products in the spicy food category.  Last year’s 20th Anniversary Edition of the Fiery Food Challenge was dominated by the products entered by Pepper Palace.  This year Pepper Palace has decided to hold off from entering to allow new and developing artisan companies an opportunity for increased exposure and the chance to win the prestigious Golden Chile award.

Pepper Palace was founded by Craig and Tanya Migawa in 1989 as a kiosk in a Central Wisconsin Mall and soon expanded to include two inline retail locations. After successfully operating in Wisconsin for eight years, a family trip inspired a move south to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Pepper Palace opened their first Gatlinburg location in 1997 in a small storefront on the outskirts of town. Several moves were made to better, larger locations until finally reaching its current location in 1999, a 3000 square foot spot in a prominent Gatlinburg Mall. This was, and continues to be, the largest spicy themed specialty retail location in the world. Pepper Palace entered the online arena in that same year by launching pepperpalace.com.

Pepper Palace began expansion efforts by…

Is There a Pungency Scale For Garlic, Horseradish, Wasabi, Mustard, Onions, Cinnamon, Ginger and Black Pepper?

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Most every fiery foods fan knows that it is the chemical called Capsaicin that gives chile peppers a “hot” or “spicy” sensation, and that the amount of Capsaicin present in chile pods (and other things like hot sauce) is measured on the Scoville Scale.

A question I sometimes get asked is, “Scott, is there a way to measure the amount of “heat” or pungency in other “spicy” items like black pepper, ginger, horseradish, garlic, wasabi, mustard, garlic, cinnamon, and onions? Let’s look at these items one by one…

Firetalkers – Interview with Guinness World Record Carolina Reaper Eating Champ Greg Foster

greg-foster-guinness-world-record-holder-carolina-reaper-chile-pepper-eating-contestJust a few weeks ago at the first annual Arizona Hot Sauce Expo, daredevil chile pepper eater Greg Foster of Irvine, CA break the Guinness World Record for consuming the largest amount of Carolina Reaper chile peppers in one minute.
Greg was able to set a new record by munching down a mind-blowing 120 grams of Carolina Reapers (which came out to be 16 pepper pods) within 60 seconds. These Guinness World Record Reaper Challenges are held at all of the hot sauce expos produced by Steve Seabury and High River Sauces, which included the aforementioned Arizona Hot Sauce Expo, plus the NYC, California, and Portland Hot Sauce Expos.

For those of you who don’t know, the Smokin’ Ed’s Carolina Reaper peppers are the Guinness World Record hottest chile, and average at around 1,569,300 units of the Scoville Heat Scale. Carolina Reapers were developed and grown by Ed Currie of the PuckerButt Pepper Company.

So how exactly did Greg did it? I recently chatted with him and asked him how he got into fiery foods, what he did to prepare himself for this challenge, and what it was like to go through the nuclear heat pain after consuming all of those chile peppers…