Food

Contact: Lisa Newkirk
CaJohns Fiery Foods
Phone 614.418.0808
Fax 614.418.0800
lisa@cajohns.com
816 Green Crest Dr.
Westerville, OH 43081
CaJohns Fiery Foods

Press Release

What is the POP in your hot sauce?

In a time when others are racing to cultivate the hottest pepper and make the hottest sauce; one small batch hot sauce producer is asking—what about the flavor?

Westerville, OH, January 10, 2014: As the race to cultivate the hottest pepper continues, CaJohns Fiery Foods is encouraging consumers to look at how much actual pepper is in the hot sauce bottle. CaJohns Fiery Foods recently assessed their hot sauces for POP: percentage of pepper. Each recipe was evaluated and the results are posted on www.cajohns.com. ‘Our pepper mash sets us apart,’ stated John ‘CaJohn’ Hard. He credits the mash as the secret behind his success. When you start with fresh peppers instead of fermented mash &/or extract, the sauces explode with flavor and fire.

Here is a list of a few of our sauces…

The North Market’s Fiery Foods Festival Weekend in Columbus, Ohio has been one of the “best kept secrets” in the spicy food scene during its five or so years of it being held.

It’s been hosted by he lively North Market – a large indoor farmers market full of food merchants of all kinds – and has a more intimate and more quaint feel than typical larger trade shows held inside a convention center. That cozier feel, combined with some audience-pleasing food contests, have made this a “must-see” event for those who reside in the Midwest or the Mid-Atlantic states. It’s one of my personal favorite fiery foods shows of the year and I recommend any chilehead attend the North Market at least once.

Well, for the first time this festival is now a week-long celebration, having been expanded from a weekends-only event! This year it will be held from Monday, February 10, 2014 through Sunday, February 16, 2014.

The festival will feature a Chef’s Spicy Crock-pot Challenge, Amateur Chili Cook-off as well as Salsa, Hot Sauce, and Guacamole contests. Music and family activities will round out this week. More info will be available in the coming weeks; as a matter of fact, the North Market’s website page for the Fiery Foods Week Celebration promises that event details will be posted up on their official Facebook page after January 27.

Even though the more seasoned chileheads might get a chuckle at the idea of relatively-mild products like Tabasco or Jalapeno-flavored Pringles as being sweat-inducing, you’ve got to hand it to the men and women at advertising agencies. Most of these advertisements are extremely clever and very memorable.

Hope you enjoy the following print ads for hot sauces and other spicy foods.

Puckerbutt Pepper Co. owner Ed Currie had recently appeared on the CBS This Morning show to showcase his now Guinness World Record chile pepper Carolina Reaper. Watch the clip below to see his segment:

I’ve often said that the chilehead world contains some of the nicest people on the planet; and at times, we’re like a big, extended family that expands across the country and extends around the globe. I stand by that statement, and I’m one of the luckiest and most blessed folks for being able to get into an industry with so many quality men and women that often seem like brothers and sisters to me. Getting together at fiery foods events can actually seem like family reunions!

But there are the few that nearly ruin it for me. There are people I’ve run across my travels and ones who have contacted and communicated with me over the years that range from mildly irritating to downright have me proclaiming, “off with their heads!”. The following is a compilation of the many goofy and annoying types of people who I have encountered over the years.

Before I get into the list, I want you to take this thought as you read this whole blog post: I love receiving feedback from all sorts of people! I wholeheartedly welcome constructive criticism, including ones that really challenge me and that help me become a better blogger, podcaster and an overall better person. So if you have something to say, by all means, feel free to contact me…

The Missouri Boyz review team returns! Chilehead reviewers and bloggers myself and Ryan Graub (http://www.pepperfiend.com) try out Crime Beer from the Stone Brewing Company.

This is one of the famed beers to appear on the Esquire Channel’s “Brew Dogs” show, as it is the world’s first beer to feature the one-time World’s Hottest Chile, the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion pepper, among other chile peppers.

Between us two dudes, Ryan is clearly the beer fanatic. While I’ve tasted a few thousand hot sauces and other condiments of all kinds, I am only an occasional beer drinker, so it is that perspective I have while reviewing this product. But one thing that Ryan and I share is that we both have never previously tasted a chile beer that we’ve thought actually tasted great. Will this spicy alcoholic concoction finally break that trend with us?

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A big thanks goes to the crew at Stone Brewing Company (http://www.stonebrew.com/) for making this beer, and to Jim Duffy of Refining Fire Chiles (http://www.refiningfirechiles.com) for providing some of the super-hot chiles used in this brew.

While it’s coming up to that time of year when the weather outside will be frightful, online fans of hot sauce, BBQ sauce, fiery foods and more will find these great deals to be delightful!

Yes, it’s once again time to indulge in some of the best offers that a few dozen artisan food makers have to offer for Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the 2013 Christmas Holiday Season in general. These are some of the very best and most talented sauce and seasoning manufacturers around, and these small businesses are highly deserving of your support.

So if you’re a chilehead or spice lover, or would like to know what to get a chilehead as a gift, these are the perfect items to get them this holiday! That way you can order online with great ease, but you can also avoid the crowds at your local big box stores.

Lastly, if you have a sale to announce, simply leave a comment below with all the details – we’d love to know about it!

It’s been hotly contested for the past couple of years, and we finally have some news that will help clear the air when it comes to the title of “world’s hottest chile pepper”.

Since 2010, the offical Guinness World Records title has been passed from the Bhut Jolokia (AKA “Ghost Chile”), the Infinity Chilli, the Naga Viper, and the Trinidad Scorpion Butch T.  In the meantime, another variety related to the Butch T, the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, came to prominence because of an extended study done by the Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University in later 2011. Because of the multitude of independent HPLC testing done (and not a “one shot” test done for other peppers), the Moruga Scorpion was the one myself and many other notable figures in the chile pepper world considered to be the real hottest.

Well, just today, the Carolina Reaper pepper (also closely related to many of the aforementioned chiles) was accepted and declared by the governing Guinness World Record body to be the new heat champ. Grown by Ed Currie of the Pucker Butt Pepper Company, the Carolina Reaper will soon be the talk of the fiery foods community.

Congratulations to Ed for this outstanding achievement! Here is the official press release announcing the Carolina Reaper as the new Guinness World Record for the Hottest Chile Pepper…

Volcanic Peppers is a company owned by Timothy Bader and based in Omaha. They have made their name known with their range of chile powders called Volcano Dust, made from the hottest smoked and dried peppers.

Now the company also produces and sells Hot Garlic ‘n Onion which is a new powder mix, plus Scorpion Stinger Caramels and two sauces: Lava BBQ Sauce which comes in Spicy and Hot Scorpion versions, and finally the one reviewed today: their first hot sauce called Lava Chocolate Lightning.

I discovered their powders last year and immediately became a fan of their awesome smokey taste and good heat, which can be very high if you dared to taste the Smoked Scorpion Dust or the 7 Pot Douglah Dust. Also, knowing that Lava Chocolate Lightning was made with a chocolate Habanero mash and a custom dust blend, I really wanted to try this hot sauce, and I have not been disappointed.

Lava Chocolate Lightning was tasted by itself, and with some chinese dumplings Jiao Zi.

Hanging with Michael Anthony and Sammy Hagar

To millions of Van Halen fans, bass player Michael Anthony was not only the cucumber-cool glue that held the band together and provided their distinctive high harmonies, but was also the member of the band they could identify with the most; more specifically, a down-to-earth, real guy that you’d want to sit down and have a beer with.

Unfortunately, in 2004, Michael was unceremoniously ousted from Van Halen to make room for Eddie Van Halen’s son Wolfgang in the bassist role. Not to throw a pity party, Michael instead formed a new group with close pal and former Van Halen lead singer Sammy Hagar, legendary guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani and Red Hot Chili Peppers stickman Chad Smith. They dubbed themselves Chickenfoot, and have since released two albums; the second of which is humorously titled Chickenfoot III. The four-piece unit is currently gearing up for the second leg of their U.S. tour in support of it.

Many hard rock fans also know of Michael’s extracurricular pursuits – hot rods, collecting Mickey Mouse watches, acquiring old unreleased and bootleg Van Halen tapes, and fiery foods. It’s that last passion that chileheads have taken an keen interest in.