The Hot Sauce Bible Needs YOU!
I received an email from Chuck Evans, owner of Montezuma Brand about bringing back the Hot Sauce Bible in a bigger and better format that I think will excite one and all. The original authors- Chuck Evans and Dave DeWitt aka the Pope of Peppers is getting the band back together, and they have brought in a man of the people or chileheads at least, Scott Roberts. Please take the time to read what Chuck has to say because it could mean a lot to you if you are involved in the fiery food industry in any capacity. I own the original copy of the book, and am very excited by this news of this updated one.
The Hot Sauce Bible: Revised Old & New Testament
by Dave DeWitt, Chuck Evans & Scott RobertsThe authors are seeking worldwide manufacturers who make spicy sauces & salsas with chile peppers as their primary occupation to submit their story for a book abut the history of the hot sauce manufacturing industry, to be published at a later date.
The book will supplement pepper sauce and salsa manufacturing and is a follow-up to original The Hot Sauce Bible (1996) Crossing Press, which went out-of-print in 2001. The Hot Sauce Bible: New Testament will provide a history of the industry from 1996 to present, coupled with a revised Old Testament for a historical record of hot sauce and salsa manufacturing as has been pieced together by Chuck Evans.Co-packer manufacturers are welcome to submit information for inclusion as long as the co-packer has their own in-house labeled product line.
Hobbyists, weekend chileheads, and manufacturers making products at home or part-time do not meet the criteria for inclusion as manufacturers.
Private Label products are excluded under all circumstances.Please provide in an attachment concise (several paragraphs to 1 page unless more needed), neatly written with spell-check…all copy to be written in the submitter’s own words.
1. History of Business- How you started, # of years in actual production, what influenced you to produce spicy condiments.
2. Product line brand name
3. Product Uniqueness in the marketplace
4. Specific sauces that are favorites and/or products that have an interesting story.
5. A favorite photo of: your booth at a show with your company logo, a tasteful costume with you in it, a portrait of the company owners or founders, product(s) you make that you associate your company with, or a photo of inside your facility.
6. YOUR RECIPE(s)-maximum of 3 recipes please (one you do not mind sharing) of a great-tasting spicy or fiery hot sauce, salsa, marinade, sambal, curry, etc. utilizing 1 or more chile peppers. The recipe will be released in the HSB so it must list exact ingredients, specific instructions, cooking times, and finished quantity of sauce made with the recipe.
Serving suggestions where applicable.
7. Business Address, phone, website, email
8. IMPORTANT: Type your name, type your signature (type s/s and then type your name) of submitted information, and date.Website Blogs, Internet Media Companies, Fiery Food Show Managers:
1. History of your media address, how you started, why you started and what influenced you to promote spicy and fiery sauces and salsas.
2. Special interests or what makes your site different from all the rest.
3. Awards you have introduced and/or won and any industry recognition
4. Your internet address/website address {The show location, show dates, etc. for shows}
5. A pdf file of your logo only.
6. IMPORTANT: Type your name, type your signature (type s/s and then type your name), and date.DEADLINE: All information to be submitted no later than June 15, 2012. Please be thorough and complete since I may not be able to contact submitters for further information.
Disclaimer Notice:
All information, files, and photos submitted may be used in a media publication authored by Dave DeWitt and Chuck Evans.
Submission of any and all information is considered voluntary. Actual publication of information submitted is at the discretion of the authors.
All submissions are considered voluntary. All submissions are made with no expectation of compensation or royalties.Please submit all information to: mo************@sb*******.net
Thank you,
Chuck Evans
With the requirements to be included this sounds like it will be a woefully inaccurate depiction of the hot sauce manufacturing community. I will respectfully not submit my information and I will also not be purchasing this book.
Wow- you have made the decision to not participate and to make it clear you will not buy a copy based on a request for participation on those who might want to submit their stories-and the book has not even been written yet? However, that is totally your choice to get your efforts recognized (or loss), depending on how which side of the fence you are on-also a sad commentary on the attitude of the misinformed…and the irony is that you have no idea of what is attempted to be accomplished and the thousands of hours that will go into the FINISHED book, yet you have already condemned it-Wow. In order to be as inclusive as possible, certain information must be procured. This call-out to the manufacturers and co-packed product companies is also a fishing expedition to cover a base that may not even be known, has escaped attention or just to gather a personal story (in the submitter’s own words) that may be a fascinating tidbit about you, your product, or your company that will become part of an industry history. Information is gathered from all different sources, this is just an attempt to include YOU. However, there is a mountain of info about the current industry and many products/companies that will be included.
I guess my post wasn’t clear. I do not meet the requirements to submit my story, not that it matters. That would be fine if the write up didn’t state this was to document the history of the industry. If this is to be a historical document then their should be no requirements or exclusions. Let’s rewrite America’s history books and leave out the Boston tea party.
What part of the requirements bars you from participation because co-packed sauces are allowed.
I do not use a co packer. This is part time as I already have a full time job and I make it in my house.
I don’t want this to come across as about me and sour grapes. My issue is if this is to be a historical document with exclusions then it’s disingenuous.
Does Adam have his own line of does he just co-pack? From what I remember, he may have recipes but does not produce a sauce under his name which would exclude him. Do co-packers such as Adam not deserve recognition for their contribution to the industry?
I wonder if it will have recipes in it. Dave Dewitt writes great cookbooks. I bought his two vegetarian spicy cookbooks from amazon. I hope he writes a new one with recipes using superhots like jolokia, scorpions, 7 pots, and Fataliis. In the books I bought, the recipes call for the milder normal hot peppers.
There will ne many recipes for all types of chile sauces.
Clement-I do not know you, but you make absolutely no sense and have not even thought this through about what you are blindly commenting on. NO history, read that…NO history ever written or talked about or covered in any history book or article or any media publication covers every detail about every story or issue or person who may be involved. For example: Tell me that every single soldier is included in the history written about a war in a history book about that war. Or another example: Tell me that every person who worked on an automobile in Detroit is included in a history about the automobile history in Detroit or even the entire US. The point is…well…I made the point! I am sorry you are such a naysayer about something you did not think through, and then you condemned, without even thinking it all the way through (or even knowing anything about). It is a real shame that you feel the way you do about this, however, no one can change (or open up)your mind except you.
All home based production for sale requires a state home-based license as it is a cottage business, part-time or full-time. All home-produced products must meet the state cannery requirements. One important point is that any home-produced products for commercial sale limits the sale of those products to the state of manufacture. It is illegal to sell across state lines, i.e., interstate commerce without the proper certification/license.
Wow, Chuck I know you and I must say you are coming across as a real RICHARD right now… I think Clement just wants to be included and believes he has impacted the industry one way or the other.
If I remember right the Bible didn’t have any rules when it was written………
Let’s see if I can say this without putting my foot in my mouth.
From the beginning this wasn’t about Cajun Heat. The way I read the requirements, my understanding was the majority of the folks I have met over the years would also be excluded as many of have a full time job and manufacture hot sauce on the side. We use our vacation time to attend shows and many of us also work from home. It was my understanding that the manufactures would be excluded leaving room for the Tabascos and CaJohns (actual full time manufactures)
It was this assumption that I made my first comment as many of these manufacture influence the industry and leaving them out would result in an incomplete history of the industry.
With that said, I owe an apology to Chuck. After talking to Buddah I now understand what was meant.
Chuck, I apologize for speaking rashly. I should have taken the time to question the intent instead of firing off my mouth and causing undue discontent. I can’t promise this will be the last time this happens (it happens a lot), but I will try in the future to get all the facts straight. Again Chuck, I’m sorry for causing such a stir and bringing disparagement to your and your efforts.
I used to sell my salsa at outdoor markets. Still I had to make it in a certified kitchen. Point I will make here is it is not worth it to break the law. Each illegal sale could have been counted as an infraction by FDA or State of California. Usually the fines are about $5,000. So do the math. If your making stuff that cannot be sold outside your State and get caught each sale could be counted in court as an offense or infraction. And since it will be the Government trying to collect they will want to collect. Your home, personal property etc. Will all be up for grabs. This is not worth it. Breaking food laws could cost you everything. Just sayin…..
The OP says, “Hobbyists, weekend chileheads, and manufacturers making products at home or part-time do not meet the criteria for inclusion as manufacturers.
Private Label products are excluded under all circumstances.”
Without getting too involved here, there are a TON of chile product manufacturers who are “part-time, weekend hobbyists” who do make their sauces in licensed kitchens or with a co-packer. I believe John Dilley of Defcon still has a day job, would he be excluded? I make everything in a licensed kitchen, file tax reports, carry insurance and I do it part time. I haven’t done anything monumental for the industry, but I AM a sauce manufacturer.
Just a humble suggestion, drop the “part-time/hobby” wording unless as Chuck said you only want the BigBoys, change the criteria to stipulate manufacturers must be properly licensed (business licenses and insurance), products must be made in a properly licensed facility or use a co-packer for their own original recipes, and of course, no private labels.
Encourage everyone who fits that criteria to submit their story, doesn’t mean you have to use it. And I would think the editors would want to make sure the people they are promoting are properly licensed. I don’t know if there would be issues in promoting unlicensed businesses, but if someone buys an improperly made product from an unlicensed person based on The Bible and then gets sick……….
I may not understand the intent of the book completely, these suggestions may be way off base. If so, I apologize.
What if we do it full time but mentally I’m only available on weekends
As a chilehead, who really represents the consumer demographic to which this book would be directed, I wouldn’t care about this industry nearly as much without the smaller, artisan hot sauce companies like Cajun Heat, Dragonfire, HBD, etc…they ARE this community.
Or we do it full time but were constantly thinking about other jobs in our head
This book and its unique contents is meant to address those who have made an imprint on hot sauce manufacturing. Many smaller individuals are just creating a sauce and selling a few bottles here and there, quite a few are unlicensed. Many are hobbyists and the internet has turned them into full-fledged sauce-makers in their mind selling a few cases a year, if that many. If someone is making a full-fledged attempt to market licensed manufactured products at shows, get it distributed and actually place it on store shelves in their markets, or do their own distribution, then that would be something I would be interested in. There will be part-time stories of those who attempt to make it and attend shows. Many of you are pre-judging the MASSIVE amount of info that this book will touch on (the outline is nearly 4 pages & detailed to boot). Thousands of hours, not mere hundreds will be spent on gathering and writing this book, editing, and re-writing. I know what it took the 1st time around (I wrote 1/2 of it and also documented and categorized nearly 2,000 pepper sauce products) and this project is 5 times larger. Already I have 300-400 hours (yep you read that right) in legitimate research over the past decade-collecting data, following up with letters and requests, and researching libraries and building my own library and collection on the fragmented history of pepper sauces. On a table in my home library, I have more than 5 feet in height of single sheet documents copied and printed that address topics in this history and I need to peruse the many books that will be included in the bibliography. I do not understand why none of you cannot seem to grasp the massive undertaking this is and that not everyone can or even (nor will) deserves to be included. This is a history of trends, fads, many recipes, fiery foods shows, media contributors, companies, stories of products around the world, human interest stories (which there will be plenty) and historical fact-this is NOT a yellow pages listing of addresses and phone numbers. Ask yourself what your product or company has done to make the industry pay attention to you, or makes your product totally different and distinctive, or your customers to seek your products out. Just because someone likes small company offerings does not mean their products are more than a variation of many product offerings in today’s over-produced sauce categories. Hell, I like (and depending on the product, prefer) small company and individual’s products. I am given samples fairly regularly over the years. In fact, one of my good friends grows his own peppers, makes several cases of 4-5 hot sauces per year and labels it Estate Bottled by….. He also took 2nd this year in the amateur hot sauce competition at the North Market Fiery Food Festival. He has made sauces for 15 years or so, but he makes no claim to manufacture (and is not licensed) and he does not sell them, he gives them out as gifts to his clients. Most are way much better than many of the products available, but he is a hobbyist. Part-timers that actually attempt to market their products throughout the country (not just the local Farmer’s market) can submit info-again if they have a neat story or make an imprint on the industry being the primary issues.
No one said that a legitimate small manufacturer will be excluded. Again, if there is an interesting story or that company makes an imprint on the history of sauce-making (and this is a subjective call by the 3 authors). Just to list company after company is a book is not what The Hot Sauce Bible will be-what a boring and futile effort—getting a publisher to do this-will never happen) More than likely most of the companies or week-end warriors would be out of business long before it hits the shelves. That is the real state of this industry-so we are trying to target those that really put their heart, soul, money, and risked it all in being a successful start-up. I am not going to focus on the failures or those no longer around (and I know many who personally no longer exist)-where I have manufactured full-time for 26 years-sadly there have been some great products that did not weather the many shake-outs in this business-another longevity barrier. There are just too many people who have risked their money and committed their heart to possibly include every Pepper, Pod, and Chile.
As to the person who said that I come across like a “Richard” meaning “dick”, however, my middle name is Richard, so I appreciate the compliment. Gracias verga!
Well said “DICK” I hope u sell a few copies and I do mean a few.
Thank goodness the very “few” in this community are nor representative of the majority who have expressed positive interest in this project. These naysayer “few” (associated with the derogatory internet “community” of chileheads) is a miniscule minority and certainly of no readership interest in a publication about the past and current state of this “community”. Sorry you feel the way you do.
Chuck I would like to take this chance and say I’m truly sorry…….. No hard feelings.
Al you run a great site……. Keep it up.