2013 Houston Hot Sauce Festival: Fiber Joe interviews Ed Currie from Pucker Butt
Ed Currie the Mad Scientist himself. I watched this man and his group of misfits blow the heads off of a number of people with his “Carolina Reaper Pepper”. Some threw up, some couldn’t breath, some needed medical attention. The passion that this man has for growing peppers and making sauce is incredible. Just about everyone in this industry knows who Ed Currie is. The man caries around a container of peppers everywhere he goes, and he eats the damn things like they’re candy. I got a chance to hang out with him not only at the show but a few times outside of the show. When you talk to this man about what he does he gets this little evil look in his eyes and rubs his hands together like a mad scientist. It’s a little creepy but at the same time really cool. This the first time I’ve actually had a chance to try the line of sauces that Ed has created. In the video we start from not so hot to holy crap that’s hot.
In the early 80′s, Eddie Currie, Founder of the Pucker Butt Pepper Company, started investigating the possible correlation between personal life style habits and disease. This overwhelming interest was born from Eddie’s family history of early death from heart disease and cancer. Eddie found that indigenous populations from around the world, who eat hot peppers with meals, have extremely small instances of these diseases and this prompted his focus on peppers as a delicious and healthy food alternative. Within two years, he was raising plants at homes of family members and neighbors with production reaching 800 gallons. Over the years Eddie’s passion, some might say obsession, for peppers has grown. He has created unique hot sauces, salsas, mustards and jellies that are both delicious and healthy and now has more than 5,000 plants and 600 unique seed species. When his wife, Linda, realized what he was spending on growing seeds and canning pepper products they both realized it was time to start charging for their product. And the rest, as they say, is history …The Pucker Butt Pepper Company was born.
Eddie’s on-going passion for peppers is reflected by his experiments in creating new and different pepper plant cultivars, some of which are producing the hottest peppers in the world! Eddie’s goal is to consistently grow the world’s hottest pepper. Don’t be surprised if you hear that he has accomplished his goal!
Pucker Butt Pepper Company
803.802.9593
235 Main Street
Fort Mill, SC 29715
http://puckerbuttpeppercompany.com/
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