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The Family
As a child growing up in the
tiny riverain village of Bartica in Guyana, I
used to watch my grandmother casually toss pepper
seeds around the yard and wait for the seeds to
grow. In this tiny village located at the
junction of three major rivers, it would rain
almost every day for short periods of time, and
the sun would shine really hot for the rest of
the day! Because of this marvellous climate, the
plants sprout very early. My grandmother would
check the plants every day, water them, and as
soon as the peppers were ripe (mostly red in
colour), she would pick them.
I remember helping that tiny
old lady pick the pepper stems. When we were
finished, she would wash the peppers, take out
her old, but reliable hand grinder, attach it
onto the counter top and away she would go. She
would grind the hot peppers to pulp form, then
add her special ingredients to produce a
delicious tasting hot sauce.
When my family and I
immigrated to Canada, we joked for years about
making our own hot sauce as we had difficulty
finding one that lived up to the reputation of
being hot and flavourful. I had continued making
the hot sauce as I had learned from grandma for
our own use, but decided to refine the recipe by
adding more ingredients suitable to our own
taste. The result of this experiment was an
absolutely delicious tasting sauce!
Some of my friends and
co-workers who had tried our sauce commented that
not only was it hot, but delicious! They had
suggested on many occasions that I market my
product. I finally decided to follow their
advice, and on my retirement from the government
early in 1998, put my dream to the test by
launching Basil’s Fire and Brimstone
Hot Sauce which
comes in two varieties - HOT
and MILD.
Our first exposure was at
Heritage Days in our hometown of Lethbridge, Alberta.
The response was so overwhelming that we decided
to sell our product at the local Farmers Market.
It was a great success! Encouraged by this
response, my family and I subsequently
established our company, Simmons Hot
Gourmet Products, and decided to expand
our sales to other locations in Alberta. We made
up recipe booklets and offered suggestions on
various ways the sauce could be used. As before,
the response was just overwhelming! We are
constantly being congratulated on the fruity,
exotic taste of the product as well as its
hotness.
Responses as far away as the
United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and parts of the
United States have been very positive.
- "I like the
taste of your sauce. I have to purchase
the MILD for Michele whenever
I go to Calgary." (Ronald S.
Colorado).
- "I just love
your hot sauce." (Betty D. Yonkers,
New York)
- I tried it on toast
with marmalade and the taste was
great!" (Tony M. Aldersyde, Alberta)
Try Basil’s Hot
Gourmet Sauce in barbeque sauce, dips,
salsa, chicken wings, spaghetti sauce, soups,
stews, salad dressings - in almost anything you
eat. One lady tried it with melons and remarked
that the sauce quite definitely enhanced the
taste of the melon! Try sweet and hot; it’s
fantastic!!
And remember our motto:
"Not only hot and
flavourful, but a little goes a long way."
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