The
Lethbridge
Herald
Back to Our Company
in the Media
January 12, 2001:
Clayton Gross
"Basil's a hot commodity"
Local pepper sauce
maker wins international award for fiery
concoction
Fire and brimstone is no
longer reserved for the pulpit - and Basil
Simmons's version is arguably more popular.
Basil's Fire and
Brimstone gourmet pepper
sauce, made right here in Lethbridge, recently
captured first place in the international hot
sauce category in an annual competition put on by
Texas-based Chile Pepper magazine.
Simmon's entry - only slightly cooler than ground
zero in a nuclear blast - melted the global
competition, including entries from Africa,
Mexico, Trinidad and beyond.
Despite the fiery coup, Simmons remains cool
leading up to a trip to New York later this month
to claim the award.
"This is quite an achievement for our
family. It's good for Lethbridge and for
Alberta," he says.
And, he adds, it should help bring sales to a
rolling boil. The sauce is currently available in
select grocery and specialty shops in Alberta and
B.C.
 The Simmons family
- Basil, his wife Hilda, daughter Margaret and
mother-in-law Marjorie - also peddle their
peppery wares on the Internet.
"We've been getting calls from all four
corners (of the world)," he says. "It's
good for our business now."
Simmons says he wasn't expecting to capture the
magazine's hottest prize.
"Everybody has told me it's good, so (I
thought) why not try it on the international
stage?"
The awards ceremony, appropriately entitled the
Manhattan Meltdown, will give Fire
and Brimstone
valuable exposure among gourmet chefs,
celebrities and food critics.
And the accolades may not end with the Chile
Pepper award. Several other prizes are
up for grabs at the Meltdown, including Judge's
Choice and the Complete Heat Award.
The Fire and Brimstone
recipe - a family secret passed down from his
grandmother - came to Canada from British Guyana
with Simmons 24 years ago. It proved to be the
clincher that helped his team, Simmons'
Hot Gourmet Foods,
capture the hottest chili award in the Downtown
LA Summer Fun Fest 2000 Chili Cook-Off.
"It started as a hobby. But it (took off)
faster than we expected," he says.
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