Hot Sauce Festival pioneer and perennial favorite J.P. Hayes, aka Sgt. Pepper, refuses to sit on his laurels, despite many accomplishments during his illustrious career as a chile-head and endorphin pusher. Not only has he participated in the Hot Sauce contest every single year, but he has also won awards in all but a few. His award-winning Tejas Tears was one of the first bottled habanero sauces in the Austin market. He followed that with Chipotle del Sol, a line of products including hot sauce, seasoning salts, spicy mustard, and grilling marinades. He’s well known at the Sunset Valley Farmers’ Market for his delicious spicy pestos, adding new seasonal flavors every few weeks. Always seeking something new, he launched his latest product line in 2008.
El Chipotle hot sauces come in a variety of intriguing flavors, and as the name implies, they all share the smoky hot flavor of chipotles. The smoked tomato sauce, made with ripe tomatoes smoked over pecan wood, is absolutely delicious. I use it in everything from breakfast tacos to queso and micheladas. The roasted tomatillo sauce is a bit tangier, with a nice mellow bite, and makes a great enhancement to pork chops and pork tenderloin. The balsamic blackberry, made with blackberries and aged balsamic vinegar, has a slight sweetness and a wallop of fresh berry flavor that marries well with the spice. Most unique is the picante pumpkin, surprisingly the most picante of them all. This tasty blend of chipotle and pumpkin puree should come in handy at Thanksgiving as a bold new complement to the traditional turkey dinner. All of Sgt. Pepper’s products are available at the Sunset Valley Farmers’ Market and at Tears of Joy Hot Sauce Shop (618 E. Sixth, 499-0766, www.tearsofjoysauces.com).
This article appears in August 28 • 2009.
