Houston, Texas (September 27, 2006) – The 110 vendors of hot sauces, jellies and salsas had a successful weekend selling out of products at the 7th annual Houston Hot Sauce Festival on Sept. 16 & 17. The weather was cool (ok… cooler) and the products were HOT.
“The Hottest” Party in Texas, continues to be a great success, year after year. A fun spicy event enabling us to raise money for the Stehlin Foundation.
A special thank you to all. Attendees / Chileheads, Volunteer Staff (our entire staff are volunteers) and Sponsors
More pictures available here.
HOTTEST
Winner: Mild to Wild Pepper & Herb Co., Stupid Hot aka Unbearable
2nd: The Savory Hot Sauce Company – Habanero Punch T.K.O. Extreme
3rd: CaJohn’s, Black Mamba
SHOWMANSHIP
(overall best presentation to the public including marketing of products booth)
Winner: Big Daddy Jake’s
2nd: Fito’s
3rd: Big Daddy’s Firepits
JAM/JELLY
Winner: Ana’s Foods – Ana’s Preserves
2nd: Chile Beach Jams – Extra Hot Jerk Habanero Jam
3rd: Village Creek Kitchens – Food in a Flash
PICKLED PRODUCTS
Winner: Joy Peppers, Joy Peppers
2nd: Coast Gifts & Gourmet – Candied Jalapenos
3rd: Grandma Koyote’s Food Products – Grandma Koyote’s Mild N Spicy
CONDIMENTS
Winner: Big Dawg – Slobber Sauce
2nd: Chile Beach Jams – Spicy Peanut Sauce
3rd: Austin Slow Burn, Green Chile Jam
SPICES
Winner: Ana’s Foods, Ana’s Herbs
2nd: Big Daddy Jake’s – Matt’s Pit Master BBQ Rub
3rd: Cin Chili & Company – Cin Chili
DIPS
Winner: Austin Slow Burn – Green Chile con Queso
2nd: MeMe’s Jams N’ Jelli – Boursin Cheese
3rd: Sieco USA Corporation – Amber Herb Garden Olive Oil
MARINADES
Winner: Austin Slow Burn – Jamacin Jerk Marinade
2nd: Howard’s Yummies – La Grange Chipotle Steak & Grilling
3rd: The Texas Gourmet – Lemon Rosemary Habanero Grilling Sauce
BBQ SAUCE
Winner: Big Daddy Jake’s – Pappo’s High in the Saddle BBQ Sauce
2nd: Austin Spice Company – Austin Spice Company Smoky Hill BBQ Sauce
3rd: Mild To Wild Pepper & Herb – Fiery Hot Habanero
SPECIAL VARIETY
Winner: Big Daddy Jake’s – Texas Pit Smoked Hot Sauce
2nd: All Things Homemade – Cherry Chipotle
3rd: Mild To Wild Pepper & Herb – Rookie Orientation
HABANERO SAUCE
Winner: Grandma Koyote’s Food Products – Grandma Koyote’s Hot N Spicy
2nd: All Things Homemade – Fig Habanero
3rd: The Savory Hot Sauce Company – Habanero Punch Original
RED SAUCE
Winner: Big Daddy’s Ass Burn – Big Daddy’s Ass Burn Hot Sauce
2nd: Cyclone Promotions – Happy Dogs Hot Sauce
3rd: Austin Slow Burn – Salsa con Habanero
GREEN SAUCE
Winner: Austin Slow Burn – Salsa Verde
2nd: Vern’s Queso – Vern’s Salsa Verde
3rd: All Things Homemade – Tropical Poblano Sauce
SALSA
Winner: Fito’s Kitchen Fresh Salsa – Salsa
2nd: Big Dawg – Burn Ur Face Off!
3rd: Howard’s Yummies – Jump Up & Kick Yo Butt Pecan Smoked Habanero
73 responses to “2006 Houston Hot Sauce Festival Recap & Winners”
Nick….I have some more Houston pics that I’m trying to add to Flickr. I have an account but do I need permission to add an album to the blogs?
BTW….Great photos Carol!!!
[Comment ID #61466 Quote]
You mean, to add the images here? No, just send me the location and I can post them up
On Flickr. I thought I could add an album but I haven’t found how to do that.
[Comment ID #61469 Quote]
You can create a “set” of photos and then add HotSauceBlog as one of your friends (on flickr)
Well I got it this far. I’ll come back to it later after a Dr. appointment and errands.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11015497@N00/
Don’t be fooled by these People’s Choice awards, specifically as they relate to ‘hottest’. I’ll be the first to admit that it should more than likely be Mamba, followed by me, and & then probably Dead Brother Slim’s. It’s as much a popularity contest as anything- as opposed to a double blind, expert panel. It’s pretty easy to politic for votes 😉 Not that I’m complaining mind you- likely to be the only way I’ll ever get an award with CaJohn in the house 😉 Just for the sake of honesty and truth, I don’t want someone thinking that mine is hotter than his!
What a unselfish thing to say Jim or is it just altered mental status from wearing all the fire gear in the good old humid Houston weather. CaJohn ran out of trophy shelving after Zestfest anyway. Kudos to both of y’all.
[Comment ID #61487 Quote]
Jim
I know that our Hot Sauce is not near as hot yours or Cajohn’s, but we actually forgot about the People’s Choice Awards at the show. We didn’t even realize we had won anything until the people in the booth next to us said something! Then we won 4 awards, we never asked or “politic”ed for anything. It worked out as a nice and welcome surprise. We were so busy, and had so much repeat business from last year, we had little chance to go to the bathroom, forget food, and thank GOD I brought a cooler full of water! And folks were dropping like flies this year! Even though we told them to go for ice cream! Never saw so many hit the dirt, I know there were at least 6 folks that had to be treated by EMS and it was “cooler” this year than last year! Go figure!
Plus MSK had a pocket full of pens…and everyone knows what that means!
Sara
Sara,
While I appreciate Jim’s honesty, I know he will ALWAYS be a crowd favorite down in Houson. Jim meant no slight to the other winners of the awards. Your sauce HAS TO BE GOOD to get the votes. You make some great sauces and NO one means to take anything away from your wins. Keep up the good work!
BTW Jim & Darrell were tag teaming on the ones who went down. Good thing they were there! Big Dawg did well on his entries as well.
[Comment ID #61595 Quote]
Cajohn
I didn’t take offense at all…didn’t mean it to sound that way….and I know Jim, Darrell and Big Dawg helped with everyone, thank GOD! It just surprised me so that it was 10 degrees cooler (90) and less humid than last year(75%), and more people had heat strokes! And most of the ones that did were “seasoned” Houston Hot Sauce Festival attendees!
Thanks for all of your support, it really means alot! We are going to the Fiery Foods and BBQ show in New Mexico this March and if you have some time, I would love to call you with a question or 2!
Much Love
Call anytime…
Im glad we have a show like Houston, the heat is tolerable when product is selling, makes up for the retail at Zestfest only made money because Candy and I only had to travel 10 miles each day. CaJohn, store pics look good…Look even better with the Big Dawg on the shelf. I will send our product wholesale list…just kidding.
[Comment ID #61601 Quote]
Thank you!!!!
Hey Sara,
Sorry we didn’t get to drop by your booth and meet you and the Big Daddy Jake crew, like you said it was busy all weekend. Look forward to meeting you and the crew at New Mexico in March.
DA BIG DOG IS IN DA HOUSE!!!!!!!! 😀
Whats up MSK?
You staying out of trouble?
[Comment ID #61604 Quote]
HEY Big DAWG, you are welcome at our booth anytime!!!!!!
AND MSK….my man…I still have not had the pleasure of signing your head!!!! I have my own “glitter” paint pens now…how does the color ‘purple’ work for you!
You guys are terrific! Can’t wait to get to New Mexico!
Sara
[Comment ID #61614 Quote]
Why hell yeah….I’m home now 😀
[Comment ID #61618 Quote]
Any color you want Sweetheart! Well…..let’s leave pink out of it 😀
[Comment ID #61620 Quote]
I promise I would never…EVER use pink! However I will have purprle, blue and green glitter paint pens for your beautiful bald head!!!
😉 🙄
Sara
Please ma’am, I intended no offense! That’s why I said “specifically as it relates to hottest”. It’s a fact though that some folks have stuffed the ballot box down there before- that you still took so many awards speaks to the strength of your sauces!
I know what you mean on the folks dropping like flies! Amazing since it was 10F cooler than previous years. Big Dawg & I were kept hopping all weekend long working on folks. I thought Texans were supposed to know what ‘hot’ was 😛
[Comment ID #61643 Quote]
We know what hot is, I thnk it was the “transplants” that were having a hard time..these folks have to realize that drinking mass quantities of beer in 90+degree weather and then tasting hot sauce all day is going to cause some damage!
(And I took no offense at all…didn’t mean it to sound like I did..just talkin’ about our experience!)
Mmmmmm, 90 degrees + large quantities of beer + hot sauce = gastronomical happiness!
[Comment ID #61623 Quote]
Your pen, my head….Sounds like a match made in heaven! 😀
[Comment ID #61653 Quote]
Sad part was, at least for two of the worst ones I worked on (including the one we sent to the hospital) they didn’t have any (or at least much) beer on board! Trust me- Big Dawg & I know what to look for on that score 😉 Ummm… they were locals also 🙂
Pure speculation (but that fits around here) might be that since it *was* cooler, some of the more borderline cases decided to get out & about.
We’re they sent to the hospital because of the weather temp or a mix of the hot sauce and temp? The cooler weather may well have contributed to it.
I remember talking to people that had booths at the Fiery Foods show a few years back, and the one story they all loved (or hated, depends how you look at it) was the tin-plated superman, out to prove he could conquer capsaicin, ingested so much, he projectile vomitted on the vendor. Wish there was a video clip…
The bathrooms at the last Fiery Foods, as stated before, rivaled the vomitoriums of ancient Rome. I still love the time I walked in with the lab coat and Creator gear, and one guy yelled out, “Hey, the Health Inspector is here!”. LOL!!!
“The bathrooms at the last Fiery Foods, as stated before, rivaled the vomitoriums of ancient Rome.”
LOL! In Albuquerque they sounded like a bunch of bodybuilders walking through the mud….
[Comment ID #61655 Quote]
Ineresting! I wonder what caused so many of them to have heat strokes? As locals, they should certainly know how to hydrate themselves during a South Texas Summer! I know that we had alot of repeat business from last year, so most of the attendees know what to expect. I mean it is called “The Houston HOT SAUCE Festival”….
It is a good thing you and Big Dawg were there!!!!
[Comment ID #61657 Quote]
Now you are making me regret that I have booth space for March….Am I going to have to wear ear plugs and a nose plug, when I go to the bathroom? YUCK!
“LOL! In Albuquerque they sounded like a bunch of bodybuilders walking through the mud…. ”
Dude, I just spit Mountain Dew onto my keyboard. LOL!!!
[Comment ID #61659 Quote]Just the men’s room……I have no idea what the Women’s sounded like.
[Comment ID #61662 Quote]Hey DC, got any 0’s left? I’ll trade you a NOS for one….
[Comment ID #61664 Quote]
Ugh, you’re killin’ me. I’m not really ‘trading’ any of these little guys. My wife has grown a very strage attachment to them. Each night she walks into the packaging room and says, “Good Night’ to the remaining ones. She is starting to scare me. Got about 3 left. Oh, and my #2 NOS is proudly displayed on my Shelf of Doom. 🙂
[Comment ID #61669 Quote]Fair enough. You snagged #2, that’s right! Cool. MSK’s got number 1.
[Comment ID #61670 Quote]
Y’know, it’s kinda funny…I’m not going to sight anybody out in particular, but the ‘interesting’ things people were willing to trade for them was amazing. Chiliheads are definitely a unique bunch. 😀
Thank goodness for Jim and Big Dawg. They move 100 times faster than our emergency personnel. Without hesitation they drop everything to help. Ya’ll are awesome! Fingers crossed… I hope next year it’s 80 degrees.
I haven’t heard from any of the fest casualties … yet. All got t-shirts and goodies and were proud of the fact that they “got back on the horse” right away (No one in Houston likes to admit they can’t handle the heat). I know one lady had a wedding rehearsel dinner the night before – she blamed herself. One guy was a volunteer who showed up with broken ribs from an accident a week earlier, noble in his efforts to help, but not hot related. I’ve been trying to find out about the one lady that was actually taken away. It sounded like she might have had a previous heart problem. The info on her is private.
The number of people having heat issues this year was crazy. For the first 6 years of the fest we never had an emergency. This year they were dropping like flies. Cooler and lower humidty. Go figure.
Overall Fest Casualty… MSK!
I’m almost ready to start planning next year’s fest.
I almost forgot… Been thinking of doing away with “hottest hot sauce at the festival?” People seem to love it though!
[Comment ID #61675 Quote]
NOOOOOOOO! It is the pen-ultimate in enjoyment to watch the cranial-challenged voluntarily doom themselves to exquisite pain.
[Comment ID #61675 Quote]
NOOOO, it is the most popular category by far!!!!! Alot of people come to ….’challenge’……themselves!!! Several folks even had their own yogurt and bananas!
Sara 😉
really… their own yogurt and bananas! i missed that.
[Comment ID #61678 Quote]
Yeah, really!!!!! You gotta watch those folks that are carrying very large canvas bags!!! They sneak in all sorts of stuff to stave off the hot sauce “burn”! 🙂
One guy even had a large baggie of sugar….at least that is what he said it was!!!! 😉
sugar? they’ll believe anything.
[Comment ID #61676 Quote]
are you calling me cranially challenged, creator?? don’t make me kidnap that golden chili again.
[Comment ID #61676 Quote]
are you calling me cranially challenged, creator?? don’t make me kidnap that golden chili again.
[Comment ID #61691 Quote]
[Comment ID #61692 Quote]
I’d say yes, since you said it twice 😀
Overall Fest Casualty… MSK!
Oooooh….that hurt! :action-smiley-015: 😀
OK Mrs. Ryan, I give up!
Where do I find the smilies that work here. Evidently those that work in the forum doesn’t necessarily work here.
[Comment ID #61697 Quote]
Right above your name on the comment form is a link called “smilies”. Click that to see what you can use
[Comment ID #61659 Quote]
Well if you are staying at the Sandia you can always just go up to your room to use the bathroom. You are right there. Zest Fest bathrooms were NASTY! I’ll use my hotel room bathroom, thank you very much!
I’d thought about retiring from the ‘hottest’ anyway. I’d like to try and get soem recognition for the fact that I have mild as well. Sigh… probably a lost cause as long as I’m wearing full fire gear, eh? 🙂
[Comment ID #61702 Quote]
And your saying your room will be better, come on Jodie.
[Comment ID #61703 Quote]
Hey Jim, how did the meal at the Firehouse go? Hope all is well.
[Comment ID #61703 Quote]
Your FHH Still one of my top favorites!!!! MMMmmmmm Good.
[Comment ID #61706 Quote]
Whats up HUV?
Hey Nick, is our number of posts going to every show up?
[Comment ID #61707 Quote]
Hey BLANE, how goes it!
[Comment ID #61709 Quote]
Going good, nice easy night at work *(ABout time) It will be nice to chat on the blog for once… Going to get something to eat…. How goes it with you?
[Comment ID #61710 Quote]
All is good. Just getting ready to crash. Another early day tomorrow morning (have to get up at like 4-4:30)…..
[Comment ID #61704 Quote]
Sure, I put pretty stickers everywhere!
[Comment ID #61713 Quote]
I like pretty sticker’s
[Comment ID #61701 Quote]
. 😳 Well hell’s bells! Never saw it before now. Shows how observant I am! 😳
[Comment ID #61705 Quote]
Are you kidding?! They went over GREAT!! Sigh… since I’m settling for a fatal dose of honesty here, I thought the Talon flavored ones were better than the FHH ones. I don’t think there was enough FHH to be able to taste them.
The guys at the firehouse, as tepid as they are about my cooking, even asked for me to do that again one day 🙂
All is well. Headed for bed- gotta get up early in the morning to get orders out & start packing for California 🙂
Night all!
[Comment ID #61706 Quote]
Thanks 🙂 The FHH counts as one of the ‘milder ones’ I’d like to see get credit 🙂
[Comment ID #61717 Quote]
Jodie, Thanks for the advice on using my hotel bathroom…and I will bring my own “pretty stickers” and a couple of scented “candles” since I will be traveling with my husband! 🙄
Sara
[Comment ID #61732 Quote]
The only thing better than pretty stickers is scracth and sniff stickers…
Folks
Gotta tell ya…Jeff and I just got back from dinner at Lattitude 28 02 in Rockport, Texas, and I had the BEST crabmeat stuffed flounder I have ever eaten in my life! This little tiny, white table cloth, 15 table restaurant, in this little tiny town….WOW! My stomach is doing a happy dance…but you do know I had to “whip my hot sauce out of my purse…and use just a touch”…Holy Smokes I don’t think I could put anything in my tummy for 2 or 3 days…or it will reject it due to lack of quality!!!! GOD THAT FOOD WAS AWESOME!!!!! Next time you all come to the Houston Hot Sauce Festival..plan on taking an extra couple of days and go to Rockport…it is absolutely worth it! Plus the saltwater fishing this time of year is pretty awesome too, and since it is right on Copano Bay and just 30 miles east of Corpus Christi…you could organize a deep sea or bay fishing trip/tournament and really have some fun! Just a thought!
Sara
[Comment ID #61735 Quote]
That depends on what the “sniff” is after the “scratch”….
Sara
[Comment ID #61732 Quote]
Anytime. I always bring scented candles when I stay in hotels. I hate other people’s smell in my room. I barely can lay in the bed that another stranger slept in. I take the top comforter off the minute I get in. YUCK! But I do have to say the Sandia is wonderful and I wasn’t scuvatized (SP?) from my room at all! Very clean and very COMFORTABLE beds.
[Comment ID #61741 Quote]
EWWWWWW
[Comment ID #61693 Quote]
Yeah…What he said. LOL!
just saw the video from the festival… it’s great. i actually got ‘see’ the festival. some great clips of vendors, etc. i will have a dvd available in a week or two.