Welcome Gary!

Please give Gary from Black Market Condiment Company as a new HSB Reviewer. Garys first review was delicious and the HSB is looking forward to many more reviews from Gary in the future. Check out his author page as well.

When Nick put out the call for new HSB reviewers a couple months ago, I jumped on the opportunity, but admit that I really didn’t think I’d be chosen. It’s not that I have self confidence issues or anything. I just have never considered myself to be any sort of an expert or authoritarian on anything. And I’m not. I’m just one person with an opinion, or many opinions for that matter. In this case, my opinions are about fiery-foods, something I have a passion for. Food has always played an important role in my life. All of my grandmothers were excellent cooks and I guess you could say I became a foodie at a really young age. I used to spend quite a bit of time in the kitchen watching them create and somehow managed to remember a lot of what I saw. All my life I’ve enjoyed cooking and experimenting in the kitchen, particularly with foods that pack a punch, or at least a good slap.

I really got into the whole fiery-foods thing by accident. A couple years ago I decided to plant a bunch of different peppers and herbs in a vacant strip in our backyard. It happened to be a bountiful year and I ended up with more peppers than I could use or giveaway, so I decided to try my hand at hot sauces. I’ve always been pretty good at putting together marinates and rubs and grilling sauces from scratch, but I had never tried to make hot sauce. Having a bunch of freshly picked jalapeno, cayenne, habanero, and hot banana peppers, a free afternoon, and a bunch of beer and wine, I tossed all the peppers on the grill and began developing what would eventually become a very interesting journey and perhaps my future.

With all of those extra peppers I had, I created three hot sauces that were received very well by friends, family, and even a handful of strangers. This got me really excited about creating even more and late last year, with the support of my wife, I launched Black Market Condiment Company. The basic goal of Black Market is to provide a line of gourmet products that are loaded with attitude and tons of flavor, and also appeal to a very wide customer base. None of our products are or ever will be blow your head off hot, but they are also not without their fair share of fervor. We strive for the perfect balance of flavor and heat and believe we have found it. We will be launching our initial product line of three pepper sauces and two dry rubs in January 2007, followed by our 12 to 15 additional products releasing as business growth allows. Since we are always experimenting and developing new products, that number will certainly grow beyond what we are currently capable of handling, but it’s always good to have excellent products in your back pocket.

I hope you find my reviews on the HSB interesting and informative, but also fair. I know how a good review can make or break a product, so I promise to be sensitive to that while penning my thoughts and opinions. Thanks for the opportunity Nick. Cheers!