Krewe de Croix’s first hot sauce competition, held Saturday afternoon at Club Comanche Rum and Wine Bar, was a sizzling summer competition which will help bring plenty of cool events to the island all year ’round.
With the theme “Strand on Fire,” the event was a fundraiser for Krewe de Croix’s many community activities. Participants also got the opportunity to sample and sell their homemade hot sauce to the community.
Krewe de Croix is a community group that sponsors a variety of events throughout the year. Proceeds raised from Saturday’s competition will support such Krewe de Croix events as the Krewe de Barkus Dog Parade, Mardi Croix, Kallaloo and Gumbo Cook-off and the upcoming sixth annual Mama Dyer Rib Cook-off, set for Sept. 2.
Val Stiles, Krewe de Croix spokesperson, said the organization needed the hot sauce competition.
“We became broke after past Krewe de Croix events,” Stiles said.
Dee Ullrich, Krewe de Croix member, said the hot sauce competition is a family-oriented event.
“It’s a fun way of bringing the community together,” she said.
Mild, hot, and mango flavored hot sauce were provided by the 30 entries. Almost all of the entries gave tastes of their sauces on cheese, sausage links, bread, crackers, tortilla chips or sushi.
Theresa Davis has been making her hot sauce for more than 50 years. She said pound tub seasoning was the main ingredient for her special batch of hot sauce.
“I used a lot of peppers,” she said.
James Gibbs simply said his hot sauce is “highly seasoned.”
Vernon Brown said his passion for hot sauce came easy. Brown grows peppers and decided on using the excess for his hot sauce recipe.
“This is my first competition and my first time sharing my hot sauce with anyone,” Brown said.
Although he was a little uncertain how people would react to his sauce, he said their cheerful reaction said it all.
While the hot sauce competition event was heating up palates, other activities were going on as well. You Are Here Bar and Grille was the crowd–pleaser with an electric bull. Face painting was provided for kids, local arts and craft vendors sold trinkets, and Christmas came early as even Santa Claus made an appearance.
Ullrich said kids had the opportunity to make creative poster board designs for the rib cook-off event at the hot sauce competition.
The competitors were critiqued by eight judges, judging on the sauces taste and hotness.
Sponsors included Channel 8, You are Here Bar and Grille, Angry Nate’s, Above the Cliff and Club Comanche.