THE MAKER OF JAMAICA'S WORLD-FAMOUS PEPPER SAUCE ENTERS ITS SECOND CENTURY OF TANTALIZING TASTEBUDS EVERYWHERE

By Lisa A. Bastian, TropicsLifestyle.com


WAY UP IN COOL, FORESTED hills nestled in the middle of Jamaica, one of the most obscure but gastronomically important factories in the world operates against a backdrop of lush, panoramic views.

From the nation's capital city of Kingston, it's about a two-hour drive West on a winding, rural highway to get to this place; the quiet little community of Shooters Hill, best known as home of the Pickapeppa Company Ltd.

Colorful and fragrant tropical flowers blooming everywhere greet visitors upon their arrival at the manufacturing facility.

But a more delightful sensory experience is delivered by the intoxicating aromas of vinegar and onions, dominating the air within a hundred yards all around, infiltrating the clothing and hair of anyone close enough to catch a whiff.

The smells, of course, emanate from inside, where 50 copper pots constantly cook bubbling brews of all-natural ingredients. Here teams of employee-artisans are busy at work producing a variety of tropical marinades. The most famous is Pickapeppa Sauce; the sweet, tangy and extremely mild Caribbean condiment beloved by millions of people.

And that, my friends, is why for true Pepperheads, this is hallowed ground. 

(Left) The company making the original Pickapeppa Sauce celebrated its 100th birthday on June 1, 2021. The other four "sister" flavors are: Hot Pepper Sauce, Gingery Mango Sauce, Spicy Mango Sauce and Hot Mango Sauce. (Right) In the USA consumers can find Pickapeppa products nationwide at these major stores, and websites such as Pickapeppa.com and Amazon.

WHY IS PICKAPEPPA SAUCE SO LEGENDARY? 

Fondly nicknamed "Jamaican ketchup," the sauce is a staple in every home cupboard and eatery on the island, and for good reason.

Jamaicans recognized early on what millions of people everywhere now know; that this tasty sauce adds a super-unique flavor to meats, veggies, dips and marinades to diverse cuisines.

A perfect mix of 16 ingredients has created a global taste sensation made of real food that's all-natural, vegan, and gluten-free.

The main players are cane vinegar, onions, tomato paste, mangos, raisins, Jamaican-grown West Indian Red Peppers and orange peel; ginger, cloves, thyme and other spices; plus a few secret ingredients known only by the company's owners.

Even agent James Bond would have a hard time procuring the coveted recipe, hidden away in a locked safe. Although many people have tried to copy it, as of yet, no one has succeeded.

But wait, there's another key production factor that makes Pickapeppa Sauce so extraordinary. Before it's bottled and sold, the product is aged at least 12 months in the same oak barrels that once aged Jack Daniels, the internationally acclaimed Tennessee whiskey.

Specifically, another company buys these 53-gallon, 35-inch-tall, 126-pound wooden casks from the whiskey maker. After they're sold to the Pickapeppa Co., the barrels are fitted with spigots, filled with sauce, placed on racks in the warehouse, and turned periodically on scheduled dates to enhance flavor and color.

A team of food scientists and other techies who babysit the casks throughout the year periodically test batches to ensure they meet strict quality and safety standards.

Before bottled and sold, Pickapeppa Sauce is aged for at least a year in oak barrels that once aged whiskey such as Jack Daniels. This aging process and proprietary blend of ingredients is the secret to the product's unique flavoring and success.

How Does It TASTE?

To find out if Pickapeppa Sauce belongs in your life, simply buy a bottle (average retail price: $4 to $6) and taste-test it yourself. In the meantime, read a few foodie reviews to whet your appetite.

PepperHeadsForLife.com gives the sauce a glowing five-star rating. It's described as “a nearly strange combination of fruits, vegetables, and spices....The flavor you pick up first and foremost is cloves and sugar. This semi-sweet burst is followed up by the tart taste of cane vinegar and ginger, mixed with fresh-tasting tomatoes, onions and peppers.

"To finish off this puzzle of flavor, you faintly pick up a mild amount of heat and then an orange zest aftertaste. Obviously this sauce is complex. It is not the sauce you want to add to just any and every dish. But, if you want to upgrade from your A1 or Heinz 57 steak sauce, Pickapeppa is the perfect choice. Grilled meats and roasts, would complement this sauce best."

The review ends almost poetically by talking about the sauce's fragrance: "The strong, sweet-smelling cloves pop, the pungent zing of peppers jump out at your nose, and the smell of sea salt drifts you to the ocean. Overall, Pickapeppa, is a top-notch sauce.”

Pepperscale.com opines that Pickapeppa Sauce is "chock-full of sweet, tangy flavor with more depth fueled by exotic Jamaican flavors. This is a super-mild sauce that everyone can enjoy. And it makes an exceptional seafood sauce."

Leave it to foodie magazine Bon Appétit to describe Pickapeppa Sauce as if it were a fine wine: “To open a bottle is to get an immediate perfume of cane vinegar and cloves, followed by a bit of onion and a hint of thyme. Its acidity comes through first, like a gentle burn at the back of the throat, then the spices kick in for a layered finish without any heat.”

As indicated by its name, the recipe for "The Big Easy" appetizer (above) is super simple! Just place an 8-oz. block of cream cheese on a dish, pour a generous amount of Pickapeppa Sauce over it, then use a knife to spread the cheese onto crackers. The same sauce makes it a breeze to make Basic Jerk Chicken (below). Classic Pickapeppa recipes are published in this issue's RECIPES column.

BRIEF PICKAPEPPA HISTORY

Pickapeppa Co. just celebrated its milestone 100th birthday on June 1, 2021. And all signs indicate this private business is already poised to do even better in its second century.

But how, you may wonder, did this success story begin? 

To find out, let's go back to the a few years before the start of the Great Depression. Sixteen-year-old Norman Nash of Manchester, Jamaica, was enjoying his hobby of cooking in his family's humble home kitchen.

By sheer luck, and after lots of experimentation, this was the day everything changed. The young lad (with no formal cooking training) trusted what his tastebuds were telling him. While stirring a pot filled with the aromatic, complex concoction featuring regional West Indian Jamaican red peppers, he knew he had created a very unusual and amazing new sauce.

An excited and proud Nash shared his delicious discovery with family and friends, who also loved it. A tropical condiment star was born!

Nash established the Pickapeppa Company Ltd. in 1921 and named his culinary creation Pickapeppa Sauce. Jamaican artist Stella Shaw (his cousin) painted the company's iconic parrot-and-pepper logo.

It didn't take long for folks everywhere on the Island to appreciate the versatile brown sauce and start using it in all kinds of dishes. For the first few decades the product was made in small batches, and mainly sold through local grocery stores.

Twenty-four years later in 1945, the entire business was sold to Joseph Lyn Kee Chow. A first-generation Jamaican, he immediately got busy and established the original (and still operating) commercial operations at Shooters Hill, Manchester.

Pickapeppa Co. remains a business owned and operated by the Lyn Kee Chow family. Three brothers representing its second generation are now in charge, with Stephen Lyn Kee Chow serving as the current CEO.

While the family is Chinese by heritage, they are not “seen” as Asians per se, in this opening, pluralistic country with a national motto Out of Many, One people. "To the people here, it doesn’t matter what you look like," explains Vaughan Turland, a business advisor and friend to the company. "If you live here, then you’re Jamaican; that’s a very important social construct."

While succession plans are not publicly known, it could be postulated that some younger members of the third generation may step up as future leaders of this family dynasty. 

(Left to Right) Pickapeppa fans can purchase branded T-shirts, cooking aprons, ballcaps and napkins, as well as all the company's products, at www.Pickapeppa.com.

GENERATIONs OF LOYAL WORKERS

In the early days the factory's rooms buzzed with activity from a small cadre of workers, including some of the founder's family members.

Today, the Pickapeppa Co. is an economic driver in the region. It hires only "the cream of the crop" from the region to ensure long-held standards of excellence are maintained. In other words,  "only the best can make the best."

The 40 factory employees are known to show great loyalty to both the company and its owners. There's a real sense of community here, and the company cares for its workers as if they were family.

Tasty meals cooked up daily in the employee kitchen are free, as are the crisp uniforms everyone wears. For some workers living in very modest abodes, the access onsite showers with clean, abundant water is a life-changing work benefit. 

Not surprisingly Pickapeppa jobs tend to become lifetime employments, with some spanning decades. Recently a man who began employment here in his youth retired in his mid-nineties. Many people are second-generation workers, following in the footsteps of their older relatives.

Since the 1940's the plant has undergone  countless upgrades on various levels. With a hyper-focus on food safety and quality, in recent years the company invested heavily in the factory's infastructure, and made major improvements to processes affecting all areas of the business.

Just a few years ago the packing and bottling of product was done by hand; now machines do that work. However, the making of Pickapeppa products will forever be an artisan activity. For example, the peeling of onions and stirring of ingredients in huge copper pots are two of many specialized tasks requiring a "human touch" to perfect a process.

All those expensive transformations paid off handsomely in 2018, when Pickapeppa Co. announced its manufacturing facility was now one of a handful of Jamaican companies to have achieved the internationally recognized Food Safety System Certification FSSC 22000.

This recognition placed the brand in the relatively small pool of 17,000 companies worldwide that had achieved similar honors. More importantly, the business was now positioned better than ever for greater expansion opportunities in the U.S. and other competitive export markets.

Throughout its history Pickapeppa Co. has won numerous international awards, and was the first business in Jamaica to be awarded the Monde Selection Gold Medal with Palm Leaf. This annual honor is bestowed by the Belgium-based International Quality Institute, which tests and recognizes the world's best-quality food, drinks and cosmetics products.

In 2018, Pickapeppa Co. announced its manufacturing facility had been awarded a prestigious global food safety certifcation. This recognition placed the brand in the relatively small pool of 17,000 companies worldwide that had achieved similar honors, and opened the door wider for greater expansion into competitive export markets. 

FIVE UNIQUE SAUCES

For over a century, the company has been able to maintain the original distinctive taste, flavor and quality of Pickapeppa Sauce due to an adherence to extremely high production standards.

Those same standards are applied to the making of its four other sauce products as well. The oldest is the Hot Pepper Sauce (similar in taste to sauces made from Tabasco peppers) which has been around almost as long as Pickapeppa Sauce.

Both products are the only ones decanted into oak aging barrels. However, unlike the no-heat Pickapeppa Sauce, this fiery condiment is aged for up to three years (not one) to develop its complex flavors, aromas, spicy overtones, and natural rich-red color. That's the good news. The bad news is that these additional two years of aging makes it only available in limited quantities.

So what does Hot Pepper Sauce taste like? Fans say it packs a good heat punch that gets in your throat ~ and then surprisingly keeps on releasing far longer than you'd expect. Ingredients are: West Indian Red Peppers, unrefined cane sugar, water, vinegar, sea salt, garlic, the natural tropical seed-derived dye Annatto (E160b), and pimento.

About 10 years ago the company added three more sauces to the brand family. They predominately feature the sweet flavor of the mango fruit, which expresses the combined taste of pineapples, oranges and peaches.

Interestingly, the recipes for these sauces were purchased by Pickapeppa Co. from a local second-generation Jamaican family who (similar to founder Nash's story) made very small quantities of the condiments in a home kitchen.

It took about three years, and a substantial investment, for the company to perfect the three formulas and incorporate them into its larger-scale production processes. Today, the mango sauces are very popular and in great demand worldwide.
 
The most-purchased of the trio, Spicy Mango Sauce, is smooth, richly flavored and full-bodied. It features a mild spiciness from locally grown red peppers with added sweetness from cane sugar. Gingery Mango Sauce is superbly zingy, and gains its distinct character from Jamaican ginger, the finest in the world. Hot Mango Sauce is smooth on the palate, offers subtle hints of ginger and garlic, and uses ground Jamaican red pepper seeds to deliver a controlled heat with a little extra bite. 

(Left) Pickapeppa makes three sauces featuring the sweet flavor of mango, which expresses the combined taste of pineapples, oranges and peaches. (Right) Photo of various types of mangos.

your pickapeppa IMPORTER

If you're addicted to Pickapeppa sauces and am grateful for the steady supply entering America, you can thank one company: Warbac Sales Co, LLC.

This Louisiana-based company has always been the primary importer for Pickapeppa. Today, this woman-owned and operated business imports about 75 percent of  Pickapeppa's products into the United States. 

Once or twice a month, about 44,000 pounds of these tropical treats leave Kingston, Jamaica, and enter America via the Port of New Orleans, Louisiana. Warbac Sales then moves them to its local warehouse, where they await distribution orders to other U.S. regions.

Typically each shipment contains 5,000 cases of bottled sauce, with 12 five-ounce bottles in each case. Sometimes there will be gallons of the sauce. The contents of each shipment vary, and are different depending on availability of supply, what has been ordered, any special promotions going on, etc.

While Warbac Sales is not an owner of Pickapeppa, it does play a vital role as a long-term, valued partner and advisory board member.

President and owner Cheryl Grevemberg says "it feels almost like we're one and the same company" due to their strong bond and shared growth vision.

The two businesses began their relationship over four decades ago. Back then one of the many importers of Pickapeppa decided to retire, and was looking for someone to buy the rights to his sales territory in the nation's mid-section.

Cheryl's father, Warren Backer, became the new buyer and founded Warbac Sales to run his new endeavor. In 1982 he began importing tons of Pickapeppa's goods into New Orleans. The original and hot pepper sauces already had become a vital part of that city’s cuisine, complimenting the traditional spices used in Cajun and Creole cooking. "For decades New Orleans has been the largest market in the world for Pickapeppa," notes Cheryl. "We all grew up with it."

Cheryl runs the day-to-day operations of Warbac Sales with help from family members, including the company's co-owner, her brother Warren Backer, Jr. "It’s a great job, and can be a lot of fun," she says, even during these days of economic uncertainty. 

"If you look at the dynamics of the Pickapeppa product cycle it's an unassuming brand, but for some reason it’s still here after a hundred years," notes Vaughan of Pickapeppa. "A big reason for that comes down to people like Cheryl and her father before her, selling our sauces in the USA, our largest market. We never would have charted such spectacular sales without them."

In 2017, Jamaica's economic development agency (#DoBizJA) showcased Pickapeppa Co. Ltd. in two-minute videos (above and below). Both are part of the government's "From Farm to Shelf" series promoting the Island as an ideal place to do business by highlighting successful local companies.

Author's Note:  Lisa Bastian, publisher of Tropics Lifestyle magazine, discovered the original Pickapeppa Sauce in November 1983 when honeymooning with her husband Ed in the Grand Cayman Islands. This delectable condiment added zing to the Conch Fritters and (real) Donkey Tail foods enjoyed during a lunch prepared by a local cook.

Lisa credits herself as the foodie introducing Pickapeppa Sauce broadly to northern Cincinnati as, upon her return home, she begged the neighborhood Kroger grocery store to start carrying the product (they did). The condiment remains a beloved staple in the Bastian household.