The 18th Annual Texas Hot Sauce Festival is Coming!

texas-hot-sauce-festival-2018

It’s almost here!

Texas Hot Sauce Festival will be held September 22 & 23, 2018 on Saturday from 11am to 6pm and Sunday from Noon to 5pm at the Bayou City Event Center

What’s Gonna Be There?

Hot sauce, salsa, chips, dips, peppers, spices, marinades, rubs, jams/jelly, pickled products, condiments, soup mixes, chili mixes, wing sauces, … chunky, spicy, smooth, garlicky, sweet, fruity, peppery, smokey…  HOT  and  MILD!   Hundreds of hot and spicy products to try out from around the country.  There is also plenty of food and cold beverages, ongoing stage entertainment, a chile-dren area (including some free and some ‘pay as you go’ activities for the kids), retail vendors, arts & crafts and pepper merchandise.

Entertainment…

High River Sauces Presents the Chi-Town Hot Sauce Expo June 23 and 24, 2018

chi-town-hot-sauce-expo-2018

Save The Date. June 23 & 24, 2018. Toyota Park in the Chicago, IL area. It’s Going To Be A Party!!

Chicagoland Will Never Be the Same!

Come to Toyota Park in Bridgeview, IL for this two-day Fiery Foods Festival to get the ultimate endorphin rush. The weekend promises to be like no other. The 1st Annual Chi-Town Hot Sauce Expo features FREE Hot Sauce Tastings from the BEST Hot Sauce Companies around the World, The Stage of DOOM, Booze & Infuse Cocktail Competition, Guinness Book of Records Reaper Eating Contest, Chihuahua Beauty Pageant, Craft Beers, Specialty Cocktails & So Much More!!

More details to come soon. Get the latest updates at https://www.facebook.com/chitownhotsauceexpo.

Inferno Fest is Back, Heating Up the Chicago Area!

inferno-fest-2017HIGHWOOD IS HEATING UP: INFERNO FEST IS BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28th FROM 4:30-9:30 PM, EVERTS PARK

Highlights include assorted spicy food creations and Inferno Fest Eating Contest

HIGHWOOD, IL (JUNE 28, 2017) – Celebrate Highwood is fired up to announce the return of Inferno Fest on Wednesday, June 28th, from 4:30-9:30pm in Everts Park (130 Highwood Avenue). Back by popular demand, Inferno Fest will test the taste buds of the most fearless food enthusiasts with the hottest and spiciest foods and beverages. For those worried they may not be able to handle the heat, have no fear, the event will take place in conjunction with all the fabulous vendors at the weekly Highwood Evening Gourmet Market.

The 2017 Spicy Flave Awards

the-flave-awardsThe International Flavor Awards, in conjunction with the people that bring you the Annual “Midwest Fiery Foods Fest/ Bacon, Brew & BBQ Fest” are excited to invite you to compete in this year’s Spicy Flave Awards. The Spicy Flave Awards are held annually to honor hot & spicy foods producers from a variety of product areas such as hot sauce, salsa, BBQ Sauce, wing sauces, mustards, condiments, pickled products, beverages and much more. Again this year, entries are just $50 per category entered, pay for 3 and get a 4th free or enter 5 products for $250 and get your 6th & 7th FREE. 1 place winners in each category receive a hand-blown glass award and 2nd & 3rd places receive extra-large multi-color ribbons! Take a look at the categories and rules here:

www.theFlaveAwards.com

ALSO!! With your entry into the “Spicy Flave Awards” you’re given the opportunity to vend at the Midwest Fiery Foods Fest/ Bacon, Brew & BBQ Fest for FREE!!! You don’t need to attend the event to enter the contest. We feel this is an amazing and cost effective event that will allow companies the opportunity to introduce and sell products to attendees over the course of the weekend plus…

2017 Screaming Mi MI Award Winners!

screaming-mi-mi-champion-dirty-dicks-hot-sauceThe Screaming Mi Mi Awards were announced this year at the 5th Annual NYC Hot Sauce Expo.

Grand Champion Winner!

CONGRATS To :

Dirty Dicks Hot Sauce

In addition to the prestigious honor of being the 2017 Screaming Mi Mi Grand Champion, Dirty Dicks also won:

50 Case purchase from Peppers.com distribution
Hot Sauce featured in June subscription of Fuego Box
Full Page Ad in Chile Pepper Magazine
1 Year of Free banner advertising on the Official Scott Roberts website: www.scottrobertsweb.com
Free 10 x 10 Booth at the 2018 NYC Hot Sauce Expo (or another High River presenting Expo)

A Big Time Congrats To All of the 2017 Winners!!

The panel of Judges that include celebrity chefs from CBS, FOX & Food Networks, writers from Bon Appetit Magazine, Rachael Ray Magazine, Food Network Magazine, Huffington Post, NYC Newspapers, NYC Food Bloggers, Sirius XM Radio, NYC Chefs and other industry professionals.

 

Screaming Mi Mi Winners Full Listing…

Fiery Foods Challenge 2017 Winners List

Fiery-Food-Challenge-Golden-Chiles-ZestFest-2017-Awards-WinnersCongrats to the winners of the 2017 Fiery Foods Challenge, AKA the Golden Chile Awards, which were announced at this past weekend’s ZestFest 2017.

Thanks to John “CaJohn” Hard of CaJohn’s Fiery Foods for providing the list.

The Winners

Barbecue Sauce: Alcohol Infused – Consumer Ready
Born to Hula, LLC Imperial Apple Barbecue Sauce 1
LaRae’s Bar-B-Que Sauce, Inc Tequila Garlic 2
LaRae’s Bar-B-Que Sauce, Inc Tequila Sunrise 3

Barbecue Sauce: Exotic – Consumer Ready
C & J Farms Jalapeño Honey 1
Moore’s Marinades & Sauces Moore’s Honey BBQ Wing Sauce 2
Southern Belles BBQ Blueberry Blues 3

Barbecue Sauce: Fruit Based – Consumer Ready
Johnson Berry Farm Strawberry Stinger Ghost Sauce 1
Culley’s Culley’s Rib ‘N’ Chik’N 2
Southern Belles BBQ Blueberry Blues 3

Barbecue Sauce: Mustard Based – Consumer Ready…

Houston Comes Alive This Fall with the Texas Hot Sauce Festival!

texas-hot-sauce-festival-september-2017I’m ecstatic to report that a hot sauce festival is once again happening in the Houston, Texas area this coming Fall!

Since show producer Carol Borge lost the rights to the name Houston Hot Sauce Festival last year, both disappointed chileheads and fiery foods vendors have wondered if this beloved annual event would cease to exist or if it would ever return in some shape or form. Carol is indeed roaring back with a show that promises to be bigger and better than ever with the new Texas Hot Sauce Festival!

Borrowing the mantra of its predecessor event of “Always in September,” the Texas Hot Sauce Festival will be held on September 23 and 24, 2017 (with Saturday hours of 11am – 6pm and Sunday hours of noon – 5pm). The locale for this new THSF will be the Bayou City Event Center at 9401 Knight Road, Houston, TX 77045…

The 2017 Hot Sauce Hall of Fame Final Ballot

Hot-Sauce-Hall-of-Fame-Crest-LogoThe Hot Sauce Hall of Fame is proud to announce the 3rd Annual Hall of Fame ballot for the Class of 2017. With almost 800 nomination ballots voted on from the Selection Committee, the Hall was able to determine the Top 10 people for the final ballot.

This year the Hall will induct 3 people to the Class of 2017 on April 22nd at the NYC Hot Sauce Expo‘s main stage. The Class of 2017 will receive a distinctive Red Jacket, Hall of Fame Ring and will be enshrined with legendary of honors into the Hot Sauce Hall of Fame…

Pepper Palace Joins Forces With ZestFest To Help Market and Promote Best Spicy Food Products

zestfest-ffc-marketing-with-pepper-palaceDALLAS – Dec. 10, 2016 – PRLog — As an industry leader, Pepper Palace is interested in mentoring smaller companies and encouraging their participation in ZestFest and the Fiery Food Challenge as a way to grow their business and promote the fiery food industry. The Fiery Food Challenge is a featured event at the annual spicy food show, ZestFest, produced by Spicy Food Productions, LLC.  Each year a panel of expert judges comes to ZestFest in search of the best products in the spicy food category.  Last year’s 20th Anniversary Edition of the Fiery Food Challenge was dominated by the products entered by Pepper Palace.  This year Pepper Palace has decided to hold off from entering to allow new and developing artisan companies an opportunity for increased exposure and the chance to win the prestigious Golden Chile award.

Pepper Palace was founded by Craig and Tanya Migawa in 1989 as a kiosk in a Central Wisconsin Mall and soon expanded to include two inline retail locations. After successfully operating in Wisconsin for eight years, a family trip inspired a move south to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Pepper Palace opened their first Gatlinburg location in 1997 in a small storefront on the outskirts of town. Several moves were made to better, larger locations until finally reaching its current location in 1999, a 3000 square foot spot in a prominent Gatlinburg Mall. This was, and continues to be, the largest spicy themed specialty retail location in the world. Pepper Palace entered the online arena in that same year by launching pepperpalace.com.

Pepper Palace began expansion efforts by…

The NYC Hot Sauce Expo Celebrates Its 5th Anniversary

5th-new-york-city-nyc-hot-sauce-expo

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 27, 2016

The NYC Hot Sauce Expo Celebrates Its 5th Anniversary

New York’s own High River Sauces proudly presents the 5th Annual New York City Hot Sauce Expo on April 22nd & 23rd 2017. The NYC Expo will feature up to 45 artisanal hot sauce makers from all over the United States and as far as Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand and South America. The NYC Hot Sauce Expo has grown into an International Hot Sauce celebration. Witness the action packed event with hot sauce tastings, eating challenges, spicy food vendors, craft beer, spicy cocktails and plenty of odd ball entertainment for the whole family…

SauceFest LLC Announces Postponement of Festival

saucefest-houston-txGourmet Food and Music Festival Postponed Until 2017

Houston, TX | August 1, 2016:

SauceFest LLC (“SauceFest”) regrets to announce that the gourmet food and music festival’s inaugural run has been postponed until the fall of 2017. The event was originally scheduled to take place October 22-23, 2016 on the streets of East Downtown Houston. The festival is now tentatively scheduled for October 2017.

To ensure that SauceFest 2017 brings the heat, iBurn® is working with Houston’s own Pegstar Concerts to deliver a music lineup that only Pegstar can deliver. The 2-day festival will also feature gourmet food products with heat levels ranging from mild to the world’s hottest, craft beer and liquor brands, local restaurants, cooking demonstrations, and eating…

2016 Oxnard Salsa Festival

oxnard-salsa-festival 20162016 Oxnard Salsa Festival
23rd Annual Festival

Celebrating Salsa – The Food, the Music & the Dance!
July 30-31, 2016
Plaza Park, Downtown Oxnard
11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Free Admission and Parking

Oxnard, CA – Get ready to spice things up during the 23rd Annual Oxnard Salsa Festival!  One of Oxnard’s signature events, the Oxnard Salsa Festival celebrates salsa food, music and dance on July 30-31, 2016 at Plaza Park, Fifth and “B” Streets, in historic downtown Oxnard.

Presented by the Oxnard Downtowners, the annual event features spicy food and hot entertainment, attracting an estimated 45,000 salsa lovers to the City of Oxnard for the two-day action-packed…

CookOut NYC Little Big BBQ to Feature Ribs King of NYC Ribs Cookoff, Battle of the Sides

Cookout NYC Little Big BBQ 2016Start summer off right with CookOut NYC’s Little Big BBQ, taking place Saturday, June 18th, on the East River waterfront (enter at 23rd Street). Join 10+ meat chefs and pitmasters as they compete in a ribs cookoff (inspired by Brisket King of NYC) with daytime programming to include a “Battle of the Sides” competition ($45 all-inclusive daytime session; evening all-inclusive tickets starting at $55).

The weekend before our Little Big BBQ will be the Big Apple BBQ where chefs from all over the country will compete for best in show meats. We’re taking a page from that book and one from our own with a NYC-only chef competition that will crown (a la Brisket King) a Ribs King of NYC™ (both judges and people’s choice awards will be given out). Plus, we’ll add in plenty of vegetarian options for an all-inclusive BBQ eating and drinking experience during a daytime session that will focus on great sides that go with barbecue and the evening Ribs King of NYC Cookoff. Ticketing options include:

Saturday Evening Session – All-Inclusive Ribs King of NYC Ribs Cookoff Competition (21+)

  • 5-9PM – $100 VIP ticket – includes access to special VIP seated section on the stage plus an extra hour of…

Summer Fest – One Weekend, Three Festivals

sun-prairie-wisconsin-summer-feast-bacon-brew-bbq-festThe ultimate festival for food lovers, families & craft beer enthusiasts in Wisconsin.

The Summer Feast is a 3-day celebration from June 24-26th in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin (near Madison), featuring specialty cuisines, craft beers and music. Each day, Chefs focus on different flavors which makes each day of the festival unique. There are activities for kids and adults, live music, Junior Chef Competitions and much more. The Friday & Sunday events offer free admission, are family-friendly and allow for multiple food choices at affordable prices. Saturday is for adults 21 and up and is an All-You Can Eat & Drink Festival which requires an advance ticket purchase. Enjoy three of the most unique food festivals, all in one location, all in one weekend…

Hot Sauce Festival Season Heats Up in 2016

new-hot-sauce-festivals

Just when you think things couldn’t get any hotter, think again.

More fiery foods events are being set ablaze all of the U.S. this year. And while more events does not necessarily equal satisfaction and success on all levels, there are a handful of events – including a pair of new expos – that have an excellent chance of elevating the chilehead community to another exciting level. Why, you might ask? Because they are produced or co-produced by none other than Steve Seabury himself, the man behind the hugely successful New York City Hot Sauce Expo.

Both returning for a second go-around are the California Hot Sauce Expo and the NJ Taco Festival.

The California Hot Sauce Expo, scheduled for July 16th and 17th, is similar in a lot of ways to the kick-ass NYC event in its formatting, with vendors galore and spicy eating contest, just instead hosted in sunny Long Beach, CA as opposed to the cool, crisp Brooklyn streets.

The NJ Taco Festival, while alike in a…