Queen’s Question Time with The Chilli Project

Today, I am joined by Rick and Laura Saunders – a husband-and-wife team behind the well-loved UK-based hot sauce brand – The Chilli Project.

How did you get into hot sauce making?

“We started off our journey about 12 years ago as festival goers. We had recently found our love for the fiery fruit as super-hots were becoming the next big thing in the chilli community… and we were fascinated by it. We joined a chilli forum called Chillies Galore, (before Facebook!) and were inspired by some of the chilli greats, traders, reviewers and all-round chilli-heads.

We vlogged our way round festivals meeting traders and trying the next hottest things. West Dean & Fiery Foods festivals being the first couple of events we went to. My best mate Simon and I created ‘Chilli Project X’ to record our chilli journey and antics. We were given the opportunity to use a derelict glass house, that was previously a tomato farm. Simon and I set to work with 100 plants ranging from mild to wild. We quickly realised that we were rubbish chilli farmers, and we had a massive haul of chillies that we didn’t really know what to do with. We sold a lot, then froze the rest. Pretty soon after this our first product was born – Red Rocket Relish, shortly followed by Lemon Drop Jelly.

Chilli Project X soon became The Chilli Project. We took our products to some local events, and we were surprised by how well they did. At this point we still didn’t even consider that this could ever become a business. Fast forward a few years and a few more products – we had built a small range and it was selling well locally. It must have been around 5 or 6 years ago we thought we’d make a go at turning our chilli passion into a business. After lots of research and help from other chilli producers we navigated through the stresses and anxiety of registering a business, Food Hygiene, HACCP, label compliancy, and all the other important boring stuff. Which wasn’t really that bad once we got our heads around it. Fast forward to 2023 and we now have 24 products in the range, 7 Great Taste Awards and all run from our home kitchen by myself and my amazing wife Laura.”

The attention to detail in your products from the names to the ingredients to the labels is evident. Would you say you had a house style? Tell us some of the thinking behind your choices.

“Regarding the branding we really wanted to create something modern and eye-catching, with bright colours to stand out against the competition. Flavour-wise we like to create something people can relate to, but at the same time with our own modern twist. I’m a bit of a perfectionist which can be a bit of a problem due to ‘over-tweaking’. But my brain is a minefield of ideas that go off at any given moment, that combined with my goldfish memory means I have to note stuff down, on multiple cloud platforms or on paper (depending on where I am when the ideas pop up). After developing products for nearly 10 years, I can come up with a pretty good prototype before we’ve even made it. I have a certain formula I use for sweet and savoury sauces, and the Indian pickles…which speeds up the development time hugely. Thinking back to the early days we would go through 10-20 prototypes until we were happy. Now we can get this down to 4 or 5, or sometimes fewer if we’ve really nailed it!

I love all the crude named sauces out there on the market but felt it had ‘already been done’. With our first chilli sauce the slow roasted garlic and ginger, the concept came first then the name second, it has a bit of a naga kick, so we brainstormed a few ideas and came up with ‘Grizzly’ Garlic; I think this is where the animal theme started. The next product was our mango, pineapple and habanero sauce, which had a tropical vibe so ‘Bongo’ was born – possibly a nod to an old skool favourite Unbongo drink? So, from here on most of our sauces now come with a cheeky character and slogan so they are easily remembered.”

Would you talk us through the range of your sauces from mild to hot and tell us which is your best seller?

“Grizzly Garlic Chilli Sauce is without a doubt our best seller, not just because it’s been out the longest but it’s very versatile. You can use it as a dipping sauce or add it to recipes; this is one of the few products we sell in a 1.2L container!

Shortly followed by Garlic Naga Pickle – this product started out a lot hotter than it is today. I have been fine tuning it ever since it came out and we found it was better suited as a milder product, but this is really popular with our customers. When developing new products we do try to fill the gaps so there is a heat tolerance for everyone.

Last year the Jalapeño Gherkin ketchup joined the mild/medium range with Charlie’s Brown Sauce & Ollie’s Cayenne Ketchup. Gherkin is very much like marmite; people love it or hate it. But we found more people like it than not, as it was our third best seller last year!

Our Hedgehog Habanero Chilli Sauce had some big changes last year – sometimes we send out prototypes for feedback and we acted on some really valid comments. We pulled the product, redeveloped it and relaunched it 6 months later and it jumped into our top 5 best sellers.

When I was a kid, we always had a bottle of HP or Daddies brown sauce in the cupboard. I really wanted to recreate our own version of the fruity and tangy favourite. So, after many prototypes, Charlie’s Brown Sauce hit the line-up and has ever since been a house favourite, also picking up a Great Taste Award in 2021.

Our Scotch Bonnet Tandoori Pickle was our first Indian pickle that we developed, again this used to be a lot hotter with a 56% Scotch Bonnet ratio, and we did have a few customers asking for its return, but we found it was more versatile and better suited at 23%, and that has worked well as it’s also in our top 5 products.

Fear not, there is a ‘hot’ pickle coming soon for those serious hot-heads. Keep your eyes peeled for late 2023.”

Is there one of your sauces/products that you are especially pleased with, or are exceptionally proud to have created?

“I’m probably proudest to have developed our Brinjal Pickle. It has good and sad memories! Which I’ll get to in a bit.

Although most of the elements are the same in an aubergine pickle, a lot of products out there differ massively. I did a lot of research on this one and pencilled out a prototype. I had ordered in the aubergines and had all the ingredients lined up… then Covid struck! Laura was taken down in a bad way with severe breathing problems. I had to call 999 on three separate occasions. She spent a week in Epsom and another week in St Hellier hospital in the ‘red zone’. I was in pieces. I really thought I was going to lose my best friend, wife and soulmate, but she fought the battle and won. In Laura’s absence I needed to keep my head screwed on so I went ahead and developed the first prototype on my own. I was so happy with it… about 20 were sent out for feedback and comments and they came back great! We’ve made some very minor tweaks since but it picked up a Great Taste Award in 2022.

Our Squid Sauce is also worth a mention that I developed last year (2022).

I mean this sauce isn’t for everyone, it contains 9 million Scoville chilli extract. However, I really wanted to create an extreme sauce with flavour whilst finding that balance of the chilli extract. I used lots of bold ingredients that work well together, squid ink, seaweed, fish sauce and black garlic to create something I don’t think has been done before. The sauce has a deep, dark, sinister and painful look to it with the jet-black colour adding to its mystery. This sauce probably took me the longest to develop due to the complex flavour profile.”

Name one hot sauce outside of your own brand that you think is brilliant.

“Oooh, this is difficult…

Laura’s favourite is Mr Vikki’s Banana Habanero… and I have to agree it is delicious. Our fridge is always stocked up with Adam Marks’ amazing products. I love the King Naga in everything.

Another personal favourite of mine is Daddy Cool’s Garlic and Papaya Pickle; the soft garlic and well-balanced spices melt in your mouth and leave you screaming for more.

Matt Simpson of Simpson Seeds makes some killer sauces; he doesn’t sell these online so you can only stock up when you find him at an event. Matt’s sauces come with his ‘trademark’ white label which says to me, it’s about the content not the label. And it’s true as they don’t last longer than 3-4 meals per bottle. Can’t wait to stock up again when we are back in the west country.”

Describe the funniest/oddest/most entertaining reaction from someone trying one of your hot sauces.

“One of the funniest moments I can recall in the last year was when our good friend Nicky arrived at Guildford Cheese & Chilli Festival and pulled one of the funniest and textbook faces of all time after sampling our Blood Eagle Chilli Sauce (30% Carolina Reaper). After the chilli-eating competition had ended and people were on their way out, Nicky came back to our pitch and his friend got him to try the Horsepower Sauce (6.4m SHU) – he shuddered equally! We love Nicky; he loves chilli but doesn’t have the best of tolerances, but he will always give it a go!”

Please tell us your most unforgettable experience (good or bad) making your sauces so far.

“I guess this is probably up there and Laura would agree. One of our first times making Hammerhead Hot Sauce, we were transferring a tub of 6-week fermented Scotch Bonnets to the pan, and we thought it was a good idea to tilt the stockpot at a slant for easier pouring. What actually happened was Laura held the stock pot at 45 degrees whilst I tipped in the 10-litre tub of mash. The stock pot went from 45 degrees to 180 degrees on its side and the whole lot ended up on the floor. A mistake you only make once. We often look back at this time and laugh although we were not laughing at the time. A facepalm moment with a sea of red on the kitchen floor wondering would it just be easier to burn the kitchen down?

Another was meeting Rick Stein (one of our childhood heroes) and Tom Kerridge at Pub in the Park Chiswick.

Oooh and winning my first chilli-eating competition at Brighton Fiery Foods Festival 2021.”

Would you also share with us your most unforgettable experience/cherished memory selling your sauces so far?

“That’s an easy one – meeting you, Shahina… and Johnny Scoville in the first ever League of Fire Belt Match at Guildford Cheese & Chilli Festival 2019. That was truly amazing; we were starstruck!

We were honoured to have been asked to produce your own challenge product ‘Killer Queen Chug’ by the League of Fire. One of the best tasting I do believe? Then to be asked back for the KQ2 was amazing. We’re sincerely proud to be producing challenge products for the UK Chilli Queen & League of Fire. Sometimes it still baffles us that products that we made in our small kitchen in Leatherhead are popping up in YouTube videos all over the world.”

What would be your dream come true with regard to your brand?

“Let’s be clear, we don’t want to be in supermarkets. They will have you busting your back for a 5-10% margin and it’s not viable for us in our current setup. Regardless, no-one wants to go to a chilli/food festival and see something they can get at the supermarket. Some might have this vision but…it’s not ours. I would like to build the brand amongst farm shops, independent retailers, and direct to the customer. We enjoy engaging with our customers, driving custom back to the website and building our business organically. This may or may not be the right path for us… but at this time it is.”

Where can readers find your sauces? Do you have an online shop? Do you also trade at festivals and street markets? Are there any big events coming up?

“Our main outlet is our website. You can also find us at various farmers markets: Surbiton, Cobham, Walton-on Thames, Farnham, Epsom. That line-up is subject to change throughout the year as we will be at some of the most popular food and chilli festivals in the country. Smoke & Fire Festival, Great Dorset Chilli Festival, Reading Chilli Festival, the Cheese and Chilli Festivals, Westbury Chill Festival to name a few.”

Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself or your products that we haven’t covered? Are there any upcoming plans or works in the pipeline?

“I am working on a Chipotle Sauce which will probably be the next sauce to join the line-up, otherwise I have a few ideas that I’m playing with, but you’ll have to wait and see!”

Check out The Chilli Project’s website & socials:

• chilliproject.co.uk
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter

If you are on a desktop or mobile phone and logged into Facebook on your browser, then please do leave a comment below with your thoughts and if you have tried any of the products by The Chilli Project.