We want to wish a Happy New Year to all our friends and fans. We appreciate all of you so much and would not be here for a 4th year if not for you. We are very excited about the coming season and are already planting pepper seeds .. indoors of course. We are looking at a few new sauces after trying some new plants last year. The Dragon’s Breath and Death Spiral both look very promising. We’ll also finally get the Cuban Mojo Sauce finished and listed .. one of my favorites along with the Jamaican Jerk Sauce which was a huge hit last year.

We’ve also had a lot of success with our woodworking products, especially the Pens. We’ll be doing more Pens as well as hand-turned Bowls this year. They’re really fun to make for me, and make really nice gifts. I’m always looking for new Gift Box/Caddy ideas as well and should have some new options this year.

I also redesigned the Website for the New Year. I was limited with what I could do with the prior platform (Ecwid) so migrated to WP Easycart (migrate sounds simple .. anything but!) and believe all is up and running as planned. Please let me know if you see anything amiss and I’ll try to get it corrected. The website also shares much of the product line on Facebook and Instagram so you can see much of what we’re offering there as well.

I will endeavor to do better with things like newsletters, specials for registered users, etc. this year. I do want to show my appreciation to all of you that have been with me on this journey, many for years, and those just joining now. As always, reviews on our products are greatly appreciated.

We will see you in May as the Farmers Markets start back up. Still working on how many and which ones, we’ll post when we are set.

Thank you all again and we hope to see or hear from you soon!

Steve & Kathy
Tahoma Spice Company

Hot Pepper Guide

Cooking & Using Hot Peppers

Hot Peppers, it’s what’s for dinner!

For some, the idea of cooking with Hot Peppers, especially SuperHot Peppers, has little appeal. But for those who enjoy some spice in their food and understand these Hot Peppers, it is an absolute joy. Using the right pepper in the correct amount is the answer for success.

Check out our Fresh Hot Peppers! Available Now!!

Hot Pepper Scoville Rating

The ‘Hotness’ of a pepper is indicated by its Scoville Rating which goes from 0 (zero) in the Bell Pepper to over 2 Million in the Carolina Reaper. You can use any pepper in your dish, just use the right amount. I make my Chili Recipe (1 lb burger, 2 cans tomatoes, 1 can beans, bell pepper, onion etc.) using 1 Bahamian Beast Pepper ( 500K Scoville) and it is just right for us; mildish for me and hot enough for Kathy. If I use a Dragon’s Breath (2 M Scoville) I can only use 1/4 of a pepper or it will be way too hot for Kathy. Once you learn your Scoville Tolerance you can try out different peppers without making your dish too hot or even too mild. All our fresh peppers are packaged separately and labeled with their Scoville Rating.

Hot Pepper Storage

Our peppers, like any fresh pepper, only last so long after they are picked. Refrigerated they last maybe a week or so before they get soft. The better option is to freeze them right away. It is highly likely you will dice super fine or even puree your peppers before adding to your dish. This ensures the flavor, and heat, is equally distributed throughout the dish. If you chop an extreme pepper, like the Reaper (2 M Scoville), and you get a big chunk in a bite, it will be like eating a raw pepper .. and most folks would never want to experience that.
When you freeze the peppers it also breaks down the tissue or fibers so when thawed it is very soft and purees really well. It is what I do for all my Hot Sauces, Salsas and BBQ Sauces. You can rinse them or not before freezing. You’ll want to rinse them before use either way.

Usage

The Heat is Not in the Seeds! Inside the pepper is a white substance called the pith or placenta where the seeds are formed. There is also an oily liquid there that is the Capsaicin, that is where the heat is. You can, and should in most cases, remove the seeds for mostly aesthetic reasons. You can scrape out the Pith to remove some of the heat though I see no reason to. If you want it milder, just use less pepper. The easiest way to remove seeds/pith is to cut peppers in half lengthwise and scrape the seeds out with a spoon. Make sure to use gloves when handling peppers. Getting that Capsaicin in your eyes or on other ‘sensitive’ areas can be extremely painful, though it should only last 10-15 min … but it can be a long 10 min.

Feel free to email me with any questions, and Enjoy!

Happy New Year

We here at Tahoma Spice Company want to wish all of you the best in the coming year. It’s a been a tough one for many and our thoughts are with all of you. We’re really looking forward to the Tasting Parties, Farmer’s Markets and other events that got put on hold during these tough times.

Being home more has allowed me to focus more on the Business and things are looking really good for the future. I will be retiring from my ‘day job’ (construction) May 1st and going to full time as Pepper King .. I can’t wait! I have lots of new products and merchandise planned and know many of you will be really excited about these items.

I’ll be posting more on the Farmer’s Markets we plan to attend, and the Tasting Parties we will be offering as we get closer to Spring/Summer.

I’ve also set up a Patreon Account and will be offering Memberships to those interested in supporting our business more directly. Patreon is an American membership platform that provides business tools for content creators to run a subscription service. It helps creators and artists earn a monthly income by providing rewards and perks to their subscribers.
Check out http://patreon.com/tahomaspice for more info.

Thank you all for your amazing support over that last year and here’s to better times ahead!

Stephen (Pepper King)

Went to our first Farmers Market Saturday in Silverdale, it was awesome. We did really well and Kathy and I met lots of wonderful folks. We, as usual, weren’t great about taking photos .. we’ll get better .. but here are a few. Note all the Mini-bottles in the first pic .. and that half were sold out by the later pics. The BBQ Sauce went really fast as well, especially the Spicy Mango BBQ. I can hardly keep that one in stock.

Thanks to all my customers for their support and encouragement, and to my awesome wife, partner and best friend Kathy for all she does to make our Branding and Presentation so beautiful!