To put it mildly, Brooklynite Jolene Collins has a red-hot passion for Sriracha. It started at age 15 when the then-teen smeared the hot sauce all over her tuna sandwich and potato chips.
Fast forward years later when Collins decides to remove refined sugar from her diet. With sugar being the second ingredient in rooster sauce, Sriracha didn’t make the cut. Not content to part ways with the fiery condiment, Collins decided to DIY an artisanal hot sauce and JoJo’s Sriracha was born.
Key to the recipe: the chili peppers (seeds and all are used!). Collins believes in using a variety and has thrown everything from cayenne peppers to cherry bombs into her Sriracha. (The beauty of not having a set recipe is that each handcrafted batch is unique; with the heat is dependent on the pepper mix.) The only two rules: (1) the peppers must not be treated with pesticides or chemicals and (2) should be locally sourced.
JoJo’s Sriracha is already winning fans over at Food Curated, Grub Street and don’t forget us at With Love, From Brooklyn. It’s not our first introduction to the small-batch Sriracha. If JoJo’s seems a wee familiar to you too, it might be because you sampled The Jam Stand’s spicy peach spread, which is laced with the stuff. While we’re not at Collins’ level yet (aka Sriracha drizzled over a vanilla ice cream sundaes), we’re enjoying a teaspoon of this intense condiment on top of everything and anything we can get our hands on.