I will tell you my version of the story, but if you ask one of my family members they may tell you differently
So, I had decided that I needed to do something to plant a bunch of heirloom tomatoes, beans and tuberculous that I had saved seeds/roots from visiting different organic farms and gifts from friends, around the same time Mayah’s teen group at Rural Resources started to learn about vermacomposting; what a fantastic thing to do with all your veggie scraps and organic healthy matter! “I thought”
Well, confessing my sins here... I am a bit compulsive. I want things to get done, be done and turned out done fast! I push myself and people to move and sometimes I forget you don’t get to push nature, specially worms to get their job done and fast!
So, while Mayah retains info and proper details about a process I am always researching because I may forget what I had read about a topic and make a mumble jumble of concepts under that one topic in this case compost. I started to shake and mix that container daily, added water, carbon matter etc.. the result, those poor worms multiplied and got down dirty to their business, in a matter of 4 weeks I had dirt, or at least what I thought was the most wonderful organic dirt. I was ready to plant those wonderful seeds I had, and so like a good “know it all” I proceeded to plant and start this cute little garden in our house in TN. Anyway, it looked really cute and started doing really well, so well that things I did not plant started sprouting like the million tomato seeds from scraps I had put on the compost.
Shit! Yes! all those wonderful tomatoes my friends had gifted from their own gardens that had become our summer salads now where sprouting and growing on our mini garden, I didn’t know which kind of tomatoes we were growing, I just knew the plants looked healthy and strong so I did my best to purge and relocate the plants to allow them to grow and somehow ended up with 19 tomato plants growing. We we’re getting about 80 tomatoes a day between grape size tomatoes to amazingly sweet and juicy Chuck’s yellow hence I ended up with a freezer full of tomatoes, canned tomatoes, salsa jars etc. Around that time, I heard my brother in law telling a story of how he had taken a gourmet chef class to make BBQ sauce in Toronto but he didn’t like it because the base was tomato sauce so that wasn’t truly made from scratch, and consequently that trigger my curiosity and I started researching about truly making BBQ sauce from scratch. You see, leaving in the south it’s all about a good BBQ pork on Friday night, could be falling of the bone ribs, pull pork or any other soaked in BBQ sauce pork, grocery stores sublet a spot for a smoker food truck to sell or you find these yummy charcoal snooker places all over and the smell.. mMh just lures you in!
So I decided to give it a try, first I needed to make tomato paste. I got myself a small mill and followed the baking instructions and voila! I got a super delicious creamy paste and whip my first batch of BBQ sauce, probably after two or three more tries I found the perfect blend for spices and friends started calling the sauce scrumptious. That was the birth to our Red Neck Teaser and nice real compliment! So in one of my small trips back to Boston for work, I packed 24 small 4oz jars of BBQ and gifted to co-workers and friends looking for additional feedback. I found that taste buds in TN are quite different that New England and in return I heard that people wanted more heat and less smoke flavor so I came up with recipe #2 Butt Kicking BBQ
I have tried other infusions and I am open to feedback for future concoctions! My Artisan BBQ sauce is different! why? Because is made primarily with no preservatives other than Apple cider vinegar, is completely gluten and xantham gum free making it yummy friendly to those that suffer from GI issues and the best part to me is made with a variety of heirloom golden, red and purple tomatoes, tomatoes you don’t purchase at the store, rather flavors our ancestors thought were worthy to preserve and that I am happy to introduce you to, sauces are infused with spirits that carry history in their distilling veins! like Whiskey, Tequila, Aguardiente, Bourbon adding an after taste that pairs so well with fish, pork, and chicken.
Living now in the Midwest presents other types of challenges to our tomatoes so if you also want to try to plant heirloom tomatoes next year I will send you seeds, you won’t be disappointed, you may not want to purchase the traditional red tomatoes at the store anymore.
I invite you to try the sauces, I can only make 3-4 batches a year mid to late summer so it’s sold in very limited quantities. If you like them, post your meal picture on our Instagram and enjoy! if you don’t like them and still want to share, post a funny picture and let me know what went wrong!