A small but fiery Bronx-based hot sauce operation is expanding to Queens this fall. Small Axe Peppers and GrowNYC, who together launched the community garden-produced Bronx Hot Sauce, announced that a similar program has been initiated in Queens, the end result of which will be the Queens 7 Hot Sauce.
Here's how it works: Small Axe Peppers donated jalapeño pepper seedlings to eight different community gardens in Queens, who will grow the peppers to maturity. Small Axe Peppers plans to buy the peppers from the gardens at $2 per pound and produce the hot sauce. All told, 600 plants were distributed in partnership with The NYC Compost Project; the gardens have a guarantee from Small Axe that 100% of their crop will be bought by the company.
Once the peppers are harvested, the hot sauce-making begins. As they did with their first serrano-based hot sauce, the groups have tapped chef King Phojanakong to create the new Queens hot sauce. As the name suggests, the hot sauce will contain seven ingredients: tomatoes, apple cider vinegar, onion, garlic, salt, sugar, and fish sauce.
"This sauce captures all the vibrant ingredients from Queens' ethnic neighborhoods in one bottle: jalapeño spice up Mexican salsas in Corona, tomatoes are the base of Indian curries in Jackson Heights, and fish sauce adds the quintessential Asian flair in Flushing," the website proclaims. "Queens is truly the world's borough."
Daniel Fitzgerald, VP of Strategic Partnerships for The Bronx Hot Sauce, says they also plan to source tomatoes from the agriculture department at John Bowne High School in Flushing. Fitzgerald tells Gothamist the hot sauce production will begin immediately following the fall harvest and bottles will go on sale shortly after that, though you can preorder bottles now if you're a hot sauce completist.
