Founder's Story

 “I'm the guy who makes this stuff. So how did a professor like me get into the business of making hot sauce? Great question. The simple answer is I like to play mad scientist in the kitchen.”
HARVEY TANNENBAUM, ON HIS ORIGIN STORY

Meet Harvey Tannenbaum

One day Harvey found himself in his empty kitchen with a bunch of habaneros, bushels of farm-fresh fruit, and an abundance of curiosity. He had the makings for fruit preserves, but he also had all those peppers. So, he thought, why not go for hot and sweet?

Testing and tasting with the madcap genius of an alchemist, he mixed spices, matched herbs and blended botanicals in all kinds of weird and wonderful ways. On a whim, he swapped jalapeños for habaneros to amp up the heat and—that’s where the magic happened—a more ‘adult’ flavor kick with a rich and unexpected fruit-forward heat. That was the moment—the beginning of Tannenbaum’s Botanical Hot Sauce. 

The rest is hot, sweet history.

No one approaches anything quite like Harvey Tannenbaum. He loves a good challenge. And he’s always learning new things. He might claim it’s because of his history as a recovering librarian… but it’s really because Harvey is an original, just like his sauces.

A note from Harvey

“When I started making my habanero products, I never intended to start a food business. In fact, I didn’t even start out making sauces! I had acquired a bumper crop of habaneros and needed something to do with them. I did the research, taught myself how to make jelly, created a habanero jelly recipe, and it became a hit with friends and colleagues. 

As my friends began using it, I was fascinated to learn they were doing all kinds of interesting things with these jellies, like glazing meat and adding a dab of it to chili. I started experimenting with different combinations of herbs and spices to figure out what worked well together. 

I played around with different textures and consistencies. Eventually, my habanero jelly became a habanero sauce, and people tell me they love how easy it is to use my sauces on just about everything. That’s what I like to hear."