Philippine Hot Sauce Club: turning up the heat in the food scene

For hot sauce fanatics, chili makers and enthusiasts, the Philippine Hot Sauce Club (PHSC) is one cool bunch.

Maybe it’s their penchant for combining hot sauce tasting, beer-drinking and music in parties, or the way they have dipped their own brand of badassery into their chili concoctions.

The Philippine Hot Sauce Club has birthed more than 120 brands of hot sauces

Just a year old, the club already has more than 120 brands to their name, all artisanal, backyard and using locally-grown chilies. From tongue-burning hot sauces of varying levels of heat, to salad dressings, dips, marinades and mixes, chili flakes, chili crackers, ketchups, pickles and chutneys, and the latest result of their spicy wizardry, bottled ready-to eat food, it seems the PHSC has thought and made it all.

“We try to come up with something new, something outrageous. Everyone’s constantly experimenting,” says Eric Del Rosario, who co-founded Philippine Hot Sauce Club together with the Ponchit Ponce-Enrile and chef Justin Yenko.

Serious about Chili

As early as 2014, Ponce-Enrile, a farmer himself seeking to grow the chili business, began to organize chili festivals, pocket events shared among a small group of chili heads. This was under his organization of chili growers or farmers, Philippine Chili Federation.

When his nephew Justin Yenko started winning festival competitions and meeting others who liked to experiment with chili, they decided to form a club primarily geared towards hot sauce makers.

“There came a point when we realized there was a huge market for chili-related products from growing to processing. We felt like we were on the precipice of something big, so we decided to go for it,” says Yenko.

The Philippine Chili Federation serves as the umbrella organization of all groups related to chili: Philippine Hot Sauce Club, Chili Growers Philippines, Ka Sili, Mindanao Chili Growers, Labuyo 100 and Sili Pilipinas. Memberships in these groups are not exclusive, often with members crossing over another.

Spicy Louie is a brand of hot sauces from Pampanga with organic and healthful twists, like his habanero rosemary and habanero sweet and sour moringa salad dressings.

This way, instead of competing, they would help each other elevate the chili industry in the Philippines as a hot business, while also showcasing the creativity of Filipino food entrepreneurs, whether they have already established their brands or are still learning the ropes.

Turning up the heat

The 3,000 Facebook membership-strong club welcomes both hot sauce fans and makers. Anyone is free to pitch his or her hot sauce idea.  

“Every month, someone would send in a chili product. We taste them and we tell them how to improve their products, until they’re ready to launch,” del Rosario says, amazed that people as far as Davao and Palawan are joining.

“Ang daming makers whose products are great but haven’t seen the light of day yet, so everyday being in the club is like a treasure hunt, unearthing hidden gems,” Yenko adds.

Once they’ve perfected their sauces, the sauce makers create their packaging, register their social media pages, and showcase their products in one of the club’s monthly bazaars or pop-up events.

Most of the makers are just spicy food aficionados who have grown tired of the usual hot sauce bought from the grocery.

“Mahilig lang talaga ako sa maanghang,” says Louice Calara, a hot sauce maker who hails from Pampanga. “Nakakasawa na kasi yung usual lang na spicy sauces, so sabi ko, why not gumawa ako ng okay sa panlasa ko?” 

His hot sauces, branded as Spicy Louie, are mildly hot with organic and healthful twists, like his habanero rosemary and habanero sweet and sour moringa salad dressings.

RSL's chili garlic, unlike the usual oily kind, is crunchy and serves best as a rice topping.

Another active member, and one of the club officers, is RS Lintag, who had always been a fan of chili garlic. “Hindi na kasi ako happy na sobrang oily ng mga chili garlic out in the market. So gumawa ako ng sarili ko. Yung malutong at hindi oily,” Lintag says of his RSL Homemade Chili Garlic, a perfect topping to rice, siomai and any dish that needs more spice.

Gary Estrecho, who owns the chili brand  Kontrabando, used to work as a service crew for a fast food chain. Burned out from his work, he created his own spicy concoction to amuse himself. When he let his workmates taste his product, he was surprised that they loved it so much that they placed orders. Among five products, Gary’s Chili Lime and Mango Chili Marinades can make mean buffalo wings.

Kontrabando's imaginative chili mango sauce

There’s a whole slew of products to try and for these budding hot sauce makers, the club serves as their playground to test their product’s viability and marketing potential.  When it comes to chilies, the only limit is one’s imagination.

“You have to be a little bit crazy to think of these things and to actually pursue it,” says del Rosario, who thinks chili heads are probably the happiest lot you’ll ever meet.

Their hot sauces may occasionally make people cry and wince with pain, but ultimately, chilies are believed to be good for the heart.

“They say chilies release endorphins and we’re just happy we’re able to do what we love.” 

Interested to check out the club? Below are a few of their upcoming events:

•  May 5, The Yard, Quezon City (Tasting Session)
• May 19, Blue Bay Walk, Pasay City (Hot Sauce Fiesta)
• June 24, Aroceros Park, Manila City (Hot Sauce Fiesta for Araw ng Maynila)
• Aug 10-12, World Trade Center, Pasay City (Historycon 2018)

— LA, GMA News