How we keep creating “whoa”
Hey Friends,
When I started making hot sauce, every batch was a micro batch. 15-24 bottles at a time on my home stove. I knew enough about canning to stay out of trouble, but I had no idea what would land with customers. I just wanted to make something delicious from delicious ingredients. If it sold, awesome! If it did not, at least I learned something and had something yummy to eat.
As Butterfly Bakery of Vermont grew, that drive to experiment never went away. I can taste flavors in my head, so something is always simmering on the back burner of my brain. If I stopped playing with new ideas, I would never discover the next surprise hit!
Our microbatch process has shifted a lot over the years, but right now we release three batches a month. Most are brand new. Some are fan favorites that we bring back because we like to keep y’all happy.
Ari (my kitchen supervisor) and I sit down and look at what our farm partners have available or what we froze from the summer. We think through flavor traditions from all over the world and see what we can create with what we have on hand. Once we pick three ideas, we break them down into real recipes. Some parts are easy. Some parts are guess and check. Sometimes the first cook is magic. Other times we adjust and adjust again. Sometimes we even put a batch in the cooler and revisit it once the flavors settle. Only twice have we thrown out a sauce completely, but more than twice I have released a sauce that was not my favorite only to have customers fall in love with it. Paprika sauces, I'm sorry that I ever doubted you.
Each microbatch ends up at about 110-190 bottles. Sometimes the experiments become someone else’s new hit sauce (I’ll talk about our white label and copacking operation another time). Sometimes they end up on Hot Ones (oh hello, Maple Wood Smoked Onion). And sometimes they just make someone’s dinner a lot more interesting.
We will never stop experimenting. I do not think I could even if I tried. And I am so grateful that you are willing to come along for the ride and taste whatever delicious ideas comes out of our kitchen!
❤️ Claire
BBVT CEO & Founder
