The Toad & The Butterfly, a Blog

I was positive that I'd figured out the best possible ice cream sandwich.

Turns out I hadn't bought a caramel company yet.

My favorite thing about making new micros every month is that we're pushed to be creative on demand. Sometimes creativity comes in a flash of insight, but there is a special earned feeling to creativity that you have to build as a skill.

This is exactly what I want Pepper Patrons to feel like. A chance for connection and learning, understanding why ingredients taste the way they do, and share in the experiments happening around our kitchen.

Last week about half of the Butterfly Bakery crew headed down to Honey Field Farm in Norwich for our annual Farm Day. Once a year we trade sauce making for farm chores.

This month we went into the freezer and pulled out some peppers that don't always get the spotlight. Boldog Hungarian peppers. Velociraptors. Beautiful, classic cayennes.

When we sat down to decide what we wanted to do for Pride this year, I knew I wanted to do something different. One person suggested that we simplify things. Then another suggested we make it more complicated.

Today we're officially launching Pepper Patrons, which means you can now join the farms, peppers, experiments, and flavor obsession behind this year’s sauces.

When I made my first hot sauce back in 2010 with my now husband, I definitely didn’t picture 13+ million people watching the biggest band in the world take on the hottest sauce I’ve ever made. But here we are.

If you’re putting together your own picnic condiment kit, this sauce pulls it all together.

The April Microbatch drop features a no heat, a low heat and medium sauce that makes folks lose their ever-loving minds.

There’s a moment every year when you smell that first grill firing up and you take a deep breath. Dinner moves outside. Friends linger longer. And whatever’s on those grates deserves better than ketchup.

We don’t boil maple syrup or work in the woods ourselves, but we get to work with some of the best people who do. And this is the weekend that reminds us just how much work goes into that one perfect ingredient.

This one tastes like sitting with your favorite people in a cozy, wood-paneled gin bar. Or sipping cocktails in a cabin in the woods.

Running a food company that sources directly from small farms means we actually get to know the people behind the ingredients. These women are wonderful, thoughtful, funny, wildly capable humans who care deeply about their land, their animals, and their communities.