The Onions Are Almost Ready

Above: WCAX interviewing me for an upcoming piece about Pepper Patrons

From Field to Smoker

Hey Friends,

Last week I got to visit both Familia Farm and Quill Hill Farm. They're only about 20 minutes apart from each other, but about two hours from me, so I was glad I could fit them into the same day.

I was at Familia Farm for an interview with WCAX about Pepper Patrons. That should air this week, and I'm excited to share it with y'all once it's out.

Both visits gave me the chance to see how the growing season is shaping up. One of my favorite parts of working with a network of small farms is seeing how different each one is. Familia grows in sandy soil, while Quill Hill's fields are mostly clay. Quill also has a slightly longer growing season because of its local weather patterns. That extra time means they can grow our ghost peppers outside in the field, while most of our other farms have to grow them in greenhouses.

Young ghost peppers growing at Quill Hill Farm

Both farms have onions that are almost ready to pull.

We buy sweet Walla Walla and Ailsa Craig onions that regularly weigh one to three pounds each. They're packed with natural sugars that caramelize in our smoker before they ever make it into a bottle of Maple Wood Smoked Onion Hot Sauce.

We first developed Maple Wood Smoked Onion back in 2015, and it already had a loyal following before it appeared on Hot Ones in 2018. It's still the bottle that introduces more people to Butterfly Bakery of Vermont than any other. The sweet smoked onions round out the heat instead of competing with it, making it just as good on eggs and burgers as it is on grilled vegetables, sandwiches, or pizza.

Walking those fields last week reminded me that every bottle starts long before we light the smoker or pour the sauce. It starts with choosing the right varieties, healthy soil, and months of tending a crop that we'll eventually turn into hot sauce.

If you haven't tried Maple Wood Smoked Onion yet, I'd love for this bottle to earn a spot on your table.

And if there's already a bottle in your refrigerator, take a look at Ooh La La. It starts with the same maple wood smoked onions, then adds roasted Vermont butternut squash for an entirely different take on those rich, smoky flavors.