Spicy Foods Still On The Menu During Tough Times

[Gold Bar-B-Q Bob Beeman]

Spicy Foods Still On The Menu During Tough Times
Tangy grill glazes, gourmet fruit salsas, spicy molasses-based barbecue sauces, red chile raspberry jam — these items may seem too ritzy to stock as essential kitchen items for families struggling through these rough economic times.

But vendors and exhibitors at the 21st annual National Fiery Foods and Barbecue Show in Albuquerque say their heat-packed products help cooks create cheap meals at home without sacrificing taste and that oh-so-essential spiciness.

Home cooks can fire up the grill, turn on a burner or heat-up the oven to create an affordable meal by using a great tasting ingredient that catches people's attention, said Bill Milroy of Denton, Texas, who operates the Texas Rib Rangers BBQ booth with his wife Barbara.

"I can take the cheapest cuts of meat and using my sauces, can turn it into something absolutely phenomenal," Bill Milroy said.

Dave DeWitt, the show's founder, producer and chile pepper expert of Albuquerque, says more people are buying groceries and eating at home now and are looking for the best deal for their money.

"They are looking for products they can use more easily at home. Most of the products here at the show are what you'd consider gourmet convenience foods," DeWitt said.

Jim and John Thomas, co-owners of El Pinto known as the "Salsa Twins," sell salsa and sauces in all 50 states and operate a local restaurant by the same name.

The stress and concern about the economy could have people seeking out foods that remind them of better times, Jim Thomas said.

"In tough times, people want to cut costs but not cut on quality because food is a very comforting thing, it gets them away," Jim Thomas said.

"It's like Mom's cooking," John Thomas added.

Selling one flavor-packed ingredient that can be used in 100 meals is the goal for Chip Hearn, a distributor with Peppers.com out of Rehoboth Beach, Del.

"For the customer with a limited budget, I can teach them how to use a rub or marinade properly that can be used over and over and over again. And they can use it when they're grilling with chicken, grilling with beef or grilling with fish," said Hearn while setting up his booth featuring numerous spicy rubs, seasonings and sauces. "So the customer not wanting to spend $50 a pop for a meal can still have that same taste but spend much less."

The nearly 200 show exhibitors — from 40 states and half a dozen countries — feature thousands of spice-infused products at the event running Friday through Sunday.

The show serves as one-stop shopping for many U.S and foreign wholesale buyers and also for everyday people looking to stock the pantry with their favorite fiery products.

With thousands of people going from booth to booth sampling the salsas, sauces, dips, jams, candies and glazes, many companies use the event to test products before they are produced for national distribution.

"If the public likes it, it goes national. This area knows their spicy foods, and where else will you find 10,000 people to test it on?" Hearn said.

New tastes for this year's show include Caribbean flavors and seasonings and sweet-hot products like fruit-based barbecue sauces, hot sauces and salsas as well as chile-chocolate creations. Salsa industry giant Pace Foods will also be debuting its full line of gourmet salsas.

DeWitt says the spicy foods industry and the show aren't feeling the effects of the challenging economy.

"We have the same demand for booth space (this year) as we did last year. It think a lot of it has to do with what happened during the Great Depression. They had the all-time highest movie ticket sales during that time. People want to do something to escape," DeWitt said.

DeWitt said when salsa overtook ketchup as the top condiment, people started paying attention to ethnic foods.

"People are learning more and more about chile peppers and are not scared about using them," DeWitt said. "That's why sales are strong even in a recession. People gotta eat. You might not be able to buy that Mercedes right now, but you've gotta eat."

[Brian Moriarty]

I used to subscribe to Fiery Foods magazine, always great photos with the articles. Dave Dewitt and Nancy Gerlach have a bunch of pepper cookbooks and chile manuals out there ( I usually see a few different ones anytime I'm at Half Price Books) and I will recommend "Barbecue Inferno" by them if you are into the Hot n' Spicy Q, with a world beat.

I like the Johnson Berry Farms Raspberry Chipotle Jam mixed in my kicked up brownies!