As the snow continues to fall and temperatures stay frigid here in the Finger Lakes, how about an easy meal that offers some warm, spicy flavors?
Fortunately, it’s Tuesday, so that means it’s a great day to whip up some flavorful tacos! There’s a hot sauce made right in Rochester with local ingredients that can add some extra satisfying spiciness to your tacos that we are featuring today for our Made in the FLX column: Karma Sauce.
Specifically, we are recognizing Karma Sauce’s “It’s Tuesday Somewhere” sauce for celebrating Taco Tuesday. This sauce might just be the perfect complement to your taco feast with flavors of heirloom tomato, jalapeño, and fresh lime.
In 2020, this sauce was a Golden Chile Winner for Latin-style Mild Sauce, according to Karma Sauce’s website.
Most of the ingredients used to make this and Karma Sauce’s other products come from around 50 miles around its Rochester headquarters. Many of the veggies are grown at the Karma Sauce farm called Burning Spring Farms in Bristol. Finger Lakes farmers such as Hoover Family Farm in Pen Yann also supply ingredients such as peppers. Other regional farmers that supply produce include Burning Springs Farm, Wixon Honey, Martin Farms, Victor Apple Farm, Singer Farms, Phancy Farms, and Datthyn Farms.
Gene Olczak created Karma Sauce in 2008. Olczak had always been passionate about cooking, inspired by his father who was a cook in the U.S. Army, according to Karma Sauce’s website. He served as a seasonal sous chef for a while for a restaurant in the Hamptons. Although Olczak also worked for a while as an optical engineer for Kodak, he continued to pursue his interest in making sauces and growing vegetables.
When his family moved to the Rochester area, some friends invited Olczak and his wife to be a part of a vegetable garden and to take part in a locavore challenge. Karma Sauce was born from this challenge and named after the dog owned by the family that invited Olczak to collaborate in growing the vegetable garden.
You can find Karma Sauce at a growing number of locations around the Finger Lakes and beyond, including Swedish Hill Winery in Romulus, Red Jacket Orchards in Geneva, and the New York Wine and Culinary Center in Canandaigua. Additional regional locations include Oak Hill Bulk Foods, Chateau LaFayette Reneau, and Honeygirl Gourmet.
To learn more visit: www.karmasauce.com.
Made in the FLX is a weekly column highlighting the small scale food producers of the Finger Lakes. Each week we will feature a locally made food product that is distributed widely throughout the region and beyond, showcasing the strength and quality of our local resources.
