‘News’ Entries

Bhut Jolokia Pepper Grown in California

For Immediate Release

Fiery News at Red Hot Foods!

 

Santa Paula, CA, March 1, 2010Red Hot Foods of Santa Paula, California will offer the Bhut Jolokia Pepper to the general public, wholesale and distributors starting in May 2010. Also known as the Ghost Pepper, they will be grown in 5 locations in Ventura County’s Heritage Valley for the 2010 growing season.

The Bhut Jolokia from Nagland, India became the worlds hottest in 2007 by the Guinness Book of Records at over 1 million Scoville units… “This pepper is damn hot!” says Butch Baselice, owner of Red Hot Foods.

The Bhut Jolokia is know by several names, the Ghost Pepper, Nagland Jolokia, Naga Jolokia, Dorset Naga, Ghost Chili, and Instant Death Pepper.

This crop will consist of 15 acres 5000 plants of Certified Organic Bhut Jolokia Ghost Peppers and also in four other open farming locations. They will be available in food service, industrial, institutional and retail sizes, for every need.

Come enjoy the advantages of ghost peppers grown right here in Southern California.

About Red Hot Foods Mfg. – Established in 1995, Red Hot Foods is Boutique California Cannery.

For more information visit www.RedHotFoods.com

Bhut Jolokia Pepper

Bhut Jolokia Pepper


Printable pdf version of this article available here.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
[UPDATE 4/6/2010]
HOT NEWS!!!! We are growing our own crop of Bhut Jolokia Ghost Peppers, here in Southern California, in Ventura County. We are documenting the growing process in photos, so Watch Our Bhut Jolokia Peppers Grow (click here).

We are growing Bhut Jolokia Ghost Peppers!

We are growing Bhut Jolokia Ghost Peppers!

Butch talks Ghost Pepper with NBC

The Bhut Jolokia Ghost Pepper is gaining more popularity and coming more and more into mainstream media. So much so that the local Los Angeles affiliate NBC4 recently did a segment on the pepper and how it’s being grown locally in Ventura County.

See the segment on NBC’s site, Butch talks about the pepper with NBC4 reporter Jennifer Bjorklund.

Butch on NBC4 talking about Ghost Peppers

Butch on NBC4 talking about Ghost Peppers

Watch the Video

Harvest of Bhut Jolokia Ghost Peppers

We have had a pretty good season of growing our Bhut Jolokia Ghost Peppers and as of this writing (mid-Nov.) we have harvested over 2000 pounds of fresh peppers. It’s great that the climate here in Ventura County allows us to have such a long growing season.

We are currently still harvesting peppers, as the heat of our Indian Summer this season gave us additional growth. At the same time we are making Ghost Pepper Mash, available in 40lb pails, 1gal jugs, as well as quart and pint jars. For a limited time we also offer for sale fresh Bhut Jolokia Peppers.

Here are some pictures we would like to share, showing our peppers this season.

Jolokia Season 2010

Jolokia Season 2010

Ripe Jolokia Peppers

Ripe Jolokia Peppers

Lots of Ghost Peppers

Lots of Ghost Peppers

More Peppers!

More Peppers!

Some of the Harvest

Some of the Harvest

Jolokia Harvest 2010

Jolokia Harvest 2010

Bhut Jolokia Ghost Peppers

Bhut Jolokia Ghost Peppers

In the Kettle

In the Kettle

Time to make the Mash

Time to make the Mash

Even some Chocolate Jolokias

Even some Chocolate Jolokias

Pails of Jolokia Mash

Pails of Mash

Jolokia Mash is now available

Jolokia Mash is now available

LA Times Article – Market Watch: Super-hot Bhut Jolokia chiles

The LA Times recently did an article about finding fresh Bhut Jolokia Ghost Peppers at the local Santa Monica Farmers Market.

Guinness World Records certified the Bhut Jolokia as the world’s hottest, and chileheads and gardeners scrambled to obtain seeds, plants and pods, which originally were scarce here. Last year, Butch and Burma Baselice, who run a spicy foods business called Red Hot Foods in Santa Paula, started 12,000 Bhut Jolokia plants to grow at five locations in Ventura County. They had some plants left over last spring, and it was getting late in the season for planting, so they gave them to Phil McGrath of Camarillo-based McGrath Family Farm, with the agreement that they would share the harvest.

Read the entire article here.

Or download a pdf here.

Red Hot Foods Manufacturing is on the move!


Butch & Burma Baselice are thrilled to tell you
 
Red Hot Foods Manufacturing is on the move!
 
 
Our New Home is at:
 

820 E Railroad Avenue
Santa Paula, CA 93060

805-258-3650
 
 
Please come join us for some fun and food…
 
At our Grand opening March 13, 2011
2pm – 8pm
 
[please r.s.v.p. so we have enough food]
 
2-4pm tours
 
4-6pm food, drink and music
 
2pm until Tired Tina’s petting zoo will be there also!
 

Starting a Salsa Business – Top 5

So you’ve been making your own salsas at home and everyone thinks it’s delicious. Everyone says that you should bottle and sell it. But how do you do it? Here are the Top 5 things that you need to do to help start your new business…

  1. Talk to others who have done it – The best information you can get will be from others who have done what you are looking to do and most small business food purveyors are more than willing to give you advice. Learn all you can.
  2. Find out about your local food regs – Check into your local county and state health departments to find out what the requirements are to be able to sell food products.
  3. Find a Co-Packer – Co-Packers are food processing facilities which will take your recipe and make it in quantities, bottling, and packing it. Your Co-Packer will have a commerically approved kitchen facility and will be able to help you with your FDA requirements.
  4. Fine tune your recipe – Usually you can fine tune and commericalize your recipes (convert the recipe for large quantity production) with the help of your Co-Packer.
  5. Design a good label – The label for your product is just as important as the recipe. Find a good graphic designer, one who has experience with working on food products, as they should be familiar with the USDA requirements for the label.

This is just scraping the surface, but should give you a good start. The more information and education that you can get the better. And there is a lot of information easily available with some quick searches on the internet.

Ventura County Star Sept 6, 2009

 

Ventura County Star logo
In an article in the Ventura County Star about the John Nichols Gallery in Santa Paula, California,
Red Hot Foods is mentioned for making a custom salsa for the Gallery.

[link to article]

[link to pdf]

Watch our Bhut Jolokia Ghost Peppers Grow!

Here is a photo gallery of our Bhut Jolokia Ghost Peppers. Follow along as we watch them grow, starting at harvesting the seeds, germinating at the nursery, then on to the fields. We will be adding photos as the season goes on, so check back soon.

Harvesting Jolokia Seeds

Harvesting Jolokia Seeds

Drying Bhut Jolokia Pods

Drying Bhut Jolokia Pods

Harvesting Jolokia Seeds

Harvesting Jolokia Seeds

Collecting Ghost Pepper Seeds

Collecting Ghost Seeds

1st 5000 Jolokia Plants

1st 5000 Jolokia Plants

The pepper nursery

The pepper nursery

Lots of seeds starting

Lots of seeds starting

In the greenhouse

In the greenhouse

Jolokia Seedlings

Jolokia Seedlings

More Ghost Pepper Seedlings

More Ghost Pepper Seedlings

Bhut Jolokia Seedlings

Bhut Jolokia Seedlings

Got Jolokia?

Got Jolokia?

We've Got Jolokia

We've Got Jolokia

Trays of Ghost Pepper Seedlings

Trays of Ghost Pepper

Bhut Jolokia Seedlings

Bhut Jolokia Seedlings

Ghost Pepper Babies

Ghost Pepper Babies

Trays of Seedlings

Trays of Seedlings

     
2nd Batch of Jolokia Seedlings

2nd Batch of Jolokia

     

Germinating More Seeds

Germinating More Seeds

5000 More Jolokia Seeds Starting

5000 More Seeds

2nd Batch of Jolokia Seedlings

2nd Batch

World's Hottest Peppers are coming!

World's Hottest Peppers

Getting ready to plant

Getting ready to plant

     
Ghost Peppers 21 days

Ghost Peppers 21 days

Batch #1 45 days

Batch #1 45 days

Batch #1 45 days

Batch #1 45 days

Batch #2 45 days

Batch #2 45 days

Planting Jolokia Ghost Peppers

Planting Jolokia Peppers

Batch #1 mid-May

Batch #1 mid-May

Started March 1

Started March 1

1st 5000 plants

1st 5000 plants

Picking up

Picking up

Ready to go

Ready to go

75 days

75 days

Ready to plant

Ready to plant

Ready to plant 2

Ready to plant 2

Van load of peppers

Van load of peppers

Planting location 1

Planting location 1

Location 1 rows

Location 1 rows

Lots of work

Lots of work

Planting Jolokias

Planting Jolokias

Farmer Chris

Farmer Chris

Location 1

Location 1

Location 1

Location 1

Jake

Jake

4000 planted

4000 planted

Testing drip

Testing drip

Tim

Tim

Prepping Loc2

Prepping Loc2

Loc 2 Ready

Loc 2 Ready

Location 2

Location 2

Ghost Peppers

Ghost Peppers

Location 2 planted

Location 2 planted

Jolokia Peppers planted

Jolokia Peppers planted

 

August Updates

August Updates

Jolokia Plants Growing Nicely

Growing Nicely

Ghost Pepper Plants

Ghost Pepper Plants

Peppers coming out

Peppers coming out

Jolokia Flowers

Jolokia Flowers

Location 2 Rows of Jolokia Plants

Location 2

Location 2 Rows of Jolokia Plants

Location 2 Rows

Location 2 More Rows of Jolokia Plants

Location 2 More

Location 3

Location 3

Ghost Plants Growing Well

Ghost Plants Growing

Jolokia Peppers Grow

Jolokia Peppers Grow

Jolokia Peppers

Jolokia Peppers

Location 4: Peppers are coming out

Location 4: Peppers

More Ghost Peppers

More Ghost Peppers

Bhut Jolokia Peppers

Bhut Jolokia Peppers

Plants are filling in

Plants are filling in

Checking plants

Checking plants

Jolokia Plants

Jolokia Plants

Location 5

Location 5

More Jolokia Plants

More Jolokia Plants

Plant Inspector

Plant Inspector

Ghost Plants Forever

Ghost Plants Forever

Jolokia Peppers Ripen

Jolokia Peppers Ripen

In the Greenhouse

In the Greenhouse

More in the Greenhouse

More in the Greenhouse

Tim maintaining the Bhut Jolokia Plants

Tim maintaining

Butch Spraying

Butch Spraying

Butch

Butch

September Update

September Update

John L. plants

Sent in from Valencia, CA

   
       

Update: The harvesting of our Bhut Jolokia Ghost Peppers have begun! Check out how our season went (click here).