Written by King Scorpion Hot Sauce Owner Ray Roda

It was a great experience growing up next to my grandfather. As a young boy, I was taught how to grow all kinds of vegetables, trees, roses, and fruit. He was a great gardener from Italy, and I tried to follow in his footsteps. When I bought my own house 30 years ago, I planted a nice size garden. It didn't take long before I was completely hooked on growing peppers. As the years went by and super hot peppers became available, I gravitated towards growing mostly hot peppers.  I started to make sauce for some local bars and restaurants for their wings and it took off after that. That was 8 years ago.

Today my company makes small batch hot sauces with all natural ingredients. I am the owner and operator. I have some help growing peppers as I can no longer grow all the peppers I need.

I decided to try a different flavor profile than what I have seen in the industry. I use flavored balsamic vinegars to enhance the peppers in the sauces. Pear, Raspberry, Cherry Cordial and Chocolate balsamic are a few flavors I use. I try to enhance the flavors of the peppers and keep the integrity of the pepper used. For instance, my Yellow Moruga Scorpion sauce uses Yellow Moruga Scorpions which have a very distinct citrus flavor, and I use Raspberry Balsamic to enhance the citrus flavor. I try to do this with all my sauces. There are no other additives in my sauces, no salt, sugar, preservatives, or thickeners.

The hot sauce community has been a really close and friendly bunch. I have made many friends and partners. The support and generosity is genuine and everyone cares about each other. I cant think of a better group of companies and people.

Because I grow peppers for my company and make the sauce, I am in touch with growers and sauce makers, mainly on Facebook, and everyone I ask for help does their best to make their time.