Karma Sauce Ignites The 2021 Fiery Food Festival With 17 Big Wins

You might think a hot sauce company with as many awards as Karma Sauce would rest on its laurels, but the results of this years Fiery Food Challenge suggest that the Finger Lakes based condiment maker is just getting started. The company has become known for amassing an astonishing number of wins at the Texas-based spicy foodstuffs showdown, and with the 17 additional awards won at this year’s tournament, Karma Sauce can now lay claim to a total of 100 Zestfest awards since it first entered in 2012. 

But despite the remarkable consistency of the results, Karma Sauce doesn’t fly out to Zestfest every year because it expects an easy ride. In fact, Karma Sauce founder Gene Olczak seeks out tournaments like The Fiery Food Challenge precisely because of the great lengths taken to ensure the objectivity of the evaluations. “All judging and tasting is done ‘blind’, so judges don’t know that the sauce they are tasting and rating so highly is actually Karma Sauce” Gene remarked. In other words, the consistency of Karma Sauce’s win streak speaks only to the quality of the product, not the reputation of the brand, and that’s exactly how Gene likes it.  

Almost all the Golden Chile recipients in Karma Sauce’s winner circle are new additions to the Karma Sauce catalog. Scorpion Disco, featured on the current season of Hot Ones, was only publicly announced a few weeks prior to the competition. Huhu Pina and Cosmic Dumpling were both released in the past year. And 3 products were so new that Karma Sauce fans didn’t even recognize them when they were sold at this years Zestfest booth. 

In fact, Cherry Bomb was the only Golden Chile winner from this years crop to already have won the title, a fitting outcome considering it was the first Karma Sauce hot sauce to boast a 1st place win, and remains distinguished as the most critically acclaimed sauce within the entire catalog. Almost a decade later, the formula has proven to be timeless. 

But despite the success of tried and true recipes, the Zestfest aftermath depicts a company still discovering creative new ways to ignite the taste buds while maintaining an unparalleled commitment to quality. “Our sauces keep winning because we pair premium Finger Lakes ingredients with bold flavor profiles that people have never tasted before“ Gene insists. ”It’s so satisfying to devise such unconventional recipes and get such consistently positive responses. I won’t be stopping anytime soon.”   

Karma Sauce gained national recognition in 2017 when its Extreme Karma Sauce landed on season 5 of the YouTube series Hot Ones. Karma Sauce returned for the “All-Star” Season 10 of Hot Ones with Burn After Eating, and 2021 Golden Chile winner Scorpion Disco was recently revealed for the shows 15th season. 

Karma Sauce is also the exclusive manufacturer of the Hot Ones-branded sauces Los Calientes, Los Calientes Rojo, and Los Calientes Barbacoa. Gene Olczak collaborated on the recipe with HEATONIST founders Noah Chaimberg and Tyler McKusick, the sauce curators for Hot Ones.

Karma Sauce specializes in handcrafting minimally processed sauces in small batches from the highest quality ingredients. Karma Sauce grows hot and super hot peppers, tomatoes, and tomatillos on Burning Springs Farm in Bristol, NY. Everything grown on that farm is processed and filled by hand at the Karma Sauce factory in downtown Rochester, NY. For more information, please visit karmasauce.com.

Contact Information

Alexander Kleinman

Digital Marketing

The Karma Sauce Company

alex.kleinman@karmasauce.com