Awards/Press Page
Local Chef Likes it Spicy
Carolyn Barrett wins international award for dipping sauces
(Appeared in The Spotlight, April 22, 2009)
When Carolyn Barrett was first introduced to the sauce at a Rochester pub several years ago by way of a friend, she was
entranced by its syrupy, sweet nature. It generated in her a desire for more of that unique, spicy taste, despite the fact that
as a general rule she disliked barbecue sauces, and it soon became a staple item in her household.
Little did Barrett suspect that her first encounter with Sticky Fingers Gourmet Sweet Sauce -- renamed Sugar & Spice Sweet
Sauce to avoid copyright infringement -- would alter the course of her career.
Prior to the recent establishment of her new business, Pleasant Valley Kitchen Company, LLC, which is dedicated to the
sole marketing of Sugar & spice Sweet Sauce, Barrett had urged the owner of the pub that created the sauce to put it on the
market. Despite her pleas, he declined to bring it to stores, instead giving Barrett the recipe so that she might recreate the
sauce on her own. She shelved it for a while.
The owner's sudden death a few years ago, however, caused Barrett to reconsider the sauce's future as a marketable
product, deciding that it needed to be brought to the public to commemorate both its creator and the sauce's unique flavor.
Recreating the sauce proved to be a more difficult task than Barrett had anticipated. On her website, www.
sugarandspicesweetsauce.com, Barrett explains, "Even with the recipe, I was not able to recreate the sauce. It seemed like
there was some critical element missing, and I wondered if that was the pub owner's way of keeping his recipe a secret."
Persistence and determination enabled Barrett to continue. It took four months and cost $400, but Barrett finally uncovered
what she refers to as "the secret of the sauce."
Two years later, Barrett now owns a successful establishment facilitated by her husband Charles, who built her a kitchen
complete with eight new burners on which she cooks her sauce.
She has also entered sauce competition,s winning second and third place for her Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauces -- hot and
mild varieties -- in the international 2008 Hot Pepper Awards for best dipping sauce. The awards signaled the culmination of
months of hard work and willpower.
According to Dan O'Berry, owner of www.thehotpepper.com, "the judges noted that the sauce was perfect for dipping. It is
sweet with a bit of heat, and the flavor and consistency are great for egg rolls and other hand foods -- a gourmet duck
sauce replacement, with the added heat needed for 'chiliheads'."
Recently, in response to demands, Barrett changed the sauce's recipe so that it is now high-fructose corn syrup free. It is
also low in sodium, something that can't be said of traditional barbecue sauces.
Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce has already enticed vegetarians, and according to Barrett, continues to tap into a market of
people who, as a general rule, dislike barbecue sauce. "It has opened up a whole new culinary realm," said Barrett, citing her
sauce's slogan, which proclaims, "Finally, a tasty alternative to barbecue sauce."
Barrett, who had been working as an executive assistant for what she called a "dead end job," was thrilled at the prospect
of beginning a career that seemed to harness all of her best skills.
"I created a job for myself that took advantage of all my natural talents," Barrett said, explaining how her new business has
caused her to employ her skills in driving (she drives in Manhattan by herself with no GPS), cooking, and writing in order to
promote her product.
There is some apparent unspoken rule of business, however, which states that no fledgling company, Barrett's included,
can attain full success without encountering a few obstacles along with way. "It's very difficult to get into stores," said
Barrett. "I've been met with a lot of pessimism, but my product has continued to prevail, and I'm very happy about that."
On Saturday, April 25, Barrett will offer free samples of her Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce on charcoal grilled chicken breast at
the Delmar Market Place, 406 Kenwood Ave., Delmar, from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce is distributed statewide through the Pride of New York Program, which strives to promote and
support the sale of shelf-stable food products processed within New York State. The sauce sells for $4.99 a half-pint, $7.99
a pint, and $14.99 a quart. It is available on Barrett's web site, www.sugarandspicesweetsauce.com, which also contains a
list of markets where the sauce is sold.
Barrett said she sees herself building a factory so her sauce can be mass produced. She would also like to see her product
get more exposure in New York City. "If I can make it there," she said, evoking the words of a popular song, "I can make it
anywhere."
A saucy entrepreneur
By Irv Dean, The Schenectady Gazette, Thursday, March 12, 2009
Carolyn Barrett of Altamont is getting to know New York City well, and she's doing it the hard way. She travels the city
alone and she doesn't have GPS.
Since last July she has spent many -- perhaps most -- weekends in the city trying to get stores to carry her product. Her
Pleasant Valley Kitchen Co., LLC makes and markets Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce, an alternative to barbecue sauce.
It's been tough, she acknowledges. New York City shopkeepers are not easy sells.
Getting around the city is, of course, impossible. She often has to park illegally, though miraculously she's gotten only two
parking tickets. She's becoming more and more inventive in navigating. Lately she's propped a sign in her window saying
"This Vehicle is a Delivery Vehicle," in hopes of keeping the ticket writers away.
Sometimes the sign is not necessary because there's no place to park anywhere near her destination. Once she had to walk
15 blocks to get to a potential customer.
She seems to epitomize the pluck and the entrepreneurial spirit necessary to turn a fledgling business into a going concern.
"I kind of always knew this product would be very successful," she says. Her husband Charles is not directly involved in
the business, but he supports it and built the commercial kitchen where Carolyn makes her sauces.
Award Winners
She got good news recently when her Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauces won second place (for the hot version) and third place
(for the mild) in an international competition sponsored by www.thehotpepper.com. Sauces from as far away as Europe,
Africa and Australia were among the competition. The contest was restricted to commercial products containing no artificial
ingredients. She learned about her win in an e-mail. "I was overjoyed."
It's not her recipe. She got it from a friend who got it from a bartender in Rochester who served it on chicken wings. "He got
me into wings," she said of the friend. She'd never eaten them before because she doesn't like barbecue sauce. But this
sauce was different.
I've sampled her sauce and liked both versions, especially on chicken and chicken wings. The mild has some zing and the
hot is indeed hot; if you don't like heat, try the mild. She's modified the recipes recently and is phasing out the use of
ketchup with high-fructose corn syrup as an ingredient because that was a turn-off to many possible customers.
She describes her Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce as a syrupy sweet, vinegar-based alternative to barbecue sauce for use on
ribs, wings, grilled meats and seafood and other fried foods. She says it's popular with vegetarians and is good on fried
veggies, with sushi and even on plain cooked broccoli.
It's not a marinade nor a cooking sauce but a finishing and dipping sauce. You can find a picture of Carolyn Barrett here
and a photo of the product here.
Where to get it
Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce is marketed throughout New York state outside of the New York metro area by the new
Statewide Marketing/Distribution Program for shelf-stable food products offered by Nelson Farms Marketing Group and
the Pride of New York. It's also available by mail order via the Internet and at gourmet grocery stores in New York City.
In the Capital Region, you can buy the sauces at a number of outlets including Greulich's Market, 3403 Carman Road,
Guilderland; Bolton's Market, 4919 Western Turnpike, Duanesburg; Jonesville Country Store, 989 Main St., Jonesville;
Waterwheel Village Ltd., 2259 Route 29, Galway; and Perrone's Farm, 2447 State Route 7, Cobleskill. For a complete list of
outlets visit www.SugarandSpiceSweetSauce.com.
To blog, go to http://www.dailygazette.com/weblogs/food-forum/2009/mar/12/31209_sauce/ or click here: Blog on this article
A Haute, Saucy Competitor
By JENNIFER GISH, Staff writer, The Times Union, Albany, NY
First published in print: Thursday, February 26, 2009
It was the kind of taste that works deep into your soul. That favorite food you have friends or relatives mail you from back
home, or that vacation treat that you'll just never forget and spend your time trying to hunt down later.
Carolyn Barrett, owner of the Altamont-based Pleasant Valley Kitchen Co., felt that way about the wing sauce at a
Rochester pub she'd head to whenever she visited her friend. The sauce was sticky. It was sweet. It was hot. She hated
barbecue sauce and never really bothered with wings. Until this.
The pub owner used to make batches of the sauce and send them to her through Barrett's friend. He even offered up the
recipe, but Barrett's attempt to make it somehow always fell short.
Then the pub owner died.
"I sadly took what little (sauce) I had left, and I put it in the freezer, and I said, 'We'll just pull it out on special occasions,'"
Barrett says.
But that wasn't enough. It took four months and $400 of attempts to get it right, but eventually, she recreated the sauce she
loved so much. (How she finally figured it out is a trade secret).
Today, Barrett sells her Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce in Manhattan gourmet shops and local retailers throughout the state.
Recently, the two versions of her [syrupy] sauce — hot and mild — took second and third place in the "best dipping
sauce" category of the 2008 Hot Pepper Awards. The sauce sells for $4.99 to $8 a half-pint.
"The judges noted that the sauce in question was perfect for dipping. It is sweet with a bit of heat, and the flavor and
consistency are great for egg rolls and other hand foods — a gourmet duck sauce replacement, with the added heat needed
for chiliheads," says Dan O'Berry, owner of http://www.thehotpepper.com and organizer of The Hot Pepper Awards, an
international competition that drew hundreds of competitors.
Barrett, who gave up full-time employment for her sauce business and spends her weekends behind a sampling table at
gourmet shops, says placing in The Hot Pepper Awards the same year she began marketing her product is "one of the
fondest memories of my life."
But her success hasn't stopped her from fine-tuning the original recipe. This year, she stopped using a variety of ketchup,
one of the sauce's ingredients, which contained high-fructose corn syrup. She now uses Heinz organic ketchup instead.
The Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce is best heated separately, rather than cooked with the food, to maintain the flavor,
particularly the chili, Barrett says. While wings and ribs are a natural fit, customers have told her they've even used it to
liven up oatmeal.
Nelson Farms Marketing Group and the Pride of New York program are marketing her product as part of a statewide local
food initiative.
In the Capital Region, the sauce is available at Cardona's Market in Albany, Delmar Marketplace in Delmar, Greulich's
Market in Schenectady, Jonesville Country Store in Clifton Park, La Posta Brothers Market in Troy, Roma Prime Cuts &
Produce in Latham, and Waterwheel Village in Galway.
Jennifer Gish can be reached at 454-5089 or by e-mail at jgish@timesunion.com.
Local Chef Likes it Spicy
Carolyn Barrett wins international award for dipping sauces
(Appeared in The Spotlight, April 22, 2009)
When Carolyn Barrett was first introduced to the sauce at a Rochester pub several years ago by way of a friend, she was
entranced by its syrupy, sweet nature. It generated in her a desire for more of that unique, spicy taste, despite the fact that
as a general rule she disliked barbecue sauces, and it soon became a staple item in her household.
Little did Barrett suspect that her first encounter with Sticky Fingers Gourmet Sweet Sauce -- renamed Sugar & Spice Sweet
Sauce to avoid copyright infringement -- would alter the course of her career.
Prior to the recent establishment of her new business, Pleasant Valley Kitchen Company, LLC, which is dedicated to the
sole marketing of Sugar & spice Sweet Sauce, Barrett had urged the owner of the pub that created the sauce to put it on the
market. Despite her pleas, he declined to bring it to stores, instead giving Barrett the recipe so that she might recreate the
sauce on her own. She shelved it for a while.
The owner's sudden death a few years ago, however, caused Barrett to reconsider the sauce's future as a marketable
product, deciding that it needed to be brought to the public to commemorate both its creator and the sauce's unique flavor.
Recreating the sauce proved to be a more difficult task than Barrett had anticipated. On her website, www.
sugarandspicesweetsauce.com, Barrett explains, "Even with the recipe, I was not able to recreate the sauce. It seemed like
there was some critical element missing, and I wondered if that was the pub owner's way of keeping his recipe a secret."
Persistence and determination enabled Barrett to continue. It took four months and cost $400, but Barrett finally uncovered
what she refers to as "the secret of the sauce."
Two years later, Barrett now owns a successful establishment facilitated by her husband Charles, who built her a kitchen
complete with eight new burners on which she cooks her sauce.
She has also entered sauce competition,s winning second and third place for her Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauces -- hot and
mild varieties -- in the international 2008 Hot Pepper Awards for best dipping sauce. The awards signaled the culmination of
months of hard work and willpower.
According to Dan O'Berry, owner of www.thehotpepper.com, "the judges noted that the sauce was perfect for dipping. It is
sweet with a bit of heat, and the flavor and consistency are great for egg rolls and other hand foods -- a gourmet duck
sauce replacement, with the added heat needed for 'chiliheads'."
Recently, in response to demands, Barrett changed the sauce's recipe so that it is now high-fructose corn syrup free. It is
also low in sodium, something that can't be said of traditional barbecue sauces.
Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce has already enticed vegetarians, and according to Barrett, continues to tap into a market of
people who, as a general rule, dislike barbecue sauce. "It has opened up a whole new culinary realm," said Barrett, citing her
sauce's slogan, which proclaims, "Finally, a tasty alternative to barbecue sauce."
Barrett, who had been working as an executive assistant for what she called a "dead end job," was thrilled at the prospect
of beginning a career that seemed to harness all of her best skills.
"I created a job for myself that took advantage of all my natural talents," Barrett said, explaining how her new business has
caused her to employ her skills in driving (she drives in Manhattan by herself with no GPS), cooking, and writing in order to
promote her product.
There is some apparent unspoken rule of business, however, which states that no fledgling company, Barrett's included,
can attain full success without encountering a few obstacles along with way. "It's very difficult to get into stores," said
Barrett. "I've been met with a lot of pessimism, but my product has continued to prevail, and I'm very happy about that."
On Saturday, April 25, Barrett will offer free samples of her Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce on charcoal grilled chicken breast at
the Delmar Market Place, 406 Kenwood Ave., Delmar, from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce is distributed statewide through the Pride of New York Program, which strives to promote and
support the sale of shelf-stable food products processed within New York State. The sauce sells for $4.99 a half-pint, $7.99
a pint, and $14.99 a quart. It is available on Barrett's web site, www.sugarandspicesweetsauce.com, which also contains a
list of markets where the sauce is sold.
Barrett said she sees herself building a factory so her sauce can be mass produced. She would also like to see her product
get more exposure in New York City. "If I can make it there," she said, evoking the words of a popular song, "I can make it
anywhere."
A saucy entrepreneur
By Irv Dean, The Schenectady Gazette, Thursday, March 12, 2009
Carolyn Barrett of Altamont is getting to know New York City well, and she's doing it the hard way. She travels the city
alone and she doesn't have GPS.
Since last July she has spent many -- perhaps most -- weekends in the city trying to get stores to carry her product. Her
Pleasant Valley Kitchen Co., LLC makes and markets Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce, an alternative to barbecue sauce.
It's been tough, she acknowledges. New York City shopkeepers are not easy sells.
Getting around the city is, of course, impossible. She often has to park illegally, though miraculously she's gotten only two
parking tickets. She's becoming more and more inventive in navigating. Lately she's propped a sign in her window saying
"This Vehicle is a Delivery Vehicle," in hopes of keeping the ticket writers away.
Sometimes the sign is not necessary because there's no place to park anywhere near her destination. Once she had to walk
15 blocks to get to a potential customer.
She seems to epitomize the pluck and the entrepreneurial spirit necessary to turn a fledgling business into a going concern.
"I kind of always knew this product would be very successful," she says. Her husband Charles is not directly involved in
the business, but he supports it and built the commercial kitchen where Carolyn makes her sauces.
Award Winners
She got good news recently when her Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauces won second place (for the hot version) and third place
(for the mild) in an international competition sponsored by www.thehotpepper.com. Sauces from as far away as Europe,
Africa and Australia were among the competition. The contest was restricted to commercial products containing no artificial
ingredients. She learned about her win in an e-mail. "I was overjoyed."
It's not her recipe. She got it from a friend who got it from a bartender in Rochester who served it on chicken wings. "He got
me into wings," she said of the friend. She'd never eaten them before because she doesn't like barbecue sauce. But this
sauce was different.
I've sampled her sauce and liked both versions, especially on chicken and chicken wings. The mild has some zing and the
hot is indeed hot; if you don't like heat, try the mild. She's modified the recipes recently and is phasing out the use of
ketchup with high-fructose corn syrup as an ingredient because that was a turn-off to many possible customers.
She describes her Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce as a syrupy sweet, vinegar-based alternative to barbecue sauce for use on
ribs, wings, grilled meats and seafood and other fried foods. She says it's popular with vegetarians and is good on fried
veggies, with sushi and even on plain cooked broccoli.
It's not a marinade nor a cooking sauce but a finishing and dipping sauce. You can find a picture of Carolyn Barrett here
and a photo of the product here.
Where to get it
Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce is marketed throughout New York state outside of the New York metro area by the new
Statewide Marketing/Distribution Program for shelf-stable food products offered by Nelson Farms Marketing Group and
the Pride of New York. It's also available by mail order via the Internet and at gourmet grocery stores in New York City.
In the Capital Region, you can buy the sauces at a number of outlets including Greulich's Market, 3403 Carman Road,
Guilderland; Bolton's Market, 4919 Western Turnpike, Duanesburg; Jonesville Country Store, 989 Main St., Jonesville;
Waterwheel Village Ltd., 2259 Route 29, Galway; and Perrone's Farm, 2447 State Route 7, Cobleskill. For a complete list of
outlets visit www.SugarandSpiceSweetSauce.com.
To blog, go to http://www.dailygazette.com/weblogs/food-forum/2009/mar/12/31209_sauce/ or click here: Blog on this article
A Haute, Saucy Competitor
By JENNIFER GISH, Staff writer, The Times Union, Albany, NY
First published in print: Thursday, February 26, 2009
It was the kind of taste that works deep into your soul. That favorite food you have friends or relatives mail you from back
home, or that vacation treat that you'll just never forget and spend your time trying to hunt down later.
Carolyn Barrett, owner of the Altamont-based Pleasant Valley Kitchen Co., felt that way about the wing sauce at a
Rochester pub she'd head to whenever she visited her friend. The sauce was sticky. It was sweet. It was hot. She hated
barbecue sauce and never really bothered with wings. Until this.
The pub owner used to make batches of the sauce and send them to her through Barrett's friend. He even offered up the
recipe, but Barrett's attempt to make it somehow always fell short.
Then the pub owner died.
"I sadly took what little (sauce) I had left, and I put it in the freezer, and I said, 'We'll just pull it out on special occasions,'"
Barrett says.
But that wasn't enough. It took four months and $400 of attempts to get it right, but eventually, she recreated the sauce she
loved so much. (How she finally figured it out is a trade secret).
Today, Barrett sells her Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce in Manhattan gourmet shops and local retailers throughout the state.
Recently, the two versions of her [syrupy] sauce — hot and mild — took second and third place in the "best dipping
sauce" category of the 2008 Hot Pepper Awards. The sauce sells for $4.99 to $8 a half-pint.
"The judges noted that the sauce in question was perfect for dipping. It is sweet with a bit of heat, and the flavor and
consistency are great for egg rolls and other hand foods — a gourmet duck sauce replacement, with the added heat needed
for chiliheads," says Dan O'Berry, owner of http://www.thehotpepper.com and organizer of The Hot Pepper Awards, an
international competition that drew hundreds of competitors.
Barrett, who gave up full-time employment for her sauce business and spends her weekends behind a sampling table at
gourmet shops, says placing in The Hot Pepper Awards the same year she began marketing her product is "one of the
fondest memories of my life."
But her success hasn't stopped her from fine-tuning the original recipe. This year, she stopped using a variety of ketchup,
one of the sauce's ingredients, which contained high-fructose corn syrup. She now uses Heinz organic ketchup instead.
The Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce is best heated separately, rather than cooked with the food, to maintain the flavor,
particularly the chili, Barrett says. While wings and ribs are a natural fit, customers have told her they've even used it to
liven up oatmeal.
Nelson Farms Marketing Group and the Pride of New York program are marketing her product as part of a statewide local
food initiative.
In the Capital Region, the sauce is available at Cardona's Market in Albany, Delmar Marketplace in Delmar, Greulich's
Market in Schenectady, Jonesville Country Store in Clifton Park, La Posta Brothers Market in Troy, Roma Prime Cuts &
Produce in Latham, and Waterwheel Village in Galway.
Jennifer Gish can be reached at 454-5089 or by e-mail at jgish@timesunion.com.
2010 Scovie Awards
Grand Prize Winner
Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce, Hot
1st Place, Hot Sauce, Habanero
Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce, Hot
2009 Hot Pepper
Awards
2nd Place, Dipping Sauce
Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce, Hot
3rd Place, Dipping Sauce
Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce, Mild
2008 Hot Pepper
Awards
2nd Place, Dipping Sauce
Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce, Hot
3rd Place, Dipping Sauce
Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce, Mild
Grand Prize Winner
Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce, Hot
1st Place, Hot Sauce, Habanero
Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce, Hot
2009 Hot Pepper
Awards
2nd Place, Dipping Sauce
Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce, Hot
3rd Place, Dipping Sauce
Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce, Mild
2008 Hot Pepper
Awards
2nd Place, Dipping Sauce
Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce, Hot
3rd Place, Dipping Sauce
Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce, Mild