Kaitaia Fire Limited

Kaitaia Fire Ltd. was established in 1989 on an organic 5 acre farm at Lake Ohia in New Zealand’s Winterless Far North. From those humble beginnings, we now export sauce all around the world, and produce a range of organic 'hot' products for the domestic market. Our sauces have won many food awards in both NZ and the US. Try and picture in your mind, the warm waters of the South Pacific washing into a large bay, lined with golden beaches on New Zealand’s North East coast. The surrounding land is a mix of bush and the lush green pasture. Scattered amongst the farm land are Northland’s new 'hot crop'- chili peppers, Capsicum frutescens, the main ingredient in the world famous Kaitaia Fire hot sauce made at this bay, and named after the local town. When these chilies are at the height of their maturity and the red colour is at its most intense, they are plucked off the knee high bushes and brought in for sorting and washing. After being finely milled and mixed with organic sea salt, the chilies are sealed in barrels with air locks to undergo a quasi-fermentation process over the next few years. This process effectively removes all the sugars in the fruit, and releases the volatile oils locked up in the pepper’s cell walls. When the resulting mash has reached its optimum level of maturity, it is transported to the city of Auckland, mixed to an ancient Mayan recipe, and bottled. Accept nothing else. This is pure Kaitaia Fire.