When Gindo’s Hot Sauce first moved to the Fox Valley from the West Coast in 2015, its founders had a goal of immersing themselves in the community, knowing where their ingredients were coming from and showing pride in where they make their products.
Now, almost 10 years later, the company’s collaboration with Garlic Breath Farm in Elburn made its way into a first-of-its-kind, quickly-sold-out holiday gift box showcasing products made right here in Illinois. The company’s founders said it is an honor to be among those selected.
The 2024 Illinois Product Holiday Box, the first such box produced by the state Department of Agriculture, featured the Garlic Goddess Hot Sauce along with eight other food and related products made across the state. The hot sauce is described as creamy, garlicky, tangy and herbaceous with a mild to medium heat.
But the Garlic Goddess Hot Sauce is far from the only collaboration between the two local businesses, which have become more than simple business partners in the years since they first met at the Batavia Farmers Market.
In fact, Garlic Breath Farm was the first local farm of many that Gindo’s has partnered with since moving to the area, the founders of the two businesses told The Beacon-News in an interview earlier this month.
It was immediately obvious that the business partnership had grown into a friendship as Gindo’s Hot Sauce founders Chris and Mary Ginder met up with Garlic Breath Farm’s Tony and Sharon Pferschy for the interview at the Pferschy’s home on the farm. Sitting on couches in the living room, the four reminisced about their numerous previous hot sauce collaborations and even talked about a potential new collaboration during the interview.
“Our ideals and our moral and our work ethic are very aligned, so it just made sense when we started getting to know each other that this is a great collaboration,” Mary Ginder said.
Gindo’s Hot Sauce, which is now located in St. Charles, first started in 2011 on the West Coast, according to Mary Ginder. When they made the move to Illinois, they did so with the intention of making all of the products themselves and making a new small batch sauce every week of the year, she said.
At that time, they also started selling their products at farmers markets, with the idea that a new sauce every week would keep people coming back, she said.
Around 2016, the tents for Gindo’s Hot Sauce and Garlic Breath Farm used to be next to each other at the Batavia Farmers Market, according to Chris Ginder.
He recounted how Tony Pferschy had been grilling and giving out samples of garlic scapes, which are the stems of the garlic plant, and he had taken some home to try. The next week, he pitched the idea of a garlic scapes hot sauce to Garlic Breath Farm, and the first collaboration was born.
Now, Gindo’s Hot Sauce does multiple collaborations per year with Garlic Breath Farm, following their entire growing season with different sauces, the Ginders said.
The first of the year is the Spring Garlic Hot Sauce, followed by the Garlic Scape Hot Sauce. The Hardback Romanian Red Hot Sauce, which is the most popular of the collaborations, comes next and is typically followed by the Porcelain Music Hot Sauce, they said.
Other collaboration hot sauces include the Georgian Fire, Black Garlic, Triple Garlic Tahini and Dandelion Truffle Pesto.
Now that many of Gindo’s hot sauces are tied to the growing season of garlic, its founders can tell the difference between all the different types of garlic — but this wasn’t always the case.
“They all have different flavor notes and stuff like that,” Mary Ginder said. “We’ve gotten that way with peppers, but we didn’t know that was a thing was garlic, and so to learn that there’s so many different varietals is really awesome.”
Sharon Pferschy described how garlic is a nine-month growing process which starts with the planting in October and ends when the fully-grown bulbs are harvested in July. But, in between, the farm also harvests spring garlic in May and garlic scapes in June, she said.
After garlic bulbs are harvested and cured, the farm can take and convert them into black garlic through a heat fermentation process, according to Sharon Pferschy. She said the hot sauce that uses the black garlic is typically released around October.
Unlike when shopping at other businesses, customers are realizing that they need to buy the sauces when they are available, because once they are sold out, they are gone until next year, she said.
“They’re like, ‘Why would you do that?’” Sharon Pferschy said. “It’s not me, it’s Mother Nature.”
The Pferschys do more than just provide the garlic and other produce to Gindo’s hot sauces. Tony Pferschy said he often goes to Chris Ginder with new hot sauce ideas, such as the Dandelion Truffle Pesto Hot Sauce and the Triple Garlic Tahini Hot Sauce.
“I think Tony has no shortage of ideas since he’s out on the farm all day,” Chris Ginder said, to which Tony Pferschy replied, “I have at least 20 other hot sauces in my brain to hit you with.”
The most recent collaboration between the two businesses was the Garlic Goddess Hot Sauce, which was new this year.
But, it wasn’t made specifically for the 2024 Illinois Product Holiday Box, so when the Illinois Department of Agriculture reached out to Garlic Breath Farm in August, the two businesses were already sold out of their new sauce and had to make some more.
But that wasn’t a problem for Chris Ginder, who said Garlic Breath Farm could call him to ask for a sauce and he’d have it ready within a few days.
“They treat us very, very well. I mean, they treat everybody well, they’re just wonderful people, but we so honor our friendship and relationship, and it’s just really special,” Sharon Pferschy said.
In a phone call earlier this month, Illinois Department of Agriculture Bureau Chief of Marketing, Promotion and Grants Jackie Sambursky said the Garlic Goddess Hot Sauce was an “easy choice to include” in the 2024 Illinois Product Holiday Box because, not only does Garlic Breath Farm have a good product in the hot sauce, but they are also veteran-owned.
The Department of Agriculture is intentionally trying to showcase those in its “Homegrown by Heroes” program, which highlights farms and other food producers that are owned by those have served or are still serving in the military, she said.
Generally, products were also chosen because they were shelf-stable and non-perishable, which made them easier to store and ship, according to Sambursky. She said the goal was to showcase the variety of products that are available in Illinois and to include things that were “a mix of logistically easy” but also “generally enjoyed by all.”
The 2024 Illinois Product Holiday Box first went on sale Nov. 13 and were sold out by Dec. 2, Sambursky said. They were hoping to sell out but expected to still be selling boxes up until Christmas, she said.
“We definitely did not expect to sell out that quickly,” Sambursky said.
Mary Ginder said it was an honor to be in the same class of products as those showcased in the box. Sharon Pferschy said that it fills her with pride to be not only in the holiday box but to also be in the first-ever holiday box.
“I hope in the future that there’s going to be more companies and more farms and all kinds of different stuff,” Sharon Pferschy said. “It’s just a really great opportunity and, yes it helps us get our name out there, but it also showcases Homegrown by Heroes.”
Orders are already open for the 2025 Illinois Product Holiday Box. To sign up, or to learn more about the 2024 version, go to www.illinoisproductholidaybox.com
rsmith@chicagotribune.com