Boilermaker Hot Sauce

Background: Sauces and Pickles Class (FS 491)

Professors Allie Kingery, Dr. Amanda Deering, and Dr. Steve Hallett of the new Sauces and Pickles Class at Purdue University had a novel vision when planning and preparing for their new Fall 2023 course. The goal: to pursue and establish a relationship with the Purdue Student Farm to model the farm-to-fork life cycle of value-added food products. The food industry is one where knowing theoretical food production, ingredient sourcing, food safety, and marketing concepts is only half of the story. Applying theory to safe practice is what creates the foods and beverages that people eat every day. With so many memories being made around the table, creating a food product that brings people together is both humbling and rewarding. With the necessity of hands-on learning, and the value of completing food product ideation through the final packaging process in mind, the professors decided to utilize their classroom as a space where students could apply theory to practice and create a value-added product that would not just live within their pages of notes, but end up on the shelves of the community.

Pictured above: The Purdue Student Farm and FS 491 Professors and Participants

Product Creation: Fermented Hot Sauce

After the fermented hot sauce was selected as the value-added product the class would create, students who participated in this new class faced a unique set of constraints and challenges. These were to use local, readily available produce to create and test various recipes, determine final recipe parameters, ferment, and bottle the final hot sauce product... in only one semester. Since the fermentation time itself can take two to three weeks, students had to use creativity, diligence, and ingenuity to accomplish all of their tasks. The pictures below illustrate the impressive undertaking of the students as they researched and outlined recipe variations and product marketing, prepared ingredients for fermentation, and fermented and bottled their final products. 

Final Product:  Boilermaker Black and Gold Editions

Implementing food safety, food production, marketing, and sourcing theory into practice was a resounding success! Students in the class fulfilled their objectives with the creation of the Boilermaker Black Edition and Boilermaker Gold Edition hot sauces. The final product, a combination of creativity and hard work, is a prime example of the market value that can be added to produce, of the potential for creating innovative products from local produce, and of the persistence and skill of students. 

Pictured above: Professor Dr. Steve Hallett holding bottled hot sauce and Professor Allie Kingery surrounded by boxed final product.

Want to learn more about this class?

• Read the full Purdue Agriculture story by Kate Jacobson
• Watch a video of the class and production process by Kelsey Getzin

Photography by Tom Campbell and Jessica Kerkhoff, FEMI Story by Madison Mehringer