Bottled dreams of fiery women

Visit Antigua and there is one product that you must claim as a souvenir, Susie’s hot sauce. Not just because it very well may be the best hot sauce you have ever tasted, but in each bottle is the flavor of determination, passion and the tropical gifts of the islands. Susie’s hot sauce was founded in Antigua by Susie Tonge, a woman who was locally adored for her munificence and dexterity around the kitchen. Susie ran a boardinghouse where she cooked for her guests and local townspeople looking for delicious home cooked meals. "My mother was always in the kitchen creating. People would come in and out all day. It was amazing the way she would juggle six or seven different dishes at once. She wanted to make certain that all mouths were fed and all preferences met," said Rosie McMaster, daughter of Susie and managing director of Susie’s hot sauce. It wasn’t just the local citizenry that Susie had to be concerned about. As a single mother she had to make sure that there was money for her family. "We were financially struggling. One day my mother knelt on her knees exhausted and broke. She knelt and asked God to help her. She heard a divine voice, ‘Susie, make your hot sauce.’"
Susie’s hot sauce is not just a souvenir but the result of celestial inspiration. Antigua responded by buying the bottles faster then they could be poured. But more challenges were to come. In 1971 Susie’s house burnt down leaving Susie kitchenless, assetless, and sauceless. Susie moved to New York, the land of opportunity to claim back her savings. In 1978, she retuned to Antigua with these earnings to bring her sauce back to the shelves. In 1990, Susie died and since then the company has been run by her daughter Rosie, who makes Susie’s Hot Sauce in her kitchen, as her mother did, when she started making the sauce in 1960.
"When I took over the business I began adding new flavors to appeal to different tastes," explained Rosie. Just like her mother, Rosie wants to make certain all preferences are met. She has created a sweet line, savory style, and extra spicy types for thrill seekers. While the production of the sauce is straight from Rosie’s kitchen, the bottles of flavor have traveled around the world. "We get special orders from Europe, Asia, South America, and the U.S. you name it, we’ve sent it," said Rosie. The publicity of the sauce comes from tasters who become hooked. It is not just amateur taste buds that love the flavors. Susie’s Hot Sauce walked away from the largest hot sauce and spicy condiments specialty foods show held in Texas, the Texas Fiery Food Show, as the recipient of several prestigious awards. "Over 300 companies were at this blind taste competition and Susie’s Original hot Sauce won 1st Place for a Habanera Sauce and our Tamarind Tango won best Fruit Hot Sauce, we also walked away with a few other awards. It was thrilling to get such large scale reassurance," said Rosie. Go to Antigua and the one thing you must bring home is the hot sauce, but the bottles should come with a warning, they are highly addictive. The good news for those who are having "withdrawal symptoms," they ship anywhere.