Sauce of the Month

We used to call this product the Sauce du Jour, but now we're calling it the Sauce of the Month. Every month we pick our favorite new, seasonal, extremely small-batch sauce from the secret menu. This is that sauce.

These sauces go quickly and might not come back!

CURRENT SAUCE

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PAST SAUCES OF THE MONTH

Got Those Old Smokin' Blues Again- A variant of the popular Bell Bottom Blues, this batch features heavy ripe habanero flavor with a warm smoky chipotle backbeat- smooth, lasting heat. This get's a skull and crossed bones sticker but it is much friendlier than the smoked ghost pepper sauces. Let's call this one a 9 on the 2-15 heat scale.

Hibiscus Rhubarb- This is a deep dark sauce with a roasted beet texture, lightened a bit with apple, pear and peach purees, rhubarb tanginess with roasted garlic and ginger undertones. Call this a 5 on the 2-15 scale. Easygoing paper lantern habanero heat scale. This is thick enough to use as a spreadable topping on just about anything. Slightly sweet and tart, slightly earthy and floral, there's a lot going on in this one.

Lavender Haze- This one started out as the rock and roll inspired Purple Haze but came out much mellower. Blueberries, pears and coconut cream with just a tad of ginger on top of a strong lavender infused vinegar backbeat. This is a customer favorite that we've enhanced with Oyster Mushroom powder by our market buddies Collinswood Mushrooms. Look for more mushroom based flavor profiles soon! Call this a 5 on the 2-15 scale. Try this mixed with yogurt for a creamy coleslaw or chicken salad,  as a flavor hook in royal icing or cream cheese frosting. How does Lavender Haze Chicken sound?

Honey Habanero- A cousin of the very popular Honey Jalapeno, just about 4 times hotter. The strong honey overtones (with local honey from Tir Nan Og Apiary) are very soothing, call this one an 8 on the 2-15 scale.

Pomegranate Pumpkin- Balances a smooth, slightly roasted pumpkin puree with tart/tangy pomegranate juice and pulp. Pomegranate molasses brings a sweet counterpart. The Stone Soup pepper blend adds habanero and cayenne heat and we threw in a couple of scorps for good measure. Call this one a 6 on the 2-15 heat scale.
Machu Picchu- Our partnership with the Quiet Corner's own Black Pond Brews has produced a sauce that has sold out at every market we brought it to so far, no small feat. This is a verde style sauce, based on Black Pond's popular Jalapeno Saison Ale of the same name. We added just a tad of background smoke. The soothing Guacamole notes are from one of our farmers market buddies, Pop's Famous Guac. Scoop it up while you can!

Stone Soup Vintage 2023- We make a batch of this every year featuring a little bit of all the farmers market ingredients we've made sauce with all year. The peppers are customer grown, every year has a new set of fruits and vegetables with a slightly different balance, a slightly different heat ratio. Try to identify as many different flavors as you can, use the ingredient panel as a guide. Lots of peppers in this one but not wickedly hot, call it a 6 on the 2-15 scale.

Cucumber Peach Mojito- This is just the sauce to offer on a hot muggy day, as refreshing as a 4 pm rain shower. Local cucumbers, southern peaches and chocolate mint from the herb garden–smooth, cool and just begging to be made into a lemonade mocktail. Try it in a chicken or fruit salad, call it a 6 on the 2-15 heat scale...it's got little habanero bite but, not in an aggressive way.

Green Coriander Curry- Featuring green coriander from River Ridge Farm. Big, bright and vibrant, this has been a hit at the farmers markets. Just a little bit sharper than our regular curry sauce, this is more on the Southeast Asian edge. If you are a curry fan, you'll know what you want to do with this one. Spark up a tired leftover, great as a chopped salad hook, In coconut rice or in a tandoori marinade. Call this a 6 on the 2-15 heat scale. 

Raspberry Rhubarb- Starring local raspberries and heirloom rhubarb from Riverview Farm. Bright and tangy with great color and texture, mouth filling flavor, ever so slightly sweet with a puckery backbeat. A low/medium habanero heat (call it a 6 on the 2-15 scale). Use this in a cobbler or pie, as a dessert topping, hummus or as a salad dressing component. This sauce will make a spectacular addition to a pan juice sauce featuring chicken- yellow rice, roasted asparagus and purple chicken- who could resist?

Sesame Ginger Tahini- Smooth and easy. A little low on the 2-15 heat scale (around a 4), it's smooth, slightly nutty and salty with a subtle roasted garlic backbeat and a harmonious ginger finish.

Avocado Lime Wasabi- The Sauce of the Month features guacamole from Pop's Famous Guac, one of our CT farmers market buddies. Not wickedly sniffley, the wasabi doesn't eclipse the avocado taste, great texture, very smooth. Try this to make a tuna salad or as a topping for a fish taco. 

For Whom the Bell Tolls- IT'S BACK! Available as the Sauce of the Month right now, it'll move to the Secret Menu until it sells out (absolutely guaranteed to happen). This year's batch is heavier on the Ghost peppers and a bit lighter on the Scorps and Scotch Bonnets, seems a bit sharper to me, reminiscent of The Most Ghost (there's a blast from the past) we'll keep this one a 12 on the 2-15 heat scale.

Blackberry Lime Rickey- More frequently than you might credit, something serendipitous influences the flow of the sauce. A case in point, a nationally known food retailer that is not to be named rejected a shipment of blackberries and we were in a position to salvage them. Some judicious sorting resulted in several gallons of glorious blackberry puree.

Blackberry Lime Rickey is the new Sauce of the Month. Dark, rich berry flavor and color with strong citrus notes, very refreshing.

We made a version of this years ago and it won first place in a cocktail making contest, if I remember correctly the bartender used frozen melon balls as ice cubes- that's worth the price of admission right there. Made with the habanero version of Stone Soup Pepper Mash, there is a quick heat spike, settling down quickly- we'll call it a 6 on the 2-15 scale. To alarm the traditionalists this holiday season try stirring some into your nog or make purple royal icing for the sugar cookies.

This is a sauce to be enjoyed now, blackberry based sauces seem to fade as time goes by, so avoid long term storage. 


Pumpkin Sage- It was the fate of the halloween sugar pumpkins to be roasted and made into the new Sauce of the Month- Pumpkin Sage- rich, deep and hearty fall flavors of sweet potato and pumpkin with hints of roasted garlic, herbs and maple. The 'Last Call' hot pepper mash spices this one, primarily cayennes, jalapeños and habaneros with a golden ghost top note. Emphatically not 'pumpkin spice', let's give this one a 6 on the 2-15 scale. A puddle of this will complete your Thanksgiving plate, good in soups and stews, cassoulets and hummus.

Stone Soup 2022- This is the most keenly awaited seasonal sauce of the year, always a bit different, showcasing the wide range of flavorful farmers market produce we play with all summer long. Very well balanced, with a quick non-lingering heat and multi layered fruit and vegetable notes, you'll get a new taste every time you use it.The only ingredients that are not locally sourced are the apple cider vinegar and the sea salt, all peppers are grown by customers as part of the Stone Soup Pepper Project. We'll call this new Sauce of the Month a 6 on the 2-15 scale.

Spicy Baba Ganoush- We offer Baba Ganoush as a seasonal condiment at the farmers market every summer when the eggplants are ripe, this is the first time we've made it into a hot sauce. Roasted eggplant with summer squash, cucumbers and lots of roasted garlic and the first of the Paper Lantern habaneros of the season. It's spectacular as a dip or topping for chopped salads and sandwiches. (6 on the 2-15 heat scale)

Spicy Gazpacho- The first heirloom tomato sauce of the year with summer squash, cucumber, carrot, rhubarb and roasted garlic flavor notes- bright, fresh and sassy. (7 on the 2-15 heat scale) We are including shoutouts in the ingredient panel to all the farms and orchards contributing to this locally-sourced sauce.

Zucchini Herb- This month's new sauce is the popular Zucchini Herb, people ask for this one in the middle of winter and have waited with various degrees of patience for early summer to finally arrive. Five different summer squashes with lots of garlic and herbs de provence. Slightly sweet cider/pear backbeat with a good piquante bite, a non traditional salsa verde. (call it a 6).

Blueberry Apricot Rhubarb- Featuring blueberries and apricots from the freezer, and a new crop  of rhubarb. Also a dynamic CTGrown-ginger finish. This is a very dessert oriented sauce- put it in a cobbler, pour it over ice cream and pound cake, make a sorbet or granita with it. Makes a spectacular purple chicken in a pan juice application or try it with the yogurt/sour cream dressing slaw/pasta salad concept- the color alone sells it! (It was a 6 on the 2-15 heat scale, but it's popped up to an 8 by the ginger).

Bell (Bottom) Blues-  A heavy habanero version of Dragon's Blood Elixir, this will have close to three times as much pepper mash. It won't have the quick, sharp scorpion pepper/scotch bonnet/seven pot bite, the floral fruity paper lantern habanero flavor will be the player. Fire Roasted Tomato and Roasted Apples round out the flavor.

Avocado Wasabi- Frequently, as a sauce gets built in the pot, I find that it needs 'something extra' to make it complete. That little something isn't always reflected in the description, heat scale can definitely be an issue. This one will be made with the vibrant Salsa Verde Piquante Mash and enough Wasabi to make your eyes water, no subtlety here. The addition of buttery smooth Avocado will act as soother coupled with a tart and spicy Tomatillo Chutney at the finish. This came out spectacularly! I rate it a 9 on the 2-15 heat scale, there won't be a dry eye in the house.

A note on wasabi- we've always used the green horseradish powder that sushi restaurants rely on, the cool green color is actually a dye. This year we grew a Wasabi Daikon Radish which appears to be naturally green.



Seriously Sassy Citrus-  In the fall, I made a yellow pepper mash with a half dozen varieties of exotic peppers that my customers grew and set it aside for a special sauce (awaiting inspiration). We had made a sauce featuring Roasted Lemons earlier in the year (note this flavor agent as having a lot of sass). At a recent holiday market Apis Verde Farm had several pounds of glorious ginger available (eureka moment!). Freezer inventory turned up a bag of Zucchini, Summer Squash and Cucumbers that was just what was needed to hold it all together. So we have an over the top citrus sauce with a lot of local produce as texture, a very reputable scorpion, datil, golden ghost, scotch bonnet and seven pot heat scale with a strong ginger finish. I'm pleased. Just shy of a skull and cross bones, I'll rate this as an 11 on the 2-15 scale.

Riverview Farm Harvest Sauce- This is a "built in the pot" Stone Soup style sauce that features produce from a local farm. Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Pumpkins and Autumn Squashes make for a deeper heartier texture. multiple layers of roasty toasty flavor, with a Cayenne pepper heat scale popped up a bit with some Habanero. This is a natural in cold weather soups and stews. (6 on the 2-15 heat scale)

Pumpkin Curry-  Coconut milk makes this smooth as a pumpkin pie with a robust, friendly curry finish. There are a couple of Scorpion peppers in the mash so just a bit hotter than the Honey Lime Curry. Great in a chicken stir fry or try it in a roasted vegetable dish, it's a 7 on the 2-15 heat scale.

Stone Soup 2021-  One of the most keenly awaited sauces of the year with a multi layer flavor profile, Savory yielding to fruity leading into an herby/spicy finish. This year the Scorpion Peppers in the blend are a bit more apparent, still very much everyday usable. It's an 8 on the 2-15 heat scale.

Roasted Peach Melba-  Roasting fruits and vegetables brings out their natural sugars and intensifies their flavor. There are lots of layers of flavor in this sauce. It's a natural in a smoothie/cocktail application. It's also a great dessert sauce in a cobbler with ice cream. Or try it as a pan juice sauce addition for chicken dishes. It's a 5 on the 2-15 heat scale.

Zucchini Herb-  Made with zucchini, summer, patty pan, Lebanese and zephyr squashes from the farmers markets, roasted apples, roasted garlic and has a vibrant backbeat of sage, rosemary, thyme and lavender.

Buell's Orchard Strawberry Rhubarb-  This is truly the first summer sauce, we make a version of this vibrant sauce every year for one of our local berry growers. A natural for ice cream sundaes, try this to make a strawberry dressing/dip (see last months 'Now That I've Bought It, What Can I Do With It?') in chicken salad, fruit salad, summer slaw and pasta salads, vinaigrettes. Nice rhubarb tang, not achingly sweet It's a 5 on the 2-15 heat scale.

Vidalia Peach-  We tweaked an old secret menu sauce and got it so tasty we decided to make it the new Sauce du Jour. Vidalia Peach is made with a new pepper for us--Cobanero. It's a chile from Guatemala. Not a screaming hot profile, you'll need to slather it on to get a sniffle. Primarily California peaches with the last of the CLiCK fruit (rampaging beavers gnawed down all the peach trees last fall), Vidalia Onions from Georgia and the first of this season's Rhubarb. It's a 3 on the 2-15 heat scale.

Dragons Chili Sauce-   We brought back this classic just in time for Cinco de Mayo. More of a 'gringo southwestern style' than traditional Mexican with a strong roasty toasty pepper flavor profile. Heirloom tomato based with local tomatillos, roasted garlic and our own CLiCK grown peppers providing the kick. Great for Chili Beans, taco filling and as an addition to your own Chili recipe. Try it in your smoker or make a kick ass hummus.(Heat: 6 out of 15)

Zesty Sesame Tamari- 'Zesty' here refers more to the herbs and spices rather than the heat scale. This has a nice initial bite that is quickly soothed by the creamy sesame tahini and all the fruit and vegetable purees with a nice zesty finish. A little saltier than most of our sauces, using tamari makes this wheat free. (Heat: 6 out of 15)

Stone Soup 2020- Every year we celebrate the farmers market season with Stone Soup, a spectacular sauce that showcases everything that came through the kitchen this summer. This sauce always features peppers from the Stone Soup Pepper Project, the bounty from our spring seedling giveaway. (Heat: 6 out of 15)

Honey Jalapeño- Not your average everyday Jalapeno sauce,  Slightly funky Pumpkin Jalapeños give this the color of a jack o lantern and, even cooler, the honey comes from the bees that pollinated the CLiCK pepper garden. (Heat: 4 out of 15)

Flaming Fury- Peaches and Habaneros, sweet heat. Flaming Fury is a late ripening peach variety grown by the Irish Bend Orchard. This is the first sauce of the year to be made with the new crop of Habaneros, and is just a little hotter than last years version. (Heat: 7 out of 15)

Lemon Ginger Rhubarb- Bright and Sassy, think of lighter summer fare- salads and slaws with a slightly East meets West fusion theme (Heat: 6 out of 15)

Dragon's Smoothie- Nectarines, Peaches, Blueberries, Strawberries, Pears, Plums, Apples and Bananas with a balancing Rhubarb note. This features last years Stone Soup Hot Pepper Mash- initial Scorpion sting mellowed out quickly by the fruit and coconut cream. (Heat Level: 7)

Grapefruit Shandy- Made as part of a fundraising session for CLiCK, the Grapefruit Shandy features locally grown Cascade Hops and a Bavarian Malt Extract. Very IPA and, quite honestly, not an everyday sauce- high citrus/pineapple notes with a very strong hop nose. (Heat Level: 6)

Barton Farm Roasted Root Vegetable-  We cleaned off the table at the last outdoor farmers market, your daily RDA of vegetables in a teaspoon of hot sauce (Heat Level: 5)

Sweet Potato Pineapple  with a Hint of Brown Sugar-  Packed full of sweet potatoes from the Farmington Farm Truck mobile farmers market,  with a Scorpion Pepper Kick, mellowing down to a slightly fruity finish. Heat Level: 8

Jalapeacheno-   Think snappy salsa verde with a peach backbeat, this sauce has been VERY popular at the farmers markets in spite of (or due to?) the cute factor of the label. This is a solid 5 on the 2-15 heat scale.

Zucchini Herb-   Bright and sassy salsa verde style sauce featuring farmers market zucchini and green zebra tomatoes, roasted garlic, Stone Soup hot pepper mash, farmers market fennel and herbs and sofrito made in the Co-op kitchen by the Grow Windham kids. This is about a 5 on the 2-15 heat scale.

Lemon Ginger Rhubarb- Bright and Sassy, think of lighter summer fare- salads and slaws with a slightly East meets West fusion theme (Heat: 6 out of 15)

Put Da Lime in Da Coconut-  Don't be fooled by the frivolous name, this is a serious sauce.This year's Stone Soup Pepper Mash packs a quick Scorpion bite smoothed down a bit by the coconut milk and citrus. Go ahead, sing along with us. Get Down, Get Funky!

The Dragon's Smoothie-  Peaches, pears, apples, nectarines, plums and strawberries from the CLiCK orchard. Also featuring the first use of bananas in the history of Dragon's Blood Elixir. Heat Level: 5

Stone Soup Salsa Rojo-  Every spring we give away seedlings; 75 families contributed peppers from the plants they nurtured all summer. Heat Level: 5

Harissa (Explains it All)-  A non traditional version of a Moroccan/Tunisian cooking sauce with vibrant spice levels and a well balanced flavor/heat profile. In our version apples replace the traditional olive oil. (5 on the 2-15 heat scale) 

Barton Farms Roasted Root Vegetable- An excellent example of the 'farmers market swap' style of sauce making- a tableful of root vegetables from the Barton Family Farm alchemized into a deeply satisfying heartwarming winter sauce. This style of sauce making showcases one of the most valuable aspects of local sourcing- completing the circle. The farmer has surplus produce, DBE takes that surplus and turns it into a value added product, splits the resulting yield so that both the farmer and the maker profit. 

Spicy Gazpacho- This one's got red, yellow, orange and green heirloom tomatoes, farmers market cukes, hot and mild(ish) Stone Soup pepper mashes, sofrito made by Grow Windham, roasted garlic and a bit of avocado as a non-traditional textural agent.

Lemon Ginger Rhubarb- This is a bright and tangy citrus rhubarb overtones with a strong ginger finish. The Stone Soup pepper mash/ginger combination pops this up to about an 8 on the 2-15 heat scale. This will work well in any southeast Asian dish or as a zesty slaw/salad dressing component.

The Dragon's Chile Sauce- We're featuring a purchased ingredient in our newest sauce- an award winning Chili Cookoff spice blend lends a beautiful roasty-toasty top note to the Dragon's Chili Sauce. Ripe summer tomatoes and several different Stone Soup Hot Pepper Mashes combine with local onions, garlic and a touch of dark chocolate for a spectacular flavor profile. About a 6 on the 2-15 scale with a modest habanero bite.

The Pink Label- Pink Label is Katie's first sauce (read her origin story about it here) and she and Doug cooked it up with a no hype, no stereotype approach. With red habanero, ghost, scorpion and (fresh and dried!) Carolina reaper peppers, it's hot enough to be comfortable wearing pink. We may need to expand the 2-15 rating scale, this one might be just a bit hotter than the Wild Elephant Deterrent. The fruit adds a different dynamic; it's not instantly incendiary.

Smoky Maple Pumpkin Pie - What do you do with Halloween pumpkins after the holiday? Turn them into the newest seasonal sauce: Smoky Maple Pumpkin Pie! It's got warm Chipotle and Cayenne heat, is slightly sweet and tangy with a maple syrup backbeat, and is a great autumn menu inspiration.

Green Zebra Sofrito - Sometimes ingredients fit together so well that it's just impossible to ignore - an impromptu sauce is born! Lemony green zebra tomatoes and green cayenne peppers from Falls Creek Farm with Grow Windham made Sofrito.

Cobblestone Farm Golden Gazpacho- Yellow Finn Zucchinis and cukes from Cobblestone Farm in Mansfield come together with yellow and orange tomatoes to make the taste of summer. A bit reminiscent of the Lenny Award winning Stone Soup sauce.  Heat Level: 6 on the 2-15 heat scale.