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August 4, 2025 57 mins
Get Ready for a Flavor-Packed Episode of The Tucson Tasty Show!This week, we’re diving deep into Tucson’s bold, local flavors with a sizzling lineup of culinary standouts!
🍽️We’re talking with the innovative growers behind Desert Pearl Mushrooms, dishing up insight on their sustainable, gourmet fungi that are taking Arizona kitchens by storm.
Then it’s time to turn up the heat with Hot Thomas, whose small-batch hot sauces bring serious spice and serious heart.
And finally, prepare to swoon over Roasted Green Chili Butter — a rich, Southwest-inspired spread that’s redefining comfort food.
Don’t miss this episode packed with local pride, fresh flavors, and the makers who keep Tucson tasty.🎧 Listen now and support local flavor, one bite at a time.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tucson-tasty-show--6022348/support.
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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Amiss the ancient rooms of a forgotten civilization, a mysterious temple.
Paul states, with an otherworldly energy, the guardian of this
taste Define Sanctuary moves forward, a figure shrouded in enigma,
in power.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
He doesn't just taste food, he summons.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Forgotten flavors and awakens dormant passions. Behold the Wizard of Food,
Wesley Source in the Tucson Tasty Show.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
Today's episode is brought to you by our amazing sponsors.
That's via Ol Premium Beef, Portillo's Hot Dog, Sokka, Local
First Arizona and Tucson Family Food Project. Thank you for
helping us tell Tucson's tastiest stories. Good afternoon, tucsan and
welcome to another episode of The Tucson Tasty Show, your
home for the best stories behind the best bites in

(01:00):
the Southwest. I'm Wesley Source, joined by and always by
executive Chef and my partner and flavor Christian Pidia weenn
asiastuks on.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
How are you?

Speaker 3 (01:14):
And today We've got an amazing show lined up for
us today. The first up, we're diving into the magic
with Chris and John of Desert Pearl Mushrooms. A local
grower doing gourmet mushrooms like you've never seen before. Christ
and John, welcome to the show and let's jump in.

Speaker 4 (01:37):
Thanks so much for having us.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
You for having us, and tell us a little bit
about what you're doing over at Desert Pearl Mushrooms.

Speaker 4 (01:45):
We're a culinary and specialty medicinal mushroom farm here in town.
We're an indoor grow so it's all controlled environment agriculture
with a controlled lighting, temperature, and humidity. We're a warehouse grows,
so it's it allows us to week everything from you know,
temperature and fog and mist and light for all the

(02:05):
different varieties we grow, oyster mushrooms, lines, main chaitaki, cordyce, subs,
cricky tail, rishi, et cetera.

Speaker 3 (02:12):
We've we've definitely had your mushrooms multiple times and some
of the best restaurants in town actually serve your mushrooms.
Can you tell about us about some of your local
partners and where we can find those.

Speaker 5 (02:25):
One of the main ones that we serve Mushroom two
would be Bata. They do a lot to do different
creating things, anything from like a you know, like oyster
mushroom ice cream to like a oyster mushroom latte latte sorry.

Speaker 3 (02:38):
Martini mushroom martini.

Speaker 5 (02:41):
Yeah, they had a martini that was like it was
called mister Mushroom sometime. I know there are menu changes
quite a bit, so it might still be on there.
But yeah, everyone you know goes to you know, they
always like to say how much great experience it is
to go to Bata. We also sell to write other
places want be the casino. Soul also takes a lot
of our mushrooms and for a while there we were

(03:02):
actually we still are supplying to Maple and Ash and
Scottsdale and then some of the other ones around town
would be Feast. Doug is always like basically every single
like three months, he's changing up what different type of
mushroom that we grow for him and stuff like that
to have something special on the menu for it. We
also import mushrooms in from when there's wild forging, and
Doug always says something special that you know from those

(03:23):
wild imports.

Speaker 6 (03:25):
So yeah, Coronet, that's a good spot. I'm a big
fan of the Cornet as well.

Speaker 4 (03:30):
So yeah, they do some pretty awesome things creations in
their mushrooms too.

Speaker 5 (03:35):
Yeah, they just recently had a full mushroom dinner that
was paired with what was it, sunset Suncliffe gin, Suncliffe
gin gin and mushrooms, chin and mushrooms. All right, Yeah,
so John was actually fortunate to go there. I had
to at some other family events I had to go to,
but John was able to experience that whole whole dinner
and it was I don't know, if you want to
talk about it, this is amazing.

Speaker 4 (03:55):
It was several courses all featuring mushrooms, and each dish,
each has had a gin pairing or a cocktail pairing,
and several of those cocktails featured mushrooms in them as well.
So that was pretty wild to experience that new format.

Speaker 3 (04:11):
Fun guy, right, but with the how do you how
would you pair a mushroom into margarita however or anything else?

Speaker 1 (04:23):
You know?

Speaker 2 (04:25):
Actually, I so I was in Seattle.

Speaker 6 (04:28):
That was like the land of the mushroom for me,
where I got to explore and play with a lot
of different varietals of mushrooms and you know, actually, like
it's amazing seeing your guys's product. Coming back to Arizona
in Tucson and seeing such a large variety of mushrooms
that I was amazed. I was blown away by the

(04:48):
first time I saw that. I'm like, oh my god,
Tucson has you know X amount now, you know, like
it's it's really going up the chain. And yeah, like
one of my favorite mushrooms I like using is the
blue Oyster mushrooms. I had a vegan dinner, a white
vegan dinner, and I ended up using those for Beria

(05:10):
as well. So they're actually very versatile. And I'm a
big fan of your guys' product as well. So yeah,
I'm really happy to have you here.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
You know, It's funny.

Speaker 3 (05:20):
One of the chefs brought in some mushrooms one time
and made tacos for the Tasty Bite segment and I
was like, this is the best like chicken taco I've
ever had in my life, and he goes, it's a mushroom.
So yeah, definitely some really great stuff happening out there.
Tell us tell us a little bit about how you
got started, Like what made you wake up one day
and say, hey, I want to I want to grow

(05:40):
fungus and feed Tucson all this amazing mushrooms and flavors
because and there's so many different varietals, right, So yeah.

Speaker 4 (05:50):
You know, it started kind of as a backyard hobby
one of our friends, well a couple of our friends
were doing controlled environment agriculture in a backyard and Chris
and I got drafted to help a little bit with
the greenhouse construction and ultimately just became extra hands on deck.

Speaker 5 (06:07):
And yeah, funny enough, it actually started off as an
AQUAPONICX farm and it was in the backyard of one
of the previous founders at the business. And basically we
had this AQUAPONICX farm and we're growing all these things
and you know, we had a lot of basil, lettice
other stuff, and.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
They go, wow, this is real, clel.

Speaker 5 (06:23):
You can really create a whole bunch and like you
know with the fish water and stuff like that. And
then we're like, you know, let's see if we can
try and boost the CO two production to try and
get these plants bigger. And then we're like, you know,
mushrooms are a natural thing where they you know, inhale
oxygen and XL CO two, So we'll see if we
can try and combine the two and make a musher chamber.
The increase of the CO two yield in the in

(06:43):
the greenhouse, which is one of the research projects, I
think was at the u of aad when you know,
we're going through at the same time. So we did
that and then we realized, wow, we can actually just
grow mushrooms in the desert, and that was kind of
where we kind of went off on that. You know,
we were growing these giant bales of like basil, but
it was like at the end of day it would
be five bucks.

Speaker 4 (07:01):
So yeah, you know, we're selling something at two dollars
a pound, and then you're you, you know, don't expect
to take in any money for mushrooms, and that's bringing
him like forty eight dollars a pound. You're thinking, oh,
wait a minute, let's change the model.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
A little bit. Yeah, it was.

Speaker 5 (07:14):
It was interesting because once we've we had a partner
that was in the farmer's markets and you know, we
had just first grown like our first two pound batch,
and we were so excited we got them and they
all sold out.

Speaker 2 (07:25):
We're like, oh, we hit gold.

Speaker 5 (07:26):
This is great, and you know, we kind of went
from there, you know, kind of kind of small comparison
to right now we're doing about six hundred pounds a
week and you know, we have a few more grow
rooms and our stuff like that to try and give
them more larger quantities going up forward. But yeah, it
was it was pretty humble beginnings in the backyard.

Speaker 2 (07:44):
You know.

Speaker 5 (07:44):
We we pretty much grew from there. My background is
as a mechanical engineer and John is a chemist, so
kind of didn't really ever expect to go back to
doing like a biology based business or in agriculture anything else.
I had worked with a lot of prototypes and like
developments for other companies, you know, just b making out
different types of like small things, and but you know,

(08:07):
the thing that really got to me was that, you know,
I've created all these different small things, but a lot
of times it's really hard to get a product to market.
And you might have a really great idea, but no
one's interested in it, or just not the right time,
not the right place, so things just don't come out.
But one thing that really spoke to me was that
food was like you got to eat it every week,
and you know, it's always a healthy alternative. And that
we also saw at the time that there was no

(08:27):
mushroom grower and Tucson. You know, the mushrooms, you know,
they don't really last that long in the fridge. It
takes about two weeks for them and then they kind
of turn into like these like gray dry mush where
it might have been a blue oyster and now it's
a quote labeled a gray oyster. So we saw that
opportunity that you know a lot of chefs could really
benefit from having a local source that can get them

(08:47):
basically within a day or sometimes mostly since two hours
prior to them getting their wholesale order that these mushrooms
are picked and they go directly to the door.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
So that's incredible.

Speaker 5 (08:57):
Yeah, so a lot of it was the nice benefit
that we had this huge because of locality where you
know a lot of industries where it's like you know,
button tops, they can they can last like three months
in the fridge, so they can. They can come from Canada,
they can come from Mexico and you know then there's
no real degradation over time and they're really kind of sturdy,
where these ones are quite delicate produce, right, So you know,
we saw the opportunity for it, and you know, a

(09:17):
lot of it was just trying to expand from there
because there's there's no there's no real industry for these guys,
like there's no supporting industry, like machines or stuff like that,
you know, large scale boilers that you need or like
a sterilizer that you need to just like manage the substrates.
So a lot of stuff we had to just build
along the way, take gambles by importing things out of China,
like okay, this equipment might work, and then you know,

(09:38):
come over here and figuring out from there. And you know,
we we start off in the garage and we had
the backyard where we had one greenhouse, and then we
built second one, and then that was kind of you know,
didn't things didn't go quite right. We learned along the ways,
Like we had this one greenhouse where we built this
floor draining. We're so excited about it, and we got
to put water in it and then it drains towards
the door and not towards the drain and we're like, okay,

(09:58):
well now cubation chamber. So yeah, so we did that
for a while and then twenty twenty COVID hit and
we basically went from selling you know, eighty pounds a
week in wholesale, which was signed big for us, to
having no customers, like everything shut down all the restaurants
shut down, and the only thing that really kind of
kept the business along was basically being at the farmer's markets.

(10:21):
So Heirloom was actually a huge help into keeping our
business flow and actually pushing our business forward to this day.
You know, it's nice that, you know, we don't really
specifically on the farmer's markets right now for our business,
but you know, that was a huge portion of keeping
us alive throughout COVID. But at that time during COVID,
we're like, you know what, you know, no one's really
doing anything. We have about maybe two three months of downtime.

(10:43):
Let's just do something crazy. And I had I knew
a deal with someone who had warehouse space, and that's
where we moved into that warehouse that you saw, yep,
and that's where we start from there. We split it
up with a bunch of different startups. We had half
the warehouse, we built this new grow room, and then
we just went from there and then slowly regained our
wholesale clients and eventually we just kept growing and then

(11:05):
we took over the whole space and we were out today.

Speaker 4 (11:08):
Yeah, you know, we were really fortunate actually to experience
that during COVID because it allowed us to think about
other avenues of distribution and different products too. Because we
started with just fresh mushrooms. When the restaurants closed down
and we had, you know, over one hundred pounds of
fresh mushrooms from canceled deliveries, we had to figure out

(11:28):
what to do with those, so we decided to dry
them because that's shelf stable.

Speaker 2 (11:31):
Mm hm.

Speaker 4 (11:32):
You can also make dried mushrooms into mushroom powders, which
is great for seasonings or you know, if it's a
dual purpose When I say dual purpose to culinary and
a medicinal valued mushroom like lions mean, right, people can
add that into coffee, tea, water shakes, whatever. But then
we also looked at you know, at the time, we
were working with a friend who sold at farmers' markets

(11:53):
and she was looking for a career change, so it
was kind of perfect for everybody. We just stepped right.

Speaker 3 (11:57):
In out seeing we're gonna hear a little a little
bit more about this right after the break. Stay tuned,
Stay Tasty. This is Wesley's source of the Tucson Tasty Show.
And when it comes to beef, I only trust via
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(12:18):
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Speaker 2 (12:35):
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Speaker 7 (12:37):
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(13:00):
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(14:45):
brought to you by Sokka Southern Arizona Art and Cultural
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now it's time for more tasty bites with your host,
Wesley Source. Welcome back to the Tucson Tasty Show. I'm

(15:05):
your host with Wesley Source and with my co host,
Executive Chef Christian VideA. How you doing good? Are you good?
And welcome back to another great UH segment. We've got
everything mushroom h and this segment is powered by Vireal
Premium Beef Sokka Local First Arizona building a stronger food

(15:27):
community for from the ground up. You guys are members
of Local First?

Speaker 2 (15:35):
Are We don't know if we are. We have I
take it all back.

Speaker 4 (15:40):
Like memberships, they're different things. And I fair enough we
might have been at at.

Speaker 3 (15:45):
At some point maybe yeah, uh, the they have the
Good Food for Him or Good Food Finder, and I
swear you're on that list.

Speaker 4 (15:54):
Yes, yes we are.

Speaker 2 (15:55):
So you have to be too many spinning plates.

Speaker 3 (16:01):
I understand that one percent. And we were starting to
talk about different places that the public can and all
of our listeners can here find your mushrooms?

Speaker 2 (16:12):
Where can we find them?

Speaker 4 (16:14):
We're at Time Market. You can find our fresh mushrooms
over there, and five Points features us on their their
cooked food menu, but sometimes you'll find them in the
coolier when that's available.

Speaker 2 (16:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (16:27):
Also you can find us at all the airline, farmers
market locations.

Speaker 6 (16:30):
Gallery of food Lady great place.

Speaker 2 (16:37):
Have you been good? Mm hmmm uh.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
And uh so we're going through the story of how
you guys started, which is which is awesome, you know,
starting in the backyard and uh grown into a warehouse
which you know every area When when we went over
to uh talk to you guys, it was like you
were coming out of the dark.

Speaker 2 (16:58):
Is it pretty dark back in there?

Speaker 5 (17:00):
Surprisingly, not all of the mushrooms that we grow require light,
so we don't. We don't grow the traditional type of
mushroom where you know the buttontops that you get a store.
And the funny thing is that button tops and chatak
buttontops and portabellos are the same thing. They're just mushrooms
are two to three days apart, really, So the baby
ones are just a smaller are the large portobellos that
they just pick them and then sometimes that they have

(17:20):
them too many and they'll just let them grow out
and then they'll pretty much portabellos. And then the difference
between the white and the brown is that it's just
a genetic mutation. But they're the same mushroom.

Speaker 4 (17:29):
I'll buy no mushrooms, Yeah tasty.

Speaker 5 (17:32):
Anyways, those are called field mushrooms and they grow there.
They're called secondary decomposers, so they grow basically on you know,
once the tree is decomposed, it falls to the ground,
turns into soil. That's where those mushrooms grow out of.
So you'll see like you know, people joke their dung
mushrooms or stuff like that growing. They're growing on the
soil and around it, and they don't require anything around
besides just the soil. We grow mushrooms that are called

(17:53):
safursitic mushrooms, and they are first decomposers which basically break
down trees. So we have you know, chataki mushrooms, oyster
lions main, and then chestnut mushrooms. Those are the kind
of the main three groups that we grow and they
all grow on like dead or dying trees. So everything
around our operation is basically built around simulating and making

(18:15):
these like mushroom These basically they simulated tree logs that's
like supplemented with other like agricultural waste and then like
our culture byroducts not waste like and that basically allows
us to produce mushrooms in a shorter period than we
would in the wild, like say just growing on logs.
So when you have a chataki in the wild, it
takes anywhere between like sixteen to twenty four months before

(18:37):
you get your first crop of oyster mushrooms, I mean
chaittaki mushrooms. But when we have it, it takes only
twelve weeks. And saving the riyster mushrooms it takes about
six to twelve months in the wild, and it takes
us about three weeks to grow oyster mushrooms. So and
then also afterwards that we can compose the the substrate
and move on from there.

Speaker 3 (18:57):
So full circles sustainable pretty much.

Speaker 4 (18:59):
Yeah yeah, oh yeah, a ver generated to agriculture. And
you know, we gain a lot of those efficiencies by
concentrating the light phase the dark phase together. In nature,
when you've got mushrooms taking over a log, that generally
occurs in the dark. So a lot of people can,
you know, consider mushrooms to grow in the dark, but
actually when they fruit, they need a lot of light,

(19:20):
and so we give a twenty four hour lighting So
in nature, it's growing during the day, pauses at night,
it starts again. So by concentrating all the dark phase
up front and then all the light phase during fruiting,
we gain a lot of benefit and time.

Speaker 9 (19:35):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (19:36):
Well, what would be your favorite mushroom, because you gotta
have one, right.

Speaker 5 (19:43):
I would say it's probably the chestnut for myself. They're
just such a vibrant color, and then I just love
the texture of them. They're kind of like, kind of
like a green bean in a way. Nothing got the
green the bean texture. They taste like a mushroom, a
little bit nutty. But when you saw tee them in
the pan. They get crispy on the outside, and then
like I said, they got a nice crisp bite.

Speaker 4 (20:00):
Yeah. I like pipino mushrooms. They kind of have a
pork like flavor. It was on a vegan diet for
a year and I was dying to have some something
to help me get back some flavor and texture from
you know, the meat and world.

Speaker 3 (20:15):
I can't imagine why. Sorry, I'll leave it alone. Producer
Tinas in the corner going, don't do it, don't do it,
don't do it. But so it has a little bit
of a pork yeah, like it's meaty flavor.

Speaker 4 (20:29):
That systems are firm, kind of like asparagus, like nicely
cooked asparagus. So you get a good mouthfeel on good flavor.

Speaker 3 (20:36):
And are mushrooms going to take over the world?

Speaker 2 (20:39):
You know, I've got.

Speaker 3 (20:39):
It's it's the thing that everybody's thinking. I know it.
They already have Oh, they already have got it.

Speaker 2 (20:46):
Awesome. I've seen that TV show. I've seen that TV
show with the cordyceps.

Speaker 4 (20:53):
Sure, yeah, yeah, we actually grow cordyceps.

Speaker 2 (20:55):
It's nice.

Speaker 6 (20:56):
I like cooking with cord ups, actually, do you Yeah, Yeah,
they're really good. Actually you were talking about genetic mutation.
Lobster mushrooms are genetic mutation as well, correct.

Speaker 5 (21:07):
Yeah, so it's actually two competing organisms. So is you
got the actual mushrooms itself and the red that forms
on the outside is the bacteria that creates the crust
on it nice, So you can't that's one of the
ones where it's like hard. There's a bunch of mushrooms
that you can't really cultivate, and lobster mushrooms is one
of those. Quid So you got to grow like a
regular mushroom with it and then you got to spray

(21:28):
it with a special type of that bacteria in water
and then hope that it forms around it makes that
orange crust on the outside of it.

Speaker 2 (21:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (21:35):
Some of the other ones are like morales are really
hard to cultivate. You know, some people trying to figure
out some of the ways. And then some are called
the micro horizal fungi, which they actually work and works
with the tree. So the my celium network that goes
into the soil connects with the roots of the tree
and then the mushroom will exchange water for sugar from

(21:56):
the tree. So the mushroom in extends. Basically extend is
the root network of the tree by getting a larger
water network, and then the mushroom gets sugars from the
tree from photosensus. And then you'll find like those like
porcini which are microfries of mushrooms and they only grow
in proportion to how big the tree is that they have,
or truffle mushrooms. Those are also like micro rhizol, and

(22:16):
then you need a love tree with it as well.

Speaker 2 (22:18):
Do you guys also do foraging along with cultivation.

Speaker 5 (22:23):
We don't personally do foraging, but we do import. We
have a lot of different networks of people who are
like in Idaho, like North Northwest, and then we'll basically
on a by occasion when it's you know, biweekly and
if I've enough wholesale orders, I'll import from the Pacific
Northwest and then we'll have at the farmer's markets and
then yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 (22:43):
If you're a chef out there listening, just reach out.
We'll see what we can find. What you're looking for.

Speaker 2 (22:47):
What do they reach out to?

Speaker 4 (22:49):
Well, we're at Desert Mushroom dot com, slash wholesale or
you can you know, message us on Instagram, Facebook.

Speaker 5 (22:55):
Or email at us at sales at Doesert mushroom dot com.

Speaker 2 (22:58):
Desert mushroom dot com. Got it.

Speaker 3 (23:00):
And so one of my favorite forms of mushrooms to
consume is actually duck cell.

Speaker 2 (23:07):
Oh the process of cooking the mushroom.

Speaker 6 (23:10):
Yes, absolutely, yes, yeah, that's not a specific mushroom. I
mean you could use any variety of mushroom to make it.

Speaker 2 (23:16):
Ut absolutely, but it's so tasty. Yeah, it's ef and delicious.

Speaker 3 (23:22):
But I mean recently we were at Chefiano's Cheffiano's Wilder.
I think he uses your mushrooms as well, but he was.
He did a duck cell and just put it on
top of Christini and and I was like, yes, this
is this is mine my spot.

Speaker 2 (23:43):
I mean it was just good.

Speaker 3 (23:44):
It's just I love it the texture and everything else.
But my favorite form of that is beef Wellington.

Speaker 6 (23:51):
In the Beef Fallington. Yes, it's very very old school French. Yes,
we actually just did a very similar ducks out at
the Vegan Market, but we ended up incorporating black garlic
for the umami and we went through about two bottles
of port in reduction. So yeah, it was it was

(24:14):
a flavor blast for sure. But yeah, big fan of
duck sel. That's a that's a good process. I'm actually
a big fan of grilling, like grilled mushrooms or like
deep frying and noki Like that's a really good way
of doing it as well, because you get the texture,
you get this beautiful, vibrant you know, garnish that's edible

(24:35):
as well.

Speaker 3 (24:36):
So what kind of a mushroom would we have to
be using to put it on the grill? I mean,
a portobella is the only thing that comes to mind personally,
But I mean I love portobella. It's it's so zesty.

Speaker 6 (24:51):
You know, a lot of people love Lion's Maine. I'm
not a big fan of cooking with lions Maine. Hannah
the Woods, that's a good one to put on the grill.
Blue oyster mushrooms, that's a good one to grill.

Speaker 2 (25:02):
I do you like lions Maine deep fried? Though? You
fry lion's main?

Speaker 9 (25:05):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (25:06):
I just there's so much water in a lion's main.
And also.

Speaker 6 (25:11):
What is it's it's not a hamster or gerbil or
what's it called. Uh, yes, there's another mushroom. It looks
like a lion's main.

Speaker 3 (25:21):
But I'm on the spot here.

Speaker 5 (25:22):
Yeah, I know, right, Well, there's there's another type of
Lion's main that we grow.

Speaker 2 (25:26):
It's called coral tooth.

Speaker 5 (25:27):
Okay, so it's it's got like a little smaller like
tends a little more crisp.

Speaker 2 (25:30):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (25:31):
I know that five Points is doing basically this cral
tooth dish where they they fry it, oh, hedgehog mushrooms, hedgehogs. Yeah, yeah,
that's what I'm thinking. Sorry, I'm like lobster durbil.

Speaker 2 (25:41):
What's the other?

Speaker 1 (25:42):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (25:42):
Sorry, so anyway you continue, Yeah.

Speaker 5 (25:44):
Yeah, so they're doing something where it's basically it's it's
fried and then the little tenders are like smaller, so
there's a more surface area, so a lot having much
water into it. But yeah, I definitely agree Lion's Maine.
It's like you gotta cook it like a steak or
something like that, get most of the water out of it,
and then it just reabsorbs like a sponge afterwards.

Speaker 3 (26:01):
But breaded and fried with some barbecue or buffalo sauce.

Speaker 2 (26:06):
It's I do like that. I think so about.

Speaker 3 (26:10):
Thank you so much for joining us, and for all
those that are listening, don't forget to join the Tucson
Tasty Show. Membership program at the Tastyshow dot com. We're
talking secret menu items, VIP event access, member swag, and
surprise giveaways. Support local, eat well and stay tasty. Hey everybody,

(26:38):
it's Wesley Source with the Tucson Tasty Show. When you're
serious about flavor, you've got a grill like you mean it.
That's why I go to your earl. Premium beef born
and raised in southern Arizona. This is the same beef
trusted by top chefs and now it's available direct to
your door. Brass fed, grain finished, no hormones, no antibiotics,

(27:01):
just clean, flavorful cuts that make you grill like the
star of sum. Get up, vee premium beef and taste
what Arizona really has to offer.

Speaker 7 (27:10):
Hi, I'm Stephen Kodoroblis, founder of the Tucson Family Food Project.
Here in Tucson, no family should have to choose between
paying bills and putting food.

Speaker 2 (27:18):
On the table.

Speaker 7 (27:19):
That's why we're here to provide healthy, home cooked meals
to families in need every single week. But we need
your help. Just one dollar can have a huge impact
on a family's nutrition and a child's educational outcome. Together,
we can make sure every child in our community has
access to nourishing food and a brighter future. Visit the
Tucsonfamilyfoodproject dot org to learn more and to make your

(27:39):
donation today. Together, we're not just helping families, We're building
a stronger tuson Ay Tucson.

Speaker 3 (27:44):
Ready to spice up your dining experience, Join the Tucson
Tasty Show Supporter membership and unlock exclusive access to secret
menu items from our partner restaurants. These one of a
kind dishes aren't just regular menu items crafted just for
our members. It's your backstage pass to Tucson's best kept
culinary secrets. Sign up today at the Tastyshow dot com

(28:07):
and discover what you've been missing. Stay Tasty Tucson.

Speaker 8 (28:10):
Spark Project Collective the world's first tattoo, body piercing and
metaphysical nonprofit. We're here to inspire, uplift and give back
the Tucson. We're meaningful tattoos and unique piercings, massage therapy,
soundbed sessions, metaphysical readers, and classes for spiritual growth. Spark
Project Collective helps you express your authentic self while giving
back to your community. Rent our event space. It's perfect

(28:33):
for your next gathering or your workshop. Visits Spark project
Collective dot com to learn more and discover where creativity
and connection meet.

Speaker 3 (28:42):
How would you like the perfect, lush green yard that
your entire neighborhood will env but without all the sweating
and weekend work. Of course you do, and I have
the solution for you. Big Bully Turf is the answer.
Founded by Carla after her own horrible terf experience, this
woman owned company is chaining the game with effortless glow
by Carla, the cleanest, coolest turf available, no mowing, no watering,

(29:06):
just beautiful green yard that's safe for your family and pets.
Right now get twenty five percent off, but act fast
ends April thirtieth. Some Starch is the flag and Becustmer's
Only is a big belieff dot com and tell me
you heard about their business on the Tucson and Tasty Show.
Welcome back to the Tucson Tasty Show. I'm your host,

(29:26):
Wesley's Source with Christian chef Christian Vidia, and now we're
heating things up with the man behind the fire, Josh
Thomas of Hot Thomas Hot Sauce. And you know it's
Hot Thomas Hot sauce.

Speaker 2 (29:42):
The flavor of fire?

Speaker 1 (29:44):
Is that?

Speaker 2 (29:44):
Yeah? Would that be appropriate?

Speaker 5 (29:46):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (29:46):
I mean my tagline is spicy food for everyone. You know,
I try to make it accessible, right, That's awesome accessible?
How like pepper X? Are we doing the pepper X today? Well,
you know when I started this. So, I'm a lifelong musician.
I'm from northern Arizona, from Prescott. I left Arizona when
I was nineteen music school in Boston, and then I'm

(30:06):
coming off of twenty years in the Pacific Northwest. Unfortunately,
there's not a lot of money in the game of
music unless you're touring constantly. So I've always loved cooking.
I've always loved spicy food. I created an owned food
cart in Portland for about three years before my wife
and I decided to move back to Arizona. So when
I was thinking about that, I had a couple of
friends that have successful hot sauce businesses. I've always loved it,

(30:29):
but you know, you want to still taste your meal, right,
you know, absolutely, if it's too hot, it just sucks.
And there are crazy people out there like myself that
do like super hot. But my first three products I
wanted to be super accessible on kind of everyday sauces, right,
So yeah, I started creating you know, recipes and flavors
that people can use every day. It's not gonna blow

(30:49):
your palette out. And as soon as I started, you know,
bringing these first three sauces to market and doing the
farmers markets, I understood that there were a big chunk
of my customer base that did want crazy hot. So
my most recent sauce has like Chiltera Peene and Ghost
Chilies kind of doing a little dance together.

Speaker 2 (31:09):
That sounds good.

Speaker 3 (31:09):
Actually, it is all about the flavor. I mean when
you're watching you know some of these, well when you're
tasting them. I had a subscription to the Hot Ones
subscription box for about a year, so I had like
sixty different hot sauces and I dial it down to
one that I really like, like, I'll put it on
on absolutely anything, put it in my coffee, you know,

(31:32):
kind of like anything, right, and that was the Barbara
Core one. But it's all about the flavor. It has
spice to it, and I mean the Skullville I think
is like six hundred thousand or something like that, so
most people are like, well that's pretty spicy, but it's
not really you know, it can be subjective, right, oh, absolutely, yeah.

Speaker 2 (31:51):
Yeah, I find it interesting.

Speaker 6 (31:53):
There's one of my favorite hot sauces that I purchased
here in town was a Trinidad Scorpion hot sauce. Yeah,
and you know that's like that's up there in the
skullbol unit. But there was so much flavor in it,
and there was the heat, but it wasn't just like bam,
like you know, you're going to the hospital Trinidad Scorpion.

(32:14):
It was just like the flavor behind it, right, you know.
Hobburnaro is like one of my favorite ones. Hey, I no,
like wow, hob An arrow is one of my favorite
that I could like eat straight, but it's still like hot. Yeah,
but there's a lot of flavors, so I think capturing
the flavor of the pepper is essential, but not you know,

(32:34):
blowing out your customer's palette, you know, at the end
of the day.

Speaker 2 (32:36):
So for sure.

Speaker 3 (32:37):
And the other thing for me is, you know, there's
it's a saturated market. It's very popular right now. But
the golden rule with anything in the food world for
me is, you know, make the stuff that you want
to eat, right, and then you bring that to market
and then if that resonates with people. And you know,
it's been really cool doing the farmer's markets over the
last like four months, getting to see people's reactions.

Speaker 1 (32:57):
You know.

Speaker 3 (32:58):
So I think I'm finding a I'm striking a little
bit of a cord and you know, I've got to figure.

Speaker 2 (33:02):
Out how to scale up and all that. That's exciting. Yeah,
you want me to talk to you guys through the sauces.

Speaker 3 (33:08):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean yeah, And I just have one
one last question and I'm trying to remember what it was.
How can everybody find your hot sauce?

Speaker 2 (33:16):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (33:17):
Good question. So right now I have hot Thomas dot Com.
I got lucky that that was not taken, so you know,
I nail that down. I'm only able to ship inside
Arizona at the moment. Working on FDA compliance is a
little bit tricky. It's taking some time, it's kind of expensive,
and you know, governmental agencies are all kind of in
flux right now. So you know, I will be able

(33:38):
to ship nationwide at some point, but hot Thomas dot
Com for anyone in Arizona. I'm also at three heirloom
farmers markets per week, so I do you'd all Park Fridays,
ring Coon Valley Saturdays and Rlito Park on Sundays, and
then doing special events like the Vegan Night Market, wh
where I saw you guys at and yes, and I
remember what my question was. So when you're balancing the flavor.

Speaker 2 (34:00):
Of the chili, uh.

Speaker 3 (34:01):
And and you're you're really developing that is it too?

Speaker 6 (34:06):
Is?

Speaker 1 (34:08):
Have you?

Speaker 3 (34:09):
I mean, how what does that process look like for you?
Are you roasting them?

Speaker 2 (34:12):
Are you?

Speaker 3 (34:12):
Are you are you turning them into ash?

Speaker 2 (34:15):
Are you? You know?

Speaker 3 (34:16):
Like there's so many different ways that you can really
you know, develop that flavor on the peppers. Yeah, so,
I mean so obviously sourcing, sourcing ingredients is of course important.
I know, chef knows that so well. So yeah, you know,
trying to be careful about how I source the chilies,
and then just kind of incorporating ingredients that I really like,
you know, like one example, and two of my sauces

(34:37):
there's shallots. My wife can't have onions, but for some
reason she can have shallots, so you know, caramelizing shouts,
cooking them down like it adds umami, and so I
use those in a couple of my sauces.

Speaker 2 (34:51):
You know.

Speaker 3 (34:51):
Uh, sometimes you have a dish that you make, and
when I'm thinking about a hot sauce, I kind of
referenced that dish. So one of my favorite sauce is
I think probably my strongest sauce is orange fennel habit narrow.
No one else is putting fenel in their habinnaro sauce.
But I find when you really caramelize it, you don't
get a lot of the anis licorice vibe. You get
a little bit of sweetness and complexity. I had made

(35:14):
an orange fennel like jalapeno salad as a side dish
one night, and so you know, I was like thinking
about a habin narow kind of direction to go, and
I made that and it's I think it's really delicious.

Speaker 6 (35:28):
Yeah, looking forward to it. Actually, not a lot of
people are putting shellets in hot sauce as well, so
just doubly down on that.

Speaker 1 (35:35):
Love it.

Speaker 2 (35:35):
Well, why don't we Why don't we go and do this?
Let's do this, Okay, so let's do it.

Speaker 3 (35:40):
So let me talk you through. So the first one
we go mild to hot. The first one is my
version of a salsa macha, right, salsa machas found throughout Mexico.
They're oil based. They usually have nuts in them. My
version is through the lens of the Arizona my upbringing,
so it's got mild red hatch chilis. I use ava
cotto oil, so a healthy oil. Pecans because I used

(36:03):
to pick them off my grandparents tree in Phoenix growing up,
little shallots and garlic in there. This one's not spicy.
It's just like a kind of a flavor bomb. So
let me load up some chips and pass them around. Pecan,
I mean can, pecan, pecan, pecan. My grandmother had four

(36:23):
pecan trees in her backyard. I never want to sa
I never want to see another pecan in my life.

Speaker 2 (36:28):
Well this will be the last one, Wesley perfect. No.

Speaker 3 (36:31):
Well no, if it's good, then I'm going to see
a lot more of it because I'm going to be
buying this stuff. Oh, I appreciate it. I'm just gonna
I'm gonna load up a couple of chips. Would you
prefer a spoon over a chip?

Speaker 2 (36:43):
I would? Do you have spoons? Yep? I do?

Speaker 6 (36:44):
Oh yeah, m hmm.

Speaker 2 (36:51):
That's really good.

Speaker 3 (36:52):
I mean again, it's super savory, but it's almost like
a chili or chili like a chili crisp. Yeah, not
spicy though, and that nutty flavor. I mean it does
come through, but it's not overwhelming.

Speaker 2 (37:06):
Would you like to try it? And? Uh yeah, thank you?
I mean that is good.

Speaker 6 (37:13):
Appreciate it is this? Does your machra have shalatt in it?

Speaker 2 (37:17):
It does? Okay? Yeah, yeah I could taste that.

Speaker 6 (37:19):
That's that's definitely like you and I have spoke before about,
you know, salsa macha and all that.

Speaker 2 (37:26):
Yeah. Yeah, that's definitely like a whole different level of flavor.

Speaker 3 (37:31):
Yeah, thank you. Yeah again, And it's not real spicy.
I mean I've seen some of the salsamachis you put
on your dishes and I just want to grab through
Instagram and try that dish.

Speaker 6 (37:40):
I I was gonna bring you some of the salsa
matcha because I know we've been talking about trading and
stuff like that.

Speaker 2 (37:46):
Well we'll link up. Oh yeah, most definitely okay.

Speaker 3 (37:48):
So next one moving down, This is shallatt and scallion
Chipotle sauce. So I wanted to do a smoky Chipotle.
I used Chipotle Morita's. This one, I again caramelized shallats
and I charged scallions, two types of vinegar in this one.
We last producer Tina for a second.

Speaker 2 (38:05):
Oh, I got you. We're gonna reach over the top, chef.
I got a spoon for you here.

Speaker 3 (38:15):
Oh that one has a little bit more of a kick. Yeah,
so we're gonna building heat through these four. This one's
just an everyday tacos sauce breakfast food. We marinad chicken
in that one with a pineapple juice.

Speaker 2 (38:27):
You can.

Speaker 3 (38:28):
You know, I've been working on quick marinades, cut up
chicken thighs, that pineapple juice, grilled the pineapple in an hour.
You've got like kind of chicken out pastor kind of vibe.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
It's good. I was gonna say, have you noticed how
Chipotle has started.

Speaker 6 (38:42):
To become a little more popular lately? Or maybe I've
just been hearing it a lot more, or.

Speaker 3 (38:47):
It's popular, but it's also divisive, you know, I've found
that a lot. You know that the smoke is not
for everyone. No, you know, so some people love Chipotle
and some people just are advert to the smokiness like scotch,
you know, yeah, there you go. I'm more of a
bourbon guy. So for a long time we had the

(39:08):
Tasty Show challenge and that was the pepper x hot
sauce and you're in. But it's all about the flavor.
This has amazing flavor and it's not overwhelming where you know,
you eat one bite and.

Speaker 2 (39:24):
But you want more. Oh, thank you. Yeah, No, it's
it's good.

Speaker 6 (39:27):
It's you could keep eating it like you're saying, it's
not it's not like overpowering.

Speaker 3 (39:33):
All right, So moving on. This is the orange fennel
habit arrow. This is our house favorite right now. Really
good in the summer months. I think it excels on
like fish, tacos, shrimps of vice. Definitely the haberniro. It's
a very distinct flavor, and but it's not.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
It's still manageable, terms agible.

Speaker 3 (40:00):
I mean, it's just like this is this is my zone. Yeah,
this is where I start, Like, okay, I don't even
taste the heat anymore because all the flavor.

Speaker 6 (40:10):
I like the color, thank you. Yeah, the color is
really pretty. There's a yeah, there's that hoben arow spice
right there.

Speaker 2 (40:19):
I call that one above medium. Yeah. Yeah, the fennel
it's there.

Speaker 6 (40:25):
It doesn't like overpower though, because I mean if I
see fennel on you know, an ingredient list. I'm gonna expect,
you know, super like a knees or something like that.
But it's complimentary too. It's the bridge between the orange
and the hop and arrow.

Speaker 2 (40:39):
Oh thank you. Yeah, No, that's really good. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (40:41):
I've had a couple of people that hate fennel. I've
convinced them to try and they end up a couple
of them have actually bought it. So thank you so
much for joining us on the Tucson Tasty Show. We'll
be right back after this break. Stay Tasty, Tucson. This
is Wesley Swortz of the Tucson Tasty Show. And when
it comes to beef, I only trust or old premium
beef raised right here in southern Arizona. Their cattle are

(41:04):
grass fed, grain finished, and always hormone and antibiotic free.
It's the same beef trusted by top chefs and served
in some of the best kitchens in the state.

Speaker 2 (41:13):
Read it to taste the difference.

Speaker 3 (41:15):
Visit vepremiumbef dot com and order direct from the ranch
to your table. That's vepremiumbef dot Com Arizona Beef done right.

Speaker 2 (41:25):
Hi.

Speaker 7 (41:26):
I'm Stephen Kodoroblis, founder of the Tucson Familyfood Project, here
in Tucson. No family should have to choose between paying
bills and putting food on the table. That's why we're
here to provide healthy, home cooked meals to families in
need every single week. But we need your help. Just
one dollar can have a huge impact on a family's
nutrition and a child's educational outcome. Together, we can make
sure every child in our community has access to nourishing

(41:49):
food and a brighter future. Visit the Tucsonfamilyfoodproject dot org
to learn more and to make your donation today. Together,
we're not just helping families, We're building a stronger Tucson.

Speaker 3 (41:58):
Hey, Tucson, Ready to spice up your dining experience? Join
the Tucson Tasty Show Supporter membership and unlock exclusive access
to secret menu items from our partner restaurants. These one
of a kind dishes aren't just regular menu items crafted
just for our members. It's your backstage pass to Tucson's
best kept culinary secrets. Sign up today at the Tastyshow

(42:21):
dot com and discover what you've been missing.

Speaker 2 (42:24):
Stay Tasty. Tucson.

Speaker 8 (42:25):
Spark Project Collective, the world's first tattoo, body piercing and
metaphysical nonprofit. We're here to inspire, uplift and give back
a Tucson. We're meaningful tattoos and unique piercings, massage, therapy,
soundbed sessions, metaphysical readers and classes for spiritual growth. Spark
Project Collective helps you express your authentic self while giving
back to your community. Rent our event space. It's perfect

(42:48):
for your next gathering or even workshop. Visits Sparkproject Collective
dot com to learn more and discover where creativity and
connection meet.

Speaker 3 (42:57):
How would you like the perfect love green yard that
your entire neighborhood will envy, but without all the sweating
and weekend work. Of course you do, and I have
the solution for you. Big Bully Turf is the answer.
Founded by Carla after her own horrible turf experience, This
woman owned company is changing the game with effortless flow
by Carla, the cleanest, coolest turf available, No mowing, no watering,

(43:21):
just beautiful green yard that's safe for your family and pets.
Right now get twenty five percent off, but act fast
ends April thirtieth. Some starches applying customers only is a
big beliefof dot com and tell me you heard about
their business on the Tucson Tasty Show. Welcome back to
the Tucson Tasty Show. I'm your host, Wesley Source. We're
here with a chef, Christian Pidia.

Speaker 2 (43:43):
Hi everyone, how are you doing?

Speaker 3 (43:45):
And we have We've had a great show so far.
We had the amazing food or mushrooms. We started off
with desert pearl mushrooms. Then we had hot time has
come in for some spicy literally the tastes of fire.
I'm gonna go back to that because yeah, my mouth

(44:07):
is still on fire. And we took a longer break
because yeah, I got to be able to talk, you know,
I got.

Speaker 2 (44:14):
To collect ourselves there for a second, you know. But
it was a good it was a good burn. So
you definitely have to try that out.

Speaker 3 (44:19):
I might replace the challenge. I might start the challenge
backup with that hot sace. I think we could find hotter.
Well yeah, but I mean that's still like good where
you know, you can't have the flavor too right, Remember, Yeah.

Speaker 6 (44:32):
But this is a challenge, Wesley. It's not it's not
flavor country here, Okay, it's tasty country. But thank you
again to all of our amazing sponsors. That Sokka Local First,
Arizona Pertillo's and Viral Premium Beef, supporting a local flavor
from the fields.

Speaker 2 (44:51):
To your table.

Speaker 3 (44:53):
And if you haven't gone to and gotten the Vial
Premium Beef ground beef yet, definitely go to the Epremium
Beef dot com and check out all of their amazing food.
I mean they they literally dry age twenty one day,
dry age their beef from the ground beef to the tenderline.

Speaker 6 (45:12):
Yeah it's We had a pleasure of cooking with it
for an events recently and yeah, great product, amazing products.

Speaker 3 (45:20):
I could not believe how marbled that tenderling was. You
know the fla mignon usually is very lean.

Speaker 2 (45:25):
Uh, it was.

Speaker 6 (45:26):
Marbled, Yeah, it was. It was marbled. And especially with
their their drying process, you definitely get more of that richness,
that beef flavor that we are looking for.

Speaker 3 (45:37):
The umami flavor you're missing from all your other grocery
store beef.

Speaker 2 (45:40):
Yeah. You can't compare grocery store beef.

Speaker 6 (45:43):
That's like comparing apples and grenades. You know what I
love is that they do have a storefront. You can
go out to Sonoida. It's a great excuse to go
out and check out the wineries but if you don't
want to go out there, they deliver it right to
your front door and they have the Tasty show Box.

Speaker 2 (45:56):
They'll deliver five.

Speaker 3 (45:56):
Pounds of ground beef, two special cuts, two select cuts,
and some beef snacks for only ninety nine dollars a month.
So definitely go check out vepremiumbef dot com and get
the Tasty show Box. So we have another amazing guest.
We have Celia of roasted green Chili butter. How you
doing today, I'm doing great. Thank you, Thank you for

(46:18):
coming into the show, for having me. Yes, absolutely, and
tell us a little bit about roasted green chili butter.

Speaker 9 (46:25):
Well. I didn't want to do a salsa. I wanted
to do something that is more incorporated in what you're
cooking or using it as a spread or a condiment.
And I love hatch chilies and so I'd get them
every year and then I'd run out, so I tried.
I came up with this recipe in my kitchen and

(46:47):
to fill that void when people run out of chili's.
But it's also great because it's jarred and you can
just grab it and.

Speaker 2 (46:54):
Share it preserved.

Speaker 9 (46:55):
Yeah, exactly. So I came up with the recipe, and
I had to send it to I appreciate anybody that
goes to the extent of really doing the correct thing
as far as FDA and all that, because it is
quite a process. Yes, and so I sent my product
after I got the recipe right to New Mexico State

(47:17):
University and got all the certifications for shelf life and
all of that important stuff for FDA and all of
that stuff, and then I just started selling that farmers'
markets and people liked it, and you know how it
blooms from there. You just kind of think, well, maybe
I've got something here. I was used on a restaurant

(47:38):
and we'd get three thousand pounds of hatch chilis in
every year to put in steaks and on burgers. So
I'm very familiar with the hatch chili and there's nothing
like that flavor. It's just something about roasted hatch chilies
that just and the valley up there where they grow
it is just you know, extraordinary.

Speaker 6 (47:55):
I have a question, Yeah, So what is the difference
between an anaheim and a hatch chili.

Speaker 9 (48:02):
Well, they grow anaheims up in Hatch Valley, but the
Anaheims are the large chilies that are very very mild.
Do you use them a lot for Riano's and people
that don't like the extreme heat, and then they vary
from really hot to mild green chilies, and it's just
a different flavor than like a hob and arrow or
a as you well know. And so yeah, it's just

(48:26):
a special, special chili. And the ground up there is
great for this, and that's the chili capital of the world.

Speaker 3 (48:32):
Okay, So I like using the hatch chilies for chili relanos,
but they have a little bit more crisp and crunch
area to them.

Speaker 2 (48:39):
So that's what I when I'm when I make them anymazing.

Speaker 6 (48:43):
When I actually when I lived in New Mexico, I
do remember the smell of roasting those hatch chilies, and
it's like it's a very memorable smell, you know, like
it's smelling it again. It's just like it's nostalgic, if
you will.

Speaker 9 (48:56):
Exactly. It's very regional and munch. The season's over. Well
now they've got you know, canned chopped green chilies and
things like that, but I get the fresh hatch chilies
in or they freeze them after season. But they're the
same chilis and that's what I use in my product,
with a little garlic, a little lime for a little

(49:18):
zest for freshness, I guess you would say. And it's
very clean. It's only got five products in it and
it's great nice.

Speaker 3 (49:27):
The hatches remind me of like San Marzano's. It's a
specific region or something. So then the soil, that's yeah, right, Well,
the seeds actually are from Wilcox, So they actually get
all the seeds from Wilcox and they bring them into
hatch and that's how they grow them. But it's the soil,
it's the region, it's the altitude, climate, everything that makes

(49:52):
hatch so much different.

Speaker 9 (49:54):
Right, And they grow a variety of chilis. But I
kind of went for the hot sanda if you're familiar
with those, to make my product, and so it's not
gonna hit you hot on your tongue when you first
eat it. It's gonna get that little slow heat in
the back of your throat. But it's I basically design
this to use it as a condiment or an ingredient

(50:16):
and your dishes you use every day, just to add
that little Southwest flavor.

Speaker 6 (50:20):
I do I do have a question as far as
the butter. Do you make the butter yourself or do
you purchase the butter and incorporate I have.

Speaker 9 (50:29):
This copacked in Mesa, okay, from a FDA co packer.
And because I can't make it in my kitchen.

Speaker 6 (50:37):
I know I was gonna say. I'm like, yeah, you'll
you also have a butter company then if you're making
your own butter.

Speaker 9 (50:42):
But no, I don't make mono. There's only six percent
of butter in this.

Speaker 2 (50:45):
Oh okay?

Speaker 9 (50:46):
Cool. I used to call it kind of. I started
out to call it paste. But people identify with butter
like peanut butter, apple butter, gotcha. They associate with that
word much better than they do paste.

Speaker 3 (50:58):
I'm awake now, all right, I can't I can't wait
any longer. Let's let's give this a shot. If that's okay, And.

Speaker 2 (51:07):
You brought in some chips for us to try it on.

Speaker 3 (51:09):
But and I've tried it a few times, that's okay, Yeah, spoons,
spoons work and roasted green chili butter.

Speaker 2 (51:20):
Here we go.

Speaker 3 (51:22):
I've had I've had this before and I always like it.

Speaker 2 (51:24):
I mean, but I love green chili.

Speaker 9 (51:26):
Right if you can smell the roasted chilies, and it's nothing, nothing,
nothing like it. It's so versatile. This product is because
you can use it as a topper on your baked potatoes,
or you can use it on top of the doubled eggs. Yeah,
and spread it on top of your avocado toast, put
it on your grilled steaks, put it on your hamburgers.

Speaker 3 (51:49):
And it does have a little bit of heat. You
know it's there, but it's not it's not overwhelming.

Speaker 9 (51:54):
I tried to go for the flavor of the Hatch
chilies and allow people that are Hatch chili lovers to
incorporate it in their meals. Or is it as a condiment?

Speaker 6 (52:05):
Sure, so delicious. It's definitely tasty. You can very much
taste the roasting process. Yes, yeah, yeah, that's that's a
really good that's really good.

Speaker 9 (52:17):
I used the roasted chilies. I don't like the steam
peeled chilies. They just don't have the flavor. And Young
Guns is who I get my chilies from in Hatch
okay and so and.

Speaker 2 (52:27):
You have to it's a pretty awesome name.

Speaker 9 (52:29):
But we have to now get yeah, I know you.
You now have to be on a register in New
Mexico to put Hatch chilis on your label because so
many people were saying they were hatch and they weren't hatch,
and the valley growers got kind of tired of that,
so they put it stopped to that.

Speaker 3 (52:45):
Like San Marzano tomatoes right there was there's actually a
whole like underground like black market for not San Marzano tomatoes.
So you got to look for the label, the labeling
and the seal of authenticity exactly.

Speaker 9 (53:02):
And the hatch chili's are just got a great charm
to them from the Southwest. People recognize that, and so
I wanted to develop something that the buttery.

Speaker 3 (53:12):
You know, it's almost like doing a fatwash on something,
you know.

Speaker 9 (53:17):
You want to hand that to them so they can see.
It's very condensed, so a little or a lot as
much as you want, and it's and then you have
to develop your label, of course, and that's always fun.

Speaker 6 (53:31):
And it's only ten calories per half an ounce one tablespoon.

Speaker 9 (53:37):
One tablespoon, and a tablespoon goes a long way for
those people that like hatch chilies.

Speaker 3 (53:42):
Oh yeah, no, absolutely, this is definitely very tasty and
you got to you gotta check it out.

Speaker 2 (53:47):
Where can everybody find it?

Speaker 9 (53:49):
Okay, I'm online at www dot Roasted, Green Chili Butter
dot com. Uh. Also, I'm in a lot of local stores, yes,
Mark Art Centro down on Meyers Street, Mark's Ace hardwarees
down at the Museum Downtown YEP, at Tahono Chill Park, YEP.

Speaker 4 (54:13):
Just to name a few.

Speaker 9 (54:15):
But you can always d m us at Roast and
Green Chili Buttter on Instagram or Facebook so that you
can DM me and I'll tell you the location nearest
you to purchase.

Speaker 6 (54:25):
Awesome, wonderful, great product. I like that buttery play at
the end exactly. Yeah, amazing, Yes.

Speaker 2 (54:36):
It's awesome.

Speaker 3 (54:36):
Thank you so much for sharing with us. And don't
forget if you love discovering new flavors like this, join
our membership program at the Tastyshow dot com onlock secret
menu items, special merch early access to dinners, and help
keep food storytelling alive. And Tucson. That's it for today.
Next week we'll be back with h another amazing guest,

(55:01):
and trust me, you won't want to miss it until then,
Stay Tasty Tucson. Hey everybody, it's Wesley's source with the
Tucson Tasty Show. When you're serious about flavor, you've got
a grill like you mean it. That's why I go
to your earl Premium beef born and raised in southern Arizona.

(55:22):
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Speaker 7 (55:42):
Hi, I'm Stephen Cooderoblis, founder of the Tucson Family Food Project.
Here in Tucson, no family should have to choose between
paying bills and putting food on the table. That's why
we're here to provide healthy, home cooked meals to families
in need every single week. But we need your help.
Just one dollar can have a huge impact on a
family's new tree and a child's educational outcome. Together, we
can make sure every child in our community has access

(56:05):
to nourishing food and a brighter future. Visit the Tucsonfamilyfoodproject
dot org to learn more and to make your donation today. Together,
we're not just helping families, We're building a stronger Tucson.

Speaker 2 (56:16):
A Tucson.

Speaker 3 (56:16):
Ready to spice up your dining experience, Join the Tucson
Tasty Show Supporter membership and unlock exclusive access to secret
menu items from our partner restaurants. These one of a
kind dishes aren't just regular menu items, crafted just for
our members. It's your backstage pass to Tucson's best kept
culinary secrets. Sign up today at the Tastyshow dot com

(56:39):
and discover what you've been missing. Stay tasty Tucson.

Speaker 8 (56:42):
Spark Project Collective the world's first tattoo, body piercing and
metaphysical nonprofit. We're here to inspire, uplift, and give back
a Tucson. We're meaningful tattoos and unique piercings, massage therapy,
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(57:05):
perfect for your next gathering or your workshop. Visits Spark
Project Collective dot com to learn more and discover where
creativity and connection meet.

Speaker 3 (57:14):
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