Heartbreaking Dawn’s Artisan Foods, LLC.
In 2009 Johnny McLaughlin, started his sauce and seasoning company with his wife Nicole, Heartbreaking Dawn’s. He named the company after a poem, “Winters Lament”, from his favorite French poet Arthur Rimbaud. Like many hot sauce companies out there, his passion came from growing his own peppers and in turn making sauces for friends and family. McLaughlin’s self-proclaimed “Love for adventurous eating” took his sauce making to a higher level, he enjoyed playing with unique flavor combinations and out of the ordinary ingredients.
McLaughlin’s original three flavors; Jalapeno Pineapple, Classic Gold and Mango Habanero became overnight sensations and as he began to hone skills, his love for cooking and creating amazing food opened doors and gave him the ability to share his passion on a wider scale. Johnny appeared on the “Chopped Through” episode of the Food Networks wildly popular show Chopped in 2012, where he made it to the second round. Next up for Chef Johnny was his appearance on the “When in Rome, Cook on a Scooter” episode of Cutthroat Kitchen hosted by Alton Brown, and yes, he had to cook on a scooter on national television. McLaughlin’s biggest television opportunity and huge boost for Heartbreaking Dawns as a company was his 2013 appearance on the CNBC show Crowd Rules, where he had to compete with three other small businesses for the chance to win a grand prize of a $50,000 investment. Johnny easily appealed to the studio audience of 100 entrepreneurs and business professionals to win the $50k grant to support the growth of Heartbreaking Dawn’s and the chance to continue to follow his dream.
In 0000 Johnny decided to step away from the hot sauce industry and sold Heartbreaking Dawn’s to Hot Shots Distributing. McLaughlin wanted to spend more time with his family and young children. He felt that we could and would maintain the highest of integrity with his recipes and overall brand. After a quick transition, Heartbreaking Dawn’s continues to be one of our best-selling brands worldwide.
Hot Sauce Fun Fact - So you want to be a YouTube Star?
Are you up to this challenge? We wouldn't condone it...
A YouTube star thought it wise to make a video of himself bathing in a tub full of hot sauce. Cemre Candar, who loves to 'share his imagination' (that's what his bio says), has earlier had success with his videos showing him swimming in a tub of melted chocolate and Oreos.
"Bathing in 1250 Bottles of Hot Sauce" allegedly explores what happens when a human empties the contents of 1,250 bottle of hot sauce into a bathtub and submerges himself in it. And because the burning is in the details, the host/Guinea pig, Candar, tosses in fresh chilis -- and then his entire body.
This clip is one of several posted to the same channel, featuring such hits as "Filling Bath with 520 lbs. Chocolate" and "Eating a Testicle Challenge." It is Internet stunt at its dumbest, and you get to waste 4 minutes at work because of it. But I guess if that's your thing, who am I to judge...
Chile Pepper Fun Fact - Wilbur Scoville
The Man, The Myth, The Legend.... The Game?
People have known about the tongue-burning, tear-inducing qualities of peppers long before Columbus reached the Americas. Before Wilbur Scoville, however, no one knew how to measure a pepper's “heat”. The doodle team thought his work in this field—and the development of his eponymous Scoville Scale—deserved some recognition.
Born in Bridgeport Connecticut on January 22nd, 1865, Wilbur Lincoln Scoville was a chemist, award-winning researcher, professor of pharmacology and the second vice-chairman of the American Pharmaceutical Association. His book, The Art of Compounding, makes one of the earliest mentions of milk as an antidote for pepper heat. He is perhaps best remembered for his organoleptic test, which uses human testers to measure pungency in peppers.
Doodler Olivia When has been thinking about Scoville and his test since last summer. From the start it was clear it was going to be a chance to do something fun. She writes:
"Spiciness is somewhat of a universal, comical experience, which I think opened the door for us to do something we usually might not be able to, like a fighting game. I started making storyboards for how the game could unfold while engineers worked on building prototypes. Then I started sketching and making draft art to put in the prototype, so we could see what the experience would be like in interactive form.
After that I started working on backgrounds, boss characters, meters, and then all the character animations, and ending animations. At some point we thought about setting it in a human mouth, to clarify things, but then realized that was probably too weird (thankfully). Designing the boss peppers and animating Scoville's reactions to eating them were probably my favorite parts.
So, Google... 'Stay and Play at Home' Scoville (2016) Doodle
Hot Sauce Fun Fact - Why you sweating me?
When hot sauce is consumed, a common reaction by the body is to sweat, particularly on the forehead. The scientific term for this reaction is gustatory perspiration.
Gustatory sweating is sweating that occurs on the forehead, scalp, neck, and upper lip while eating, talking, or thinking about food. For many people, sweating occurs due to eating hot and spicy food. For others, however, it happens frequently after eating any food.
And the burning feeling that makes hot sauce so appealing to pyro-gourmaniacs comes from a collection of compounds called capsaicinoids.
Chile Pepper Fun Fact - So who really eats the spiciest foods on the planet?
According to World Atlas .com, The Countries with The Spiciest Food/Cuisines are:
1) Thailand
2) India
3) China
4) Colombia
5) Sri Lanka
6) Jamaica
7) Korea
8) Mexico
9) Laos
10) Indonesia
Chile Pepper Fun Fact - More vitamin C than an Orange, really?
Step aside Oranges, Chile Peppers brings the Vitamin C
There's no doubt chile peppers are packed with flavor. They also provide a little fiber without salt, sugar, saturated fat or many calories, said professor Linda Van Horn, chief of the nutrition division at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
Indeed, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, one raw, red chile pepper – 45 grams, or about 1.6 ounces – has a mere 18 calories.
But chile peppers as a vegetable are relatively low in nutritional value, Van Horn said. "They offer a little beta carotene, but nothing comparable to carrots."
It's true that ounce for ounce, a pepper has more vitamin C than an orange. But, Van Horn said, vitamin C is typically not a nutrient of concern in the United States. And even in cultures where chiles play a larger role, other vegetables – tomatoes, onions, cabbage, kale, spinach – can be easy sources.
Chile Pepper Fun Fact - The Ragin' Cajuns
Mascot for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette named Cayenne.
Cayenne was created using an "out of the box" method. Instead of being a physical representation of Ragin' Cajuns, like most mascots are, Cayenne was the embodiment of the Ragin' Cajun spirit of Acadiana.
Cayenne was introduced in 2000, and changes clothes depending on what sporting event he's at, e.g., he wears a Ragin' Cajun football uniform at the football games, and a Louisiana basketball jersey for the basketball games.
Unfortunately, Cayenne hasn't made an appearance since 2017, their loss for sure!
Hot Sauce Fun Fact - U.S. Hot Sauce Consumers
So, who's buying all the Hot Sauce anyway?
"Hot sauce is clearly part of the diet of many U.S. consumers, and it’s a food that crosses gender, age, ethnicity, and income,” says Annie Roberts, vice president, SupplyTrack, NPD Group’s monthly benchmarking tracking service for foodservice professionals.
NPD’s ongoing food and beverage market research reveals the following key hot sauce sales demographics:
- Females (ages 18 to 44 and 55 to 64) and males (ages 18 to 54 and 65 plus) eat more than the average amount of hot sauce over the course of a year.
- Dual-income, no-kids households eat more hot sauce than other household lifestyles.
- Consumers in the South eat more hot sauce than any other region of the country. But those in Central and Western U.S. eat an above average amount.
Consumers look for hot sauces when dining out as well. Cases of hot sauce shipped from foodservice distributors to restaurants and other foodservice outlets increased by double-digits over the past two years, according to NPD’s SupplyTrack data. While classic Louisiana-style hot sauce is still the leader in terms of case volume shipped from distributors to U.S. foodservice outlets, growth has tapered due to the wide variety of hot sauces now available. Case shipments of some habanero hot sauce flavors, particularly habanero with fruit flavors like mango, grew triple digits in the year ending December. Chipotle hot sauce flavors and Sriracha shipped double the cases than in the previous year.
Hot Sauce Fun Fact - Beer & Hot Sauce are Twinsies?
Much like microbreweries and farm to table for foods, hot sauce too is now going through a renaissance. Cutting edge hot sauce companies now have an emphasis on local farm produce and using all natural ingredients. Not only are farmers growing their own peppers and experimenting with pepper hybrids, but craft hot sauce makers are experimenting with their own take on recipes, using fruits, and organic vinegars. In the early 2000’s, many hot sauce companies were trying to make sauces with the most heat, but now hot sauce crafters are trying to make sauces with the most flavor. Hot sauce has come so far in the past decade, and it is exciting to see what comes next!
Hot Sauce Fun Fact - Too much of a good thing? Nah
Is There Such a Thing as Too Much Hot Sauce?
Literally everyone is obsessed with hot sauce, including the two baddest women around: Hillary Clinton and Beyoncé. And who can blame them?
Considering the condiment is only a microscopic zero to five calories per teaspoon, even those who are on a strict diet don’t really have to think twice about piling it on their plate whenever they want to turn up the heat. But can a daily dose of hot sauce be bad for your health?
“Like many things in nutrition (and life!), there are two sides to every coin,” says Lauren Antonucci, R.D.N., a board-certified sports dietitian, and owner/director of Nutrition Energy, a nutrition consulting practice in New York City.
So, all things considered, is it bad for you to put hot sauce on everything? The answer: Listen to your body. Experts agree that if it’s not adversely affecting you in any way, go ahead and have at it. “Eat as much as you can tolerate and enjoy,” says Ketan Shah, M.D., gastroenterologist at Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills, Calif. “There is no significant downside to eating hot sauce or spicy foods regularly, as long as it is not resulting in significant side effects. If you notice adverse effects, such as heartburn, abdominal pain, diarrhea, or anorectal discomfort, then back down.”
There’s no set standard as to how much hot sauce is too much. So, if you want to play it safe, your best bet is to use it within reason. “We don’t have definite safe amounts set, so it’s hard to set a limit,” says Tara Collingwood, R.D.N., team dietician for the Orlando Magic and nutrition consultant for UCF Athletics. “If you like it and don’t have any major side effects, enjoy it in moderation. Too much of anything is not good!”
By Stella Katsipoutis, Women's Health