Karma Sauce

10/11/2026

Autumn harvest from the Karma Sauce research garden! 🌶️🍂

Peppers, squash, unusual cucumbers, colorful carrots, potatoes, and even a few figs. Some familiar favorites, some exotic varieties, and plenty of experiments.

Not everything we grow ends up in a bottle. Sometimes we're chasing flavor, sometimes curiosity, and sometimes we just want to see what happens.

That's half the fun. 🌱

10/07/2026

15,327 hot sauces out there, and Ghost Island still found a way to stand out. Not bad for a little bottle from Rochester. 🌴🔥
Mango, curry, ghost pepper, and enough heat to make things interesting without turning dinner into a dare.
Thanks for the kind words, Charles.

09/22/2026

A couple more for the trophy shelf. 🌶️

Ghost Island took 2nd Place in Medium and Lift Off took 3rd Place in Mild at the 2026 CAPS Hot Sauce Awards.

Thanks to the CAPS crew, and congrats to all the sauce makers who showed up strong.

What an incredible second year for the CAPS Awards!

Yesterday’s judging was a tremendous success, and I could not be more grateful to everyone who helped make it possible. Our judges worked incredibly hard, carefully evaluating every entry with thoughtfulness, fairness, and dedication. The time, energy, and expertise they gave throughout the day were truly appreciated.

I also want to extend a heartfelt thank-you to every company that participated and submitted entries. Your creativity, passion, and commitment to excellence have helped the CAPS Awards grow into something truly special. This amazing second-year success would not have been possible without your support and enthusiasm.

A huge thank-you to Matt Stewart and Maggie Stewart for providing palate cleansers, water, lemonade, and other snacks that helped our judges refresh their taste buds between entries.

Thank you to Amy Bedwell for generously providing additional drinks and snacks for everyone. Your kindness and support were greatly appreciated!

Maggie Stewart and Amy Bedwell also deserve an incredibly special thank-you for working tirelessly to keep the sauces flowing smoothly throughout the entire day. Neither of them sat down as they carefully and professionally managed the steady stream of entries for our judges. Their tremendous effort, organization, and dedication kept the entire judging process moving forward. They truly carried the CAPS Awards judging on their shoulders, and I cannot adequately express how much their hard work meant to me and everyone involved.

A special thank-you to Jay Savage for providing ANTI SPICE to help alleviate the intense effects of the super-hot sauces. When the heat reached its highest levels, having Anti-Spice available was incredibly helpful and greatly appreciated by our judges!

We must also recognize the fearless members of our judging team who bravely took on the Super Hot Sauce category: Ben Verbanic, Jeremiah Johnson, Matt Mottor, Jay Savage, The Reaper Teacher Annee Boyer, Matt Stewart, Jared Hamilton, Eric SpicyRunner Rice, and Captain Capsaicin Coty Ewing! These judges faced some truly intense heat, yet they remained focused, professional, and committed to giving every sauce a fair and thoughtful evaluation. Your courage, endurance, and dedication went above and beyond, and we sincerely appreciate each of you for accepting the ultimate spicy challenge!

A very special thank-you to Chef Matt Mottor for preparing an amazing Mexican lunch for everyone in attendance. It was absolutely delicious and the perfect meal during such a busy day of judging!

I also want to recognize Jay Savage and Amy Bedwell for staying long after the judging ended—until the wee hours of the morning—to help clean everything up. That kind of commitment and willingness to keep working after an already long day speaks volumes about both of you. I truly appreciate everything you did.

Reaching this milestone in only our second year is incredibly exciting—and we are just getting started! We have great things planned for the coming months and into next year. We cannot wait to continue growing, celebrating this incredible industry, and making next year’s CAPS Awards even bigger and more memorable.

To every judge, participating company, volunteer, supporter, and friend who contributed to this event: thank you from the bottom of my heart. I could not be more pleased with everyone involved or more appreciative of the extraordinary effort you gave to make this year’s CAPS Awards judging such an amazing success.

The future is bright, and next year’s CAPS Awards will be even more incredible!

09/18/2026

Come for the art. Leave with Good Karma. 🌶️

We’re heading to The Purple Painted Lady Festival this Saturday and Sunday! Come find Amy at the Karma Sauce booth, talk sauce, and take home something that makes dinner a lot more interesting.

Whether you like a little heat or a lot, stop by and find your next favorite.

📍 Orange section, booth 36
880 Yellow Mills Road, Palmyra

Saturday, September 19: 9 AM to 5 PM
Sunday, September 20: 10 AM to 4 PM

Make a day of it, support some fantastic makers, and come say hello!

Event details and RSVP:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1669202407791887/

09/16/2026

A little look back at the Hatch Chile Festival from a couple weekends ago.

We brought Mesa Roja out to New Mexico, spent some time in the chile fields, ate very well, sold a bunch of sauce, wandered around the desert and met some interesting locals. 👽

It’s hard not to appreciate Hatch when you make hot sauce for a living. Peppers are everywhere. Hanging from buildings, growing in the fields, roasting, and on pretty much everything you eat.

And a big shout out to our friends John and Sue Hard and the Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University. Always good to spend some time with people who are every bit as serious about chile peppers as we are.

Great weekend, great people and a lot of chile. Thanks to everyone who stopped by the Karma Sauce booth and tried some sauce.

We’ll be back. 🌶️

09/10/2026

Pepper season is ON. 🌶️

Checking in on the crop down in Penn Yan today. Orange habanero harvest starts tomorrow, with scorpions and plenty more still ripening in the field.

Next stop: Rochester. We’ll show you what happens when these peppers hit Karma Sauce on Monday.

FarmToSauce

08/31/2026

The European press tour is going exceptionally well.

Iron Smoke Old Fashioned and Mesa Roja made their first trip across the Atlantic, taking in the vineyards, countryside and a little poolside glamour in southwest France before making a very important stop at Boucherie de la Halle Caussade

Our friend and great customer Alex gave the two new starlets a proper French welcome. Karma Sauce was already well represented at the shop, with open bottles of Ashes 2 Ashes, Carnival and Scorpion Disco holding court right beside the register.

Alex is an absolute delight and made sure we left extremely well provisioned with some delicious local specialties and beers. Hard to imagine a better welcome for our two newest sauces on their European debut.

Cannes may have to wait. 🇫🇷🌶️🥃

08/14/2026

🔥 ROCHESTER, ARE YOU READY TO GET SAUCED?🔥

Karma Sauce and Iron Smoke Distillery are turning up the heat.

On **Tuesday, August 18**, we’re taking over Iron Smoke to celebrate our collaboration with wh***ey, hot sauce, great food, trivia, prizes and a few surprises.

🌶️ **The sauces are coming out:**
**Iron Smoke Old Fashioned**
**Pura Vida**
**Carnival**
**Ashes to Ashes**

And yes — there will be a **hot sauce challenge.** 🔥
We’ll tell you more when you’re safely inside the building.

Meanwhile, **Bonnie & Clyde** will be cooking outside, and they’re bringing:

🍖 Smoked pork spare ribs with cornbread
🥓 Grilled bacon with BBQ baked beans
🌭 Clyde’s Italian sausage with peppers and “Old Fashioned” onions on a hoagie roll

Plus specialty cocktails, trivia, prizes and plenty more throughout the night.

**Tuesday, August 18 | 6:30–9:30 PM**
📍 Iron Smoke Distillery — Fairport, NY
🎟️ **No cover**

Come hungry. Come thirsty.

And maybe...

**Let us stand next to your fire. 🔥**

Wh***ey

06/12/2026

Tomorrow: Team Karma takes on the Black Fly Challenge in the Adirondacks 🏔️🚴

Today: carb loading

Prescribed: 8 bagels in one day.

Reality: ...help.

Lucky for me, a little Smokey Karma turns the impossible into "actually delicious."
🔥 Smokey Karma is our Sauce of the Month — 50% off auto-applied at checkout, June only.
Grab some: bit.ly/SmokeyK