Kelp hot sauce is intriguing, addicting
By Rachel Hergett EBS COLUMNIST
I can’t claim to be a hot sauce connoisseur. My life seems spicy enough. I used to be a one-hot-sauce-at-a-time type of girl, keeping a lonely bottle of Cholula in my kitchen to spice up eggs or biscuits and gravy. I was satisfied.
Now, there is a hot sauce I can no longer live without. It came into my life unexpectedly, in a box of Alaska-themed Christmas gifts from my family in Juneau. Nestled with a limited-edition rhubarb Juneauper Gin from Amalga Distillery, a beautiful raw-edge red alder handled cutting board, an abstract mountain mug from a local artist and some locally-roasted coffee beans, was an unassuming bottle of hot sauce.
Enter Bullwhip, a hot sauce that has completely changed the game. Bullwhip, a kelp and piri piri hot sauce, is made by Barnacle Foods. Yes, kelp. When I first read the bottle, I was both concerned and intrigued. My mind struggled with the idea of seaweed in a hot sauce. It seemed like such an odd choice. Does odd mean delicious? Piri piri, however, is something my palate knows and loves. It’s a wonderfully flavorful pepper, one I, like so many others, was introduced to by Nando’s, the South African chicken chain.
I opened the bottle and it was love at first bite. Together, these ingredients do something magical. The kelp adds an incredible depth and that unctuous hug of a flavor profile that we call umami, and the pepper brings both heat and a little sweetness.
The spice level is perfect for me. What this means for you depends on your own taste. If you can’t handle any spice, I’m guessing you already know hot sauce is not your friend. I am no stranger to foods that turn my face red and start the waterworks from my eyes. And I will continue eating if the flavor comes through the heat. I feel a little bit of heat, a slight numbness on my tongue in the most pleasant way possible. It doesn’t impede my taste buds, and I’m not reaching for water. But I am reaching for the bottle. While writing this, I have been putting dollops on my finger and licking it off.
To me, Bullwhip is the perfect hot sauce. It is an upgrade to anything it touches. I rationed that first bottle for about a year and each use was a special treat. Then I begged my sister to send another.
Bullwhip was like a gateway drug to the rest of Barnacle Foods’ offerings. The small business, started by a Juneau couple, uses kelp as a main ingredient in most of their products. Turns out, kelp is an incredible ingredient. Kelp, including the hot sauce’s namesake bullwhip or Alaskan bull kelp, is as nutritious as it is flavor packed. Plus, it’s sustainable. The Barnacle Foods line started with salsas, crafted from recipes handed down from the founders’ families and has expanded to include seasonings, jams and jellies. Then there are the collaborations, a BBQ sauce with Alaskan Amber Ale, a sweet and smoky rub in collaboration with indigenous design house Trickster Co., and a chili crisp created with chef Taku of Outdoor Chef Life.
While the bullwhip reigns supreme for me, other offerings have become staples. Try spreading a spoon of the chili crisp in a pan and frying eggs on top of it. Pour the Japanese-inspired furikake on rice, or veggies or anything your heart desires. Mix up the hot sauce game with the green version, featuring kelp and serrano peppers, or the spicier habanero version.
Luckily, a love for Barnacle Foods and its signature hot sauce seems to be spreading in the area. In Bozeman, the Bullwhip hot sauce is available at Mischa’s. World Market carries the chili crisp. Joe’s Parkway did not currently have any in stock, but has carried the furikake, the Bullwhip and serrano hot sauces, and the spruce tip jelly in the past.
When I called the Gourmet Cellar in Livingston, I got manager John Potenberg on the phone. Barnacle Foods hot sauces have been a staple in the shop’s hot sauce section for about three years, he said. I also learned that the hot sauce may have some local ties and one of Livingston’s native sons who moved to Juneau had a hand in the recipe. The Gourmet Cellar currently has the habanero and limited-edition barrel aged versions of the hot sauce on the shelves, though I am assured the classic Bullwhip will be back in the next round of ordering.
The store locator lists the South 11th Avenue Town and Country in Bozeman and Wheatgrass Gifts in Livingston as possible sources for the manna that comes out of Barnacle foods, though my calls to verify what products they carry went to voicemail. No Big Sky shops were listed.
However, all of the salsas, hot sauces and other goodies are available online at barnaclefoods.com.
My family knows what they have done. When I visited Juneau last summer, my brother and I bought out a local gift shop and my step mom had to send me home with an extra suitcase to pack the lot. This Christmas, two boxes arrived from Alaska. Both were stuffed with goodies from Barnacle Foods.
Rachel Hergett is a foodie and cook from Montana. She is arts editor emeritus at the Bozeman Daily Chronicle and has written for publications such as Food Network Magazine and Montana Quarterly. Rachel is also the host of the Magic Monday Show on KGLT-FM and teaches at Montana State University.
