MONTAGUE - Peter Piper once picked a peck of peppers, but a local entrepreneur is harvesting tonnes and turning them into one of the hottest commodities across the country.
Amiel Leblanc didn’t start out to become the Pepper King of Prince Edward Island, it just sort of happened. And now his 18 brands of hot sauce are sold in 200 stores nation-wide and his headquarters is in eastern P.E.I.’s largest town.
This year he will harvest about 200 pecks (2,000) pounds from his hobby farm in Cardigan and turn them mainly into the contents of his Maritime Madness hot sauce.
“We string some of them up to dry and for ornamentation, but the majority ends up in the vault,’’ he says during a tour of his new store and production centre.
Just look for the big yellow steps along Main Street south and you’ll find the only Maritime Madness retail operation in Canada, located in a former bank where the vault is now the mash room.
“Dried peppers are great for pasta, stews and soups of use them fresh in stir fries,” says Leblanc. “But only one pepper for the whole stir fry.”
That’s because Maritime Madness doesn’t fool around. No sweet peppers in this operation. They grow hot peppers — jalapeno and cayenne — and restaurants and grocery outlets love them and business is booming. So much so that production doubled this year.
“We had a bumper crop of cayenne peppers this year.”
Leblanc produces everything at the production centre in Montague with wife Mandy, some dedicated employees, and help from young sons Sawyer and Cooper.
“We had a great response to the store opening in May and a really good summer,’ he said. “Now we’ll see how the winter goes.”
The entrepreneurial idea began in 2008 when Leblanc — who likes spicy food — started making sauce for his family and friends.
“Everyone has a different threshold, but the hotter it is, the better it sells.”
Now it’s grown to 38 different products with names like Down East Stinger with fresh honey, or Jerk from Away, Blazin’ Newfy, and Shuckin’ Delicious.
“It was completely unintentional that I now do this full time.”
A well-known drum maker as well, Leblanc chose Montague because he went to school here, it’s less of a commute to a larger centre, and it’s close to where his family wants to be.
And is there a good spinoff to growing peppers?
“I have no problems with bugs in the field…..I don’t think they like them.”
Twitter.com/GuardianSteve
MONTAGUE - Peter Piper once picked a peck of peppers, but a local entrepreneur is harvesting tonnes and turning them into one of the hottest commodities across the country.
Amiel Leblanc didn’t start out to become the Pepper King of Prince Edward Island, it just sort of happened. And now his 18 brands of hot sauce are sold in 200 stores nation-wide and his headquarters is in eastern P.E.I.’s largest town.
This year he will harvest about 200 pecks (2,000) pounds from his hobby farm in Cardigan and turn them mainly into the contents of his Maritime Madness hot sauce.
“We string some of them up to dry and for ornamentation, but the majority ends up in the vault,’’ he says during a tour of his new store and production centre.
Just look for the big yellow steps along Main Street south and you’ll find the only Maritime Madness retail operation in Canada, located in a former bank where the vault is now the mash room.
“Dried peppers are great for pasta, stews and soups of use them fresh in stir fries,” says Leblanc. “But only one pepper for the whole stir fry.”
That’s because Maritime Madness doesn’t fool around. No sweet peppers in this operation. They grow hot peppers — jalapeno and cayenne — and restaurants and grocery outlets love them and business is booming. So much so that production doubled this year.
“We had a bumper crop of cayenne peppers this year.”
Leblanc produces everything at the production centre in Montague with wife Mandy, some dedicated employees, and help from young sons Sawyer and Cooper.
“We had a great response to the store opening in May and a really good summer,’ he said. “Now we’ll see how the winter goes.”
The entrepreneurial idea began in 2008 when Leblanc — who likes spicy food — started making sauce for his family and friends.
“Everyone has a different threshold, but the hotter it is, the better it sells.”
Now it’s grown to 38 different products with names like Down East Stinger with fresh honey, or Jerk from Away, Blazin’ Newfy, and Shuckin’ Delicious.
“It was completely unintentional that I now do this full time.”
A well-known drum maker as well, Leblanc chose Montague because he went to school here, it’s less of a commute to a larger centre, and it’s close to where his family wants to be.
And is there a good spinoff to growing peppers?
“I have no problems with bugs in the field…..I don’t think they like them.”
Twitter.com/GuardianSteve
