Fermentation Fridays – a Pepper Sauce with a Purpose!
Many great brands start in family homes – inside a garage or living room or even a kitchen. And that’s what one young business owner is hoping – that his pepper sauce line, which he started in his mom’s kitchen, will bloom into a recognized Belizean brand. He’s making habanero sauces with very gourmet flavour profiles to order. Today, News Five’s Andrea Polanco visited the owner of Fermentation Fridays in Ladyville. Here’s the story.
Xander Bennett, Owner, Fermentation Fridays
“Firstly, I will be cutting up my garlic because I need to roast them and the roasting process entails that I cut up my garlic into fine little pieces. So, when the oil reaches to the point where it starts to simmer that is when put in my garlic. One wrong move with keeping the garlic in the oil too long will result in the garlic being over roasted and it will change the taste of the pepper that I want to make.”
Andrea Polanco, Reporting
Xander Bennett is whipping up a fresh batch of his signature garlic habanero pepper sauce.
Xander Bennett
“This is the first flavour that I came up with and by far has been the most versatile pepper sauce that I have made. It can be used with a variety of different foods. – rice and beans, tacos, mash potatoes, tacos.”
Andrea Polanco
“Everything?”
Xander Bennett
“Everything!”
It’s one of four flavours from his pepper sauce brand Fermentation Fridays. But according to this young entrepreneur this is no ordinary hot sauce – it’s a pepper sauce with a purpose because the hot sauce packs a punch with heat and flavours, and is loaded with health benefits. Bennett’s pepper sauce idea was inspired by a fermentation technology short course in January. Fermentation Fridays, as the name suggests, uses a base of fermented habanero peppers.
Xander Bennett
“Fermented pepper was the answer and I had to look for a market in Belizean society that is not only easily accessible but I can also have great exposure for it – I mean come on who doesn’t use pepper on their food? The raw product they tend to have a lot of bitter notes if you use them in food and fermentation allows for these peppers to basically eliminate these bitter notes. The lactic acid bacteria consumes the carbs within the peppers and form carbon dioxide but this promotes a growth in yeast and a lot of people may find this yeast idea – a lot of misconceptions but the yeast that is being produced is called Kahm Yeast and it is healthy for the body and promotes probiotic bacteria within digestion and helps with a multitude of different health purposes.”
Andrea Polanco
“So, it is not just a flavorful pepper sauce – it is also healthy; good for you?”
Xander Bennett
Xander Bennett
“This is what separates me from other people doing peppers. I am making peppers with a purpose. I will be putting in the roasted garlic. Afterwards I will be putting in these peppers that were fermented for a couple days. I will be transferring the fully fermented peppers into the blender.”
Fermentation Fridays started with three pepper sauces – this garlic habanero that we’re making; tropical pineapple habanero and zesty cilantro and onion habanero. Bennett says his latest flavour is a ginger and carrot habanero and he’s already working on a hibiscus and honey habanero flavour to add to his line of hot sauces.
Xander Bennett
“We have amazing tastes; we have rich flavours and we have very natural fruits and veggies here. It is not saturated with GMOs. I just cater to different Belizean taste. So, I am targeting different flavours that complete foods so that my peppers can not only be pleasing to the tongue and they are very versatile with different dishes. Unlike other products that are being mass produced and made by machinery mine is being made strictly from human work. The amount of care and attention that I put into my peppers – for example, I have this bottle and I have to burp this bottle every so often and sometimes I even talk to them like you are doing good today? That is the amount of care and dedication that I put into my craft. And now usually I blend them on low and I grind them first. And then I kick it up to high and start the grinding. See it has that nice orange color now and lastly I take the same oil we roasted the garlic in. And this adds texture to the sauce itself.”
While Bennett used his skills and education to create Fermentation Fridays – the idea to own his business was born out of a need to gain financial independence. Xander says that since the pandemic hit he began to think of new ways to make money to support himself – and this year he made it happen with his habanero-based hot sauce brand.
Xander Bennett
“As twenty-year-olds we tend to go to school but we lack the foundation for investment. And the reason why I started that this business is because I want to leave a legacy and start something so that it matriculates down the road so that when I am older, whether it be in this life time or my lineage – it is gonna have generational equity and perks. It instills a great pride in myself and another thing that I really enjoy about this whole process of starting my first business is that it is teaching me a level of accountability and money management – a level of understanding micro-businesses and different aspects of the business world that you don’t really learn in school and putting that all together is helping me achieve my dream of financially liberating myself.”
…and he’s just getting started.
Xander Bennett
“I take it as a table of sort – and people come and take a seat at the table. You take part in the industry and my aim is to not only take part in the industry – my aim is to take over the industry. I see myself going further with this. And there you have it, Fermentation Fridays presents its garlic habanero pepper sauce.”
Reporting for News Five, I’m Andrea Polanco.
If you want to support Fermentation Fridays you can find the brand on Instagram or reach out to Xander Bennett at 626-1125.
