Label first-
Tick marks on the heat gauge would be OK, don't worry about labeling what is mild, hot, etc on the gauge. Let the consumer decide if a 4 is mild or medium.
MUCH BETTER on the mountains!!!!!!!! And the jagged edge on the top and bottom red bands works. You have some text in the top band and some in the bottom so that looks balanced. Lightening bolts are looking like they carry through the letters.....
NICE JOB!
I missed this previous post about ingredients. If I may add a dos centavos to LDHS's comments-
PepperDaddy said:
This is what they sent back today. It wasn't all-inclusive but I get the picture.
Pineapple – we can source both canned (chunks or crushed) or frozen (crushed)
standard
Carrots – we can source both canned (diced) or frozen (diced)
What? No Fresh? lazy
Red Onion – we source this frozen (diced)
No way I'd use frozen onions
Scotch Bonnet – we use this in pepper mash form
see mash comments below
Naval Orange – I haven’t been able to find a source for these....we can get canned Mandarin Oranges
Yea, probably true, but the didn't offer to use fresh oranges?
Red Habanero – we bring use this in pepper mash form
see mash comments
Ginger – we use fresh ginger puree from Tulkoff Foods
also check with Ginger People directly. You can buy minced/pureed ginger with no added ingredinets.
Garlic – we use minced garlic in water from Spice World
What LDHS said, 5 pound (or more) bags/jars of whole clove peeled garlic available through produce companies everywhere. Do you think restaurants peel all their garlic by hand? Yea, RIGHT! Bulk bags should be available at Costco also. There are ways to roast the peeled cloves....
Jalapeno – we use this in pepper mash form
more mash comments
tomatillos – we use the canned variety (whole or crushed)
WTH?
Poblanos and Serrano – we use this fresh in smaller quantities, but we don’t de-seed them
Scallions – we have not used these before, but we can bring in a mash format or I can look at a source for fresh
omg...scallion mash?????
Red Bell Pepper – we source this frozen (diced)
IQF OK but still...
Lime Juice – we source this in 55 gallon drums as a concentrate
One of my biggest concerns is the garlic, but I will be talking w/ them soon. You can only do so much w/ email and at some point you have to just pick up the phone. This is a major award-winning co-packer, so this is probably industry standard. I have had several of their sauces and they are outstanding.
First off, don't accept the first co-packer that comes along. Like LDHS said, it has to be mutually beneficial.
Re MASH-
The term "mash" has been cussed and discussed here and elsewhere several times. What you think of as mash and what the co-packer brings in are 2 VERY DIFFERENT beasts. I'm sure I'll for get some, but here's a partial list of all the different terms mash applies to-
-a generic term for ground up produce usually including chiles, strictly referring to the
consistency of a product
-ground up chiles with no salt, vinegar or other added ingredients, not aged or fermented
-ground up chiles with salt (sometimes up to 20%
), vinegar or any number of other ingredients, not aged or fermented
-ground up chiles allowed to ferment without salt or any additional ingredients
-ground up chiles allowed to ferment with salt only
-ground up chiles allowed to ferment with salt and whatever else is thrown in the mix.....
OK- you get the idea....
Some pepper companies sell pepper mash which is strictly ground up chiles, no salt, no ferment. Some sell ground up chiles with salt in ratios anywhere from 3%-20% salt. Do the math on that one for something like a Red Savina mash that they are selling for $$$. I don't know of any of them that sell a fermented mash.
If you try to substitute a commercially purchased "mash" for a mash like what you have on the dining room table.... it just ain't the same animal!
Also, after seeing the recent news clip in the Huy Fong Sriracha factory, and seeing the jalapenos going up the belt with all the stems on....and also seeing another clip of another sauce company using habs with the stems on..... I dunno... just makes you wonder.... Something to be said for processing chiles in house, or at least having some kind of control/knowledge about what the processor/co-packer is allowing into the sauces.
Sounds like the co-packer doesn't want to do any hands-on work like peeling onions. I would highly question using them. I use canned mandarin oranges in a sauce and I go through each and every can picking out the few seeds and bits of membrane that are always in there. If the co-packer won't even offer to peel onions, I doubt they'd do any extra work (like picking out seeds) for the canned products.
And they may do it while you're standing over their shoulder, but if that's their level of effort regarding things like carrots and scallions...what about when you're not there?
Hope this helps a bit~