Wartena Sauce Company

After many years of being a fan of all kinds of spicy food, I've come to a conclusion: I'm going to enter the world of hot sauces.

It must have been about 20 years ago that I started slathering Conimex Sambal Oelek on everything, with the occasional overenthusiastic attempt at Surinamese sambal, which often left me sweating pretty quickly.
The almost addictive effect of spicy food quickly took hold of me. Gradually, it had to be spicier each time. The peanut butter sandwich had to have sambal, the Indomie noodles were replaced by spicy Samyang Ramen, chips preferably had a Carolina Reaper flavor, the Heatsupply range had to be tested, a visit to the Chili Festival in Eindhoven, and after being entertained by watching celebrities succumb to Da Bomb during Hot Ones, the enthusiasm for making my own sauces really started to itch.

Since then, large quantities of sambals, hot sauces, and chipotles have emerged from my home kitchen. From Julius Jaspers' Sambal Badjaks to large quantities of Carolina Reapers from Westland Peppers to make sauces for friends and family, to failed pepper fermentations—and finally, developing my own recipes.

And so we're here. After handing out jars of sauce and inspiring conversations in traditional pubs, the conclusion came: I'm going to make it official. I'm going to market my homemade sauces! So I started testing. I searched for the perfect fresh sauce with an accessible kick. That's how Helio Heat came into being, a sauce that starts refreshing and finishes spicy, yet remains completely accessible.

As a lover of spiciness, this naturally needed a more challenging version. A flavor that is completely different in terms of profile and experience. From this, Velvet Inferno was born, a velvety comforter with plenty of depth and more heat, yet simultaneously irresistible.

With much love and joy, I'm currently in the kitchen sharing my enthusiasm for spicy food through these two sauces. And who knows, maybe more will follow!

Cheers,

Jonne Wartena