Kateryna Topol –
“The goal was not to start a business – it was about using food as a way to connect, heal and uplift those we love through bold, transformative flavours,” says Shannon Armishaw, owner of Smoke & Tears Essential Hot Sauces.
Armishaw and chef Kevin Rickey have been making hot sauces since 2010, a passion project shared only with friends and family. The stillness and isolation of the Covid-19 pandemic, coupled with concluding her master’s degree, left a gap in Armishaw’s calendar.
Looking to add joy back into her life and those around her, Armishaw decided to lean into sauce production full tilt.
The Smoke & Tears lineup is inspired, Armishaw says, by “history, the ancient arts of preservation, and the concept of ikigai, the Japanese idea of life’s purpose.” All her sauces are, plant-based vegan, low in sodium and sugar, and free of gluten, nuts, dairy, additives, and preservatives. “We believe that food should be health-oriented and inclusive” Armishaw added. In addition to the obvious applications, Smoke & Tears sauces can be used in salad dressings, marinades, dips, spreads, soup and stews. The company shares a wide range of recipes on its website, www.smokeandtears.ca.
The team does not use the Scoville spiciness scale to measure heat levels of their sauces, but the most recent small-batch sauce release, SOOTHSAYER, “uses a generous amount of Carolina reaper (chili peppers), which average 1.64 million Scoville heat units”. Recognizing the value of a full range of flavours, the duo have created some mild sauces like Green Godless with “just a touch of spice that lingers in the background.”
It’s obvious that Shannon Armishaw and chef Kevin Rickey share a passion for food and creatively developing recipes, “It is about stories told through food, about celebrating contrasts, creating sauces that are as complex yet natural as a jazz riff, and as intentional as a slow Sunday dinner.”
In addition to early notice from the press, Smoke & Tears has collected accolades including one first- and multiple second-place laurels at the International Spicy Flavour Awards, The Canadian Hot Sauce Awards, the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, Heatwave Hot Sauce Awards, and Apex awards.
