Susan is (getting) famous!

My friend Susan sells hot sauces at farmer's markets around Edmonton. I'm planning on stocking up on some to bring back when I visit this summer because they sound wonderful. Yesterday she was written up in the Edmonton Journal - check it out:
















Sauce it up with tang, zip or heat
Condiment as common as ketchup on some tables

Judy Schultz, Journal Bistro Writer
Published: Wednesday, June 28, 2006

EDMONTON - THE VENDOR: Susan Chin

THE PRODUCT: Molly's Hot Sauce. These are condiments with Southeast Asian flare. In order to accommodate varying tastes for spices, condiment maker Susan Chin divides her products into three handy categories: mild, medium (the original strength) and hot.

She offers a long roster of tasty sauces including Molly's Original Hot Sauce, with a milder version for beginners. "It's a nice balance between sweet, tangy and hot."

Then there's Somewhat Spicy Hot Sauce (Medium) which starts out tangy, followed by some heat. Super Spicy Hot Sauce (Hot) has a tangy top note and lingering heat.

Molly's Sugar-Free Hot Sauce features Hot Sauce for the Brave (XHot), "Very tangy, very spicy," says Susan.

Molly's Ginger-Free Hot Sauce offers both the Somewhat Spicy Hot and the Super Spicy Hot versions. The Sambal Hot Sauce also comes in three heat levels -- chili pepper paste, which people love on green onion cake; chili pepper and garlic; and the deluxe, a combination of chili pepper paste and all the ingredients that are in Molly's Hot Sauce.

Finally there's Susan's newest creation, a spring roll sauce.

"The ginger-free, sugarfree and spring-roll sauces were added to the product line based on feedback from customers," says Chin. "Some people are not fond of the taste of ginger. For those who are diabetic or enjoy their hot sauces without any sugar, these are perfect."

THE MARKET: The sauces are available in five farmers markets: Festival Place Market, Sherwood Park, Wednesday, 5 p.m.; Millwoods, at 7207 -- 28th Ave., Thursday at 5 p.m.; City Center, 102nd Ave. and 104th St., Saturdays, 9 a.m.; St. Albert, corner of St. Anne's and St. Thomas, Saturdays, 10 a.m.; Callingwood market, 6655 178th St., Sunday.

THE BACKSTORY: "In my family, we've always used the sauce as a regular condiment at the supper table," she says, pointing out that hot sauce -- and we do mean HOT -- is as ubituitous on Southeast Asian tables as ketchup is on Canadian tables.

"We lived in Brunei, and the sauces were my mom's (Molly Chin's) creation," says Susan Chin. "I started eating them at the age of three. Mom is a professional cook, so she just made them up," says Susan, whose mother now cooks at Julie's in the Edmonton Inn. She's been there for several years, but is looking forward to retirement, says Susan.

Meanwhile, the dark, deep, spicy tones of the Chin family hot sauces continue to evolve.

"Our customers have come up with amazing uses for the sauce," she says. The sugar-free sauce has been used as a salad dressing (just mix with a little olive oil), and added to a multi-layered dip for nachos.

"One customer used the original hot sauce as a baste for chicken and shrimp skewers for the barbecue. Others have used the sambal sauces mixed with a sweet sauce (hoisin or maple syrup ...) as a rub for baked salmon."