About Us

The Sauce

The Story

About John

The Sauce

puya_chile chipotle_chile lemons

With a distinctive blend of spices, California-grown garlic, summer-ripened chipotle meco & puya chiles and Meyer lemons, Hoppin Hot Sauce is anything but run-of-the-mill. Our chiles are picked at the end of the season, when they are red-ripe and spicy. Unlike ordinary chipotle peppers, which are picked when they are green, the flavor of our chipotle meco peppers produces a spicier sauce with a tang like no other. It's how we make every plate great!


spices garlic


The Hoppin Hot Sauce Story

cali

California Cuisine

Alice Waters starts a food movement based on fresh ingredients and creates “California cuisine”. I’m raised on the stuff.
tamales

Celia's Visit

My friend, Celia comes to visit for holidays from Mexico City. She brings tamales, a traditional Mexican Xmas food and introduces me to the Puya pepper.
lemons

Grandpa's Meyer Lemons

My grandfather has a Meyer lemon tree in his backyard. I get fresh lemons. (Meyer lemons were made popular by Alice Waters - before her, no one used them) They contain the same chemical found in the herb thyme.
sauce

Party Time

I start bringing my homemade hot sauce to dinner parties with friends. After perfecting the ingredients, I start creating batches for friends.
mouth

The Big Time

I start selling my sauce to local restaurants in the Bay Area and Los Angeles.
xx_bottle

XX Launches

Officially on the shelves in grocery stores. New! XX Hot Sauce for extra kick.


About John

My name is John Hoppin

I’ve worked in food all my life, and I put hot sauce on everything. I have multiple sclerosis and it makes it difficult to work in a kitchen environment, but I didn’t let it stop me from cooking. I created Hoppin Hot Sauce to share the taste of my table with yours.

What's the Matter with Me

I started making the What’s The Matter With Me? podcast to give myself some support and to raise my consciousness as a disabled person, husband, father, business owner, radio DJ, and podcaster. New episodes are posted to Apple Podcasts , SoundCloud, and whatsthematterwithme.org.

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