Ask the Hot Sauce Sommeliers

Things are heating up for a local Delaware Hot Sauce Company; MF Heat Co. The company is named after, (NO, it’s not what you think it is) its founder Mike Frank (MF). Who, with a background in engineering and a passion for culinary, and his love for all things spicy, set out to create the perfect hot sauce. So, no vulgarity in the company name, just a good ole, southern Delaware made, flavorful heat packing sauce. But we can’t deny it’s a great mnemonic device—well played, MF Heat Co.

The three friends and owners, Mike and Emily Frank, and Tim Auman, bonded over working together and having kids at the same time, and, in 2020 decided to start a side gig. They wanted to create a hot sauce to highlight food, rather than mask it. Mike Frank is the Head Chef of the operation and during business hours you’ll find him working as an engineer at Dogfish Head. Tim Auman, who is a teacher during the school year, juggles all the Sales, Marketing and Advertising for MF Heat Co. (down to the digitized handwriting on the custom labels).  While Emily Frank, who also works in retail during the day, manages all the “behind-the-scenes” administrative work, organization and communications. 

What sets MF Heat Co. apart is that they are focused on small batch, fermented hot sauce, which they believe brings out the best flavor to pair with food. “We make a more complex and flavorful recipe because of the ferment,” Tim Auman explains. However, the fermenting brought challenges, “because we ferment, there are additional requirements from the FDA, which is a process,” Tim said. “So, all of our products are sent to the Process Authority, and we have to pull pH checks throughout the process.” Knowing this, they used the Sussex Kitchen Incubator as their local commissary and got to work. “It takes 3 weeks to ferment the peppers, then after the cook we hand bottle, that’s about 3-4 hours per cook,” Tim said. “We can do 200-250 bottles in a day.” So, after getting approval from both the FDA and Delaware State offices, in December of 2023 they officially began selling their sauces. 

They now sell six different sauces, 1 bottle for $12 or 3 bottles for $30. They offer a summer barbeque inspired smokey hot sauce aptly named Smoke ‘Em, their classic Taco Sauce, an Italian-inspired sauce Nero, and a Caramelina Reaper sauce using Carolina Reapers—one of the hottest known peppers. “Our most popular hot sauce right now is our Salsa Verde-esque Frank’s Green Hot, but we think one of our newest sauces, Creamy Jalapeño, is going to give it a run for its money,” Mike says. 

Like Sommeliers of Hot Sauce, they created sauces that are culinary minded, flavorful and food inspired. All the sauces even come with suggestions for food pairings.  “We don’t just want to make hot sauce that tastes like jet fuel, a sauce like Creamy Jalapeño could even be a salad dressing,” Tim says.   They sell their sauces online at mfheatco.com and are looking to expand their market range to include other local markets, festivals, restaurants and food trucks.   

With true local roots, the company offers free “porch drop-offs” for Lewes, Rehoboth, Milton, and Georgetown addresses. “We balance all of this while still taking care of our families, so as I drive my kids to school, karate, or on errands, it’s just so easy for me to make these drop-offs and save our local fans some money,” Emily Frank said. If you think you can take the heat, they proudly “sling samples” at the Milton Farmers Market every Friday from 3:30 PM to 6:00 PM. You can also buy their sauces from the Coastal Croft Roadside Produce Stand on Route 1. 

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