Pepper business brings spice to downtown Hubbard
By SARAH LEHR
slehr@vindy.com
HUBBARD
Christina Frohman and Audra Horton have became so accustomed to working with peppers that their eyes no longer water when chopping up the spicy vegetables.
The women founded Too Hot Mamas, a pepper-canning business, in summer 2015. The business secured its canning license in fall 2016 after Horton and Frohman took business classes and collaborated with the Common Wealth Kitchen Incubator of Youngstown.
Last month, they opened a storefront at 129 N. Main St. The business also sells its products at farmers’ markets and local grocery stores.
Their most popular items include “Hots in Sauce,” pepper rings drenched in a savory red sauce, and “Pickled Peppers,” pepper rings soaked in garlic brine.
Seasonal items include the “Hot Strawberry Butter” and “Zesty Zucchini Relish.”
Frohman and Horton recommend customers try their peppers as a topping on eggs, bratwurst, meatballs or sandwiches.
They also sell cheese plates to complement the peppers for occasions such as barbecues and graduation parties.
Too Hot Mamas chiefly uses Hungarian peppers, which have a kick but are not overwhelming.
“We’re really about the flavor and wanting people to come back because they’re craving it more so than burning ’em,” Horton said.
In the future, however, the business partners plan to debut an “extra hot” line.
Some of their customers, they said, can be competitive with one another when pushing the limits of their tolerance for spice.
“They’ll come in here and say, what’s the hottest pepper you’ve got,” Frohman said.
For Frohman and Horton, Too Hot Mamas is a family endeavor.
Their husbands are first cousins and their children range in age from 4 to 16.
“We’ve got a whole family of taste-testers,” Horton said.