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First, on behalf of Sunbelt Shows Inc., Fiery Foods & Barbecue magazine, and myself, let me thank All American Containers, Peppers of Key West and Saucecrafters Inc. for their continued support of the Amateur Scovie Awards Competition. These companies have supported Scovie amateurs, and professionals, by contributing financial support for Scovie contests and, more importantly, time, to those individuals making a start in the Fiery Foods Industry.

For several years the Amateur Scovie Awards Competition has provided a conduit for "newbies" to bring their unique pepper preparations from the kitchen to the competitive arena. Ours is a competitive business and there are few inexpensive ways to find out how ones own recipes stack up against others in the market place. The Scovies and Amateur Scovies provide a format and the feedback necessary to make an initial judgment as to the potential worth of a new recipe or the ongoing power of an existing one. The Amateur Scovies has proven to be an accurate measure of potential product viability and creative flare. Many past winners have moved up to the professional level and are now marketing their products successfully.

When the Scovie competition rolls around each year hundreds of professional entries arrive to challenge for bragging rights awarded to those whose products rank among the best. Tucked neatly within this milieu of professionals is a smattering of those intrepid amateurs willing to test their peppery products by professional standards. These individuals typically come from all around the globe, different walks of life, of both genders, disparate socio economic levels, but each shares the aberrant chile head gene which seems to express itself mysteriously at some time in life. As budding geneticists known genes may express themselves at various times in our lives. We are not sure what may trigger the expression of said genes, however, in the case of Joe Leicht, the 2006 Grand Prize winner in the Amateur Scovies for his creation, Flaming Joe's Caribbean Style Jerk Sauce, it would appear that the trigger or triggers may be the unlikely combination of three dogs, The Simpsons, a honeymoon, hops, habaneros, and working as an assistant brewer. What? We'll let Joe explain how, in his own words, he became an entrant into the 2006 Scovies and the world of fiery foods.

"I'm 38, married for 9 years to Robin. Have 3 dogs Cody, Max & Cooper. I make my own beer & cider. Grow my own hops. I worked as an assistant brewer at a local Brewpub for a year. I spend most summer weekends at the beach, Jet-skiing on Lake Michigan and grilling Jerk pork. I got my first taste of Jerk on a family vacation to Jamaica back in the '70s. I guess it stayed with me. The second best part of my Jamaican honeymoon in 1997 was having the snack bar make my special creation, Jerk Chicken Pizza. About four years ago the food section of the newspaper featured Jerk recipes. I read it over and decided to try my very own recipe. My first batch came out great, and at the time seemed pretty hot. Each batch I made after that, I turned up the heat until I got to where it's at today. My wife and my friends were the ones who got me thinking about going pro. Always saying I should try selling it. I think it was in my search for how to do that when I came across the Scovie Awards. I came up with the name Flaming Joe's, a little homage to the Simpson's Flaming Moe's episode, and sent in my entry. I came in 2nd place in the miscellaneous category for last year's contest. I started getting a little more serious about trying to go pro. I Researched contract packaging, tried to get precise with my recipes to have consistency batch to batch. I bought jars and made a batch of samples with a questionnaire. I received great responses with the only bad comments from some was "too hot". Every time I went somewhere I would end up giving the sauce to a new "fan" who said they would buy it if I went pro.

For this year's contest I followed my time-tested recipe and sent it in. I must have gotten some extra strong habaneros, because my wife, who uses it more than I do, told me that this time was too hot for her to eat. I had to laugh when I found out I won: 'too hot, huh?' I guess it was just right for the judges. I have since added a 'milder' version for her and those who have not yet built up to the full strength. My hopes are to be able to get my Jerk sauce to the marketplace and see how it goes from there." Check out Joe's website at: http://www.flamingjoes.com

Mopping up the BBQ division with a first place win this year, Mike and Paul Koegler, a civil engineer technician and restaurant manger, respectively, took the family BBQ sauce recipe, Mikes's Signature Barbecue Sauce, and added their "HOTZHAUS" concoction and presto a first place winner is born!

"My brother Paul and I decided that since we loved hot sauce so much that we would finally come up with our own custom recipe to try out on friends and family. Paul came across the Fiery Foods Amateur Scovie competition while surfing the web for hot pepper sites and thought it may prove to be a good measuring stick to see where we were as compared to other "hot pepper heads" out there. The hot sauce (or shall I say HOTZHAUS) was born. …

Once our hot sauce was again refined, Paul took it again to his co-workers and they loved it. Much to his chagrin though, when he came up for a possible promotion with two other people, his boss informed Paul that he would probably not get the promotion based on the fact that the hot sauce would probably take off and he would leave the company to form his own. Now that is a kick in the head (or somewhere). Paul still hasn't found too much humor in that but I have included it here anyway for those outside the situation that may chuckle.

With the hot sauce now complete, we thought about adding some to the family BBQ sauce recipe. Our first batch was a success with the family, so being amateurs with nothing to lose but our own hard cash entry fee; we submitted an entry in the BBQ division. The next thing that happened shows you what amateurs we are. In the production of Mike's Signature BBQ Sauce (HOT), a problem arose in the processing of the batch to be submitted for judging. The "HOT" part of the recipe was left out. We were in a such a hurry to get the samples submitted to the competition on time and we were so use to just making the BBQ sauce that we forgot to add our custom hot sauce to the batch. We had to unseal the bottles and reprocess the batch with the hot sauce using new lids and had to overnight the package to make the submission time. We thought we had a good product but with the fiasco of getting it processed, we really didn't know how we would place. To our very happy surprise, the BBQ sauce took first place and we let out a satisfying sigh of relief.

It may be from all the hot sauce we've consumed over the past year that we have decided to try and continue to refine our recipes and venture out into the professional world of hot sauces; or just our wives telling us we can't make any more eye-watering hot sauces in their kitchens anymore. Whatever the case, we hope to market these and other future recipes from the Koegler brothers."

They've taken first place in the salsa division for their entry, Jalapeno and Roasted Garlic Salsa. James Boyd and Kenneth Haynes have been friends for over 20 years. About 5 years ago while eating at a local hot wing restaurant they decided to try their hand at making their own salsa. The fast few batches tasted ok but did not have enough heat for them, so they decided to purchase extract to add heat to their recipe. Well they added heat all right, enough heat to run Kenneth's wife out of the house, she still refuses to be in the house when they make their product. In 2003 James and Kenneth entered the Amateur Scovie award and placed 2nd in the salsa division. Over the last several years they have revamped their original recipe and added more recipes to their collection including this year's entry, Jalapeno Roasted Garlic. They hope to someday see their products on the shelves at a store near you.

"I am Kateri Karish of Spring Hill, Florida. I am a wife and mother of two teenagers. One day, my husband, Joe told me that there was an indoor flea market opening near us and he suggested that I try selling hot sauces and other spicy food items as a way to supplement our income.

Within several months of researching the best wholesalers, getting insurance, licenses and such, The Pepper Source was in business. While sitting there day after day wondering what the sauces tasted like, I decided to open five bottles and put them out to sample. Oh what fun that was, watching people turn red, sweat and hiccup continuously. I decided that I would join in and the fun. Not only was it fun but very addicting. I am now up to Dave's Insanity and Da Bomb.

My family and I attended the 2005 Fiery Food Show and had the time of our lives. That is when I made the decision that I would try my hands at making my own hot sauce. My friend Patty, who owns an Creole-Asian market at the flea market, had all sorts of unique peppers, so I decided to experiment. I came up with two sauces, Mean and Green, named by my son, Barrett and Devil Dare Ya, named by my daughter, Kelsie.

Having never made hot sauces before, let me stress the importance of reading up on the process. The fumes, oh my Lord the fumes! They burn your nose; they choke you and make you cough until you want to vomit. I ended up donning a pair of sunglasses, Playtex gloves and a bandana around my nose. I also learned another important lesson; let the ingredients cool down before putting them in the blender! Upon turning on the blender, my sauce came out like an erupting volcano covering the floor, the cupboards, the poor cats and me. If anybody is wondering if cats like hot sauce, wonder no more, they don't!

On to the bottling procedure. I used my turkey baster to start filling the bottles. Another eruption! Still too hot! An hour later the bottles were filled and I sent samples to friends and family with a survey. It was a success! I then sent an email to Bren Ankrum to make sure I could still enter my sauces for the 2006 Scovie Contests. Needless to say, I'm happy I entered.

I am currently working with a professional food processor to have my sauces bottled and I'm also designing my labels. I have a website that is still under construction, http://www.thepeppersource.com."

Honorable mention goes to Dean Ailor and Steve Sanders for their creative product names. Dean, finished second and third in the miscellaneous category, for his "Shiznit" seasoning salt/rub. Shiznit? Got to be careful how you pronounce that! Steve Sanders for his self descriptive hot sauce, who finished third behind the first and second place of the mysterious Kateri Karish, Steve's Rectal Rash!

Good luck and good life to all the contestants in the 2006 Amateur Scovie Competition. We hope to see all of your products at the Fiery Foods Show and on shelves everywhere.