“It’s the only thing I produce but don’t eat. I tested it, of course. But, no! Definitely, no. They are too strong for me,” Denis Digel slips before inviting people to follow him into a tunnel greenhouse to discover pepper plants that he planted at the beginning of May.
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“There are a thousand there and I have just as many a little further away,” explains the market gardener – and mayor – of Sélestat. After always making “cayenne†, I launched into more extreme peppers around 2019. It took me four years to find the right cultivars. Today, I grow “jolokia†, “habanero†and “carolina reaper†which is one of the most powerful peppers in the world. No need for fungicide or pesticide. They are so strong that even the Colorado potato beetles don’t come close.”
A so-called Scoville scale measures the spiciness of a pepper based on its concentration of capsaicin, its active component. That of a “Cayenne” oscillates between thirty and fifty thousand while that of a “Carolina Reaper” can approach two million… Hence its name meaning “the reaper” of the American state of Carolina.
“During their harvest, from mid-August to the first frosts, we wear masks, glasses, gloves and long sleeves to avoid burns,” says Denis Digel. Apart from that, their cultivation, like that of other peppers, is rather easy. Once planted, we let them live their life. We just water them from time to time. Above all, they require warmth.”
Une « mini-filière »
“If climate change unfortunately costs us crops, it is conversely affecting that of peppers. The latter can therefore open up new outlets for us,” continues the producer who has set up “a mini-sector” with a handful of members, like him, of the cooperative of Maraîchers réunis de Sélestat. “Last year, we harvested three tonnes in total. This may not seem like much, but we must not forget that a pepper weighs barely a few grams, he emphasizes. We hope to exceed four tonnes this season and then, why not, double this volume in a few years. »
A rise in power
This rise in power desired by the united market gardeners of Sélestat tends to accompany a democratization of hot sauces and thereby respond to the needs of Nicolas Dochter, their only customer for the moment. The forty-year-old, who also sources his supplies from other Alsatian producers, founded Hellicious in 2014, the first French artisanal brand of spicy sauces and purees (around thirty).
In its range, a recipe based on “carolina reaper†reaching a million and a half Scoville is close, for example, to another of low intensity with curry and pineapple.
He concocts his products in Scherwiller where he also runs Sauce Piquante, a dedicated store and e-commerce. After starting at his home in 2010, he is now one of the main European resellers with “800 references from all over the planet”.
Un phénomène de mode
“The hot sauce market has grown in France with Covid-19. During confinements [en 2020, N.D.L.R.]people were bored and therefore cooked. To break out of habits, they ordered new things online, explains Nicolas Dochter. For two or three years, we have seen a new boom with the broadcast of the American show Hot Ones and its adaptation on Canal +. Celebrities are interviewed as they taste ever-hotter sauces. It’s so popular that evenings based on this principle are organized in bars and people have them at home. Social media is full of challenges…
While recognizing a current fashion phenomenon, Nicolas Dochter is delighted that it “leads some people to introduce more and more hot sauces, at least the less extreme ones, into their almost daily diet.”
“Educer les palais”
A typical profile? “From 25-30 year olds to people in their 50s interested in gastronomy,” he observes, also noting a certain purchasing power. Even if a small bottle lasts a long time because a few drops are enough to spice up a dish, it comes at a price. Count from 6 to more than 25 euros for a hundred milliliters.
“One of the challenges is to educate palates and demonstrate the aromatic value of these spicy sauces,” comments Alain Trautmann, the boss of Alélor. Specializing in mustards and horseradish, his company in Mietesheim has been offering them under his name for a year. Their number: twelve since May and the introduction of four new features. Developed with Nicolas Dochter, they give pride of place, among other things, to smoked pepper and the union of “cayenne” and mango.
“The recipes that sting the least, that is to say with a Scoville measurement of 5,000 to 20,000, sell the best,” confides Alain Trautmann before explaining “the interest now shown by mass retailers for these products.”
Across France, the turnover of hot sauces could increase by 4.4% per year until 2033, according to the research firm Imarc Groupe. It will then reach 217 million euros… Against 147 million euros nine years previously.
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