Discovering NC Agriculture is a year-long series focusing on twelve N.C. grown, raised, caught, and made commodities. Tune in each month to see how an N.C. commodity is grown, harvested, packed for consumer use and more. Learn nutritional value, find fun recipes to try, hear from local chefs who use that product, and other unique commodity facts throughout the series. We look forward to helping you better understand some of our N.C. commodities and how they impact your everyday lives!
Peppers are the spice of life and add culinary creativity to just about any dish. Alec and Clay, owners of Bull City Pepper Co. in Durham, have a passion for all things pepper related. In fact, they fully embody the persona of “pepper dorks.” From a garden and a dream to a full-time hot sauce operation, these guys have seen the potential of N.C. peppers and continue to harness that power through their products.
For as long as they can remember, Alec and Clay have loved adding spices to their food. “Nothing quite adds flavor to food like peppers and hot sauce,” Clay said. “Alec and I have been growing our own peppers for over fifteen years, simply to satisfy our own cravings.” Alec grows a variety of peppers in his garden today, from jalapeño and fatalii to fatal death. Bull City Pepper Company was born in 2017 as a classic case of hobbies gone wild! “We started out making hot sauce simply as a way to add flavor to our own dishes,” Alec said. “We would make the sauce and give it to friends and family as holiday gifts. Eventually, we had so many people telling us to start a hot sauce company that we decided to take the leap of faith and do it.” Today, Bull City Pepper Company is well-known across the Triangle, by consumers and chefs alike, for their delicious variety of mild and hot sauces.
Each year, Alec and Clay start planting pepper seeds in March. “We start indoors and then move the seeds outside, typically in May, to finish the growing process at Maple Spring Gardens in Cedar Grove,” Alec said. “The peppers grow from then throughout the majority of the year. Typically, our first harvest is around July and runs through Thanksgiving.” Once the peppers are harvested, they are taken to the FDA Kitchen at the Piedmont Food Processing Center, where they are blended down, mixed and bottled into hot sauce. “Pepper is the first ingredient in all of our sauces, because the pepper is the hero in every bottle,” Clay said. “When we started this adventure with Bull City Pepper Co., our goal was, and still is, to make something approachable yet premium in flavor for our customers.”
Today, Bull City Pepper Company offers four sauce options, from mild to hot. “Our first produce was the Rambunctious Red hot sauce, which resembles a Texas Pete mild style sauce,” Alec said. “From there, we have expanded to include our Good Gracious Green Verde sauce, Golden Hurricane sauce, and Death Rides a Bull sauce.” The Golden Hurricane sauce is a Yellow Fatalii sauce that is on the hotter end of the spectrum. Death Rides a Bull, however, is their hottest sauce to date and features both Carolina Reaper and Yellow Fatalii peppers. “We have a sauce that is sure to please any customer, whether they love spicy food or not,” Clay said. “Start with our Rambunctious Red sauce. If you like it, give the other ones a try. All four sauces offer a premium experience that we are proud to offer our customers year after year.” In addition to their sauces, Bull City Pepper Company also sells peppers from the garden, hot halves and more.
Don’t just take Alec and Clay’s word for it! Bull City Pepper Company sauces have been awarded and recognized around the state. In fact, in 2023, the Rambunctious Red sauce won first place in the 2023 N.C. Hot Sauce Contest! They have also been featured by Bill Oakley, a producer of The Simpsons and face behind the Steamed Hams Society, for the flavor and quality of their products.
Products from Bull City Pepper Company can be purchased online through their website, at any of the four Weaver Street Market locations, the Common Market in Durham, New Hope Market in Chapel Hill, the Durham Co-op Market, Lapin Blue Bar & Art Gallery in Chapel Hill, Lowes Foods in Pittsboro, and Franklin Motors in Chapel Hill. They also recently began working with Publix and Lowes Foods, so keep an eye out for their sauces on your weekly shopping trip!
No matter which product you try, this Got to Be NC member is sure to please you and your family with their hot sauces. Whether you like mild or hot, enjoy the flavor of N.C. peppers by purchasing some Bull City Pepper sauce this week and supporting the hard work of their team, our state’s pepper farmers, and other N.C. agriculture industry producers!
