After graduating from Johnson & Wales in 1991, New Jersey native William Ferlauto “ran off to California,” in his words. There he worked for Ritz-Carlton Hotels in Laguna Beach and San Francisco for a decade before coming back to New Jersey, where he cooked at many different Italian restaurants and started making and “jarring” tomato sauce on the side.

Last year, he moved back to Rhode Island, where his son had relocated, and he began to sell his August Peak sauces at farmers markets. He produces his sauces at Hope & Main in Warren, and he has a standing contract with Ras Farms, in Massachusetts, for organic red and yellow tomatoes. They constitute two of Ferlauto’s first four variations—Pomodoro and Golden Pomodoro.

The other two are Smoked Pomodoro Diavolo and Crema di Zucca, the latter made from roasted butternut squash, a bit of tomato, thyme, rosemary and red pepper flakes. Ferlauto advises customers to use Crema di Zucca on pizza, pasta, with macaroni and cheese, or thinned a bit for soup. He is currently introducing a Mozambique sauce, with plans to also market a jerk sauce, a steak sauce and a giardiniera vinaigrette. “I’m just making things that I love,” he says.

Find out where you can purchase locally around Rhode Island at AugustPeakTomatoSauces.com.