Lifting Flavors with Devil Dust

As Quidnessett Country Club’s executive chef, Dave Conner, was harvesting hot chili peppers from his garden a year ago, he thought it would be “cool” to put them into different spice mixtures. A year later, along with co-owner and wife Katie Evans, Ocean State Pepper Company is rolling along, with a baker’s dozen products including spice rubs for veggies, meats and seafood; all-around seasonings (pizza or scrambled eggs); and “pour and go” mixes for Bloody Marys, salsa, mac ‘n’ cheese, tacos, chili and arrabbiata sauce. Devil Dust was the company’s very first product—”100% grown in Rhode Island soil and put into a bottle,” Dave declares proudly. All of the peppers harvested from their garden and new greenhouse are processed in a commercial kitchen by hand. Dave emphasizes that “You can use heat to bring out flavors in food without burning your face off. We use some of the hottest peppers in the world but just to lift the flavor.” In deference to customer demand, however, many of Ocean State Pepper’s other products are much milder than Devil Dust.

Available at select retail outlets around the state; visit their website for locations. 401.316.7096; RhodyPepper.com