When a Spice Rub is too much!
When a Spice Rub is just too much - A History of Naturiffic
A BBQ forum I belong to, had the topic of "KISS", or Keep it simple, stupid in regards to cooking BBQ.
This is a topic close to my heart and the basis of the company mission of Naturiffic, so I thought I would expand upon that here.
History
Our company was formed in May 2015 as a way to provide clean, simple and all natural products to the community.
The inspiration behind the company was my wife's ongoing struggle with health issues. After 2 years of hospital visits (13 in all) for tummy issues, with the doctors at a loss to explain what was going on, she ended up doing a food journal for 6 months.
This exercise showed that there were certain foods that triggered her belly issues, some that seemed to help, and others that made it worse.
In addition to foods, she also discovered certain herbal teas and certain essential oils seemed to alleviate some of her suffering as well.
Naturiffic began with products such as herbal teas, massage oils and essential oil infused bath salts. These were things that had helped my wife and she thought could help others.
Within a year, she realized she had founded a viable company. Selling just at local festivals and farmer's markets she had developed a following and regular customers.
Nightshades
During her food journaling, it was discovered that there was a class of foods that triggered her symptoms more often than not. This class of food is known as "nightshades".
Nightshades are foods that originate with plants in the nightshade (Solanaceae) family. These include:
- Tomatoes
- Tomatillos
- Eggplant
- Potatoes
- Goji Berries
- Tobacco
- Peppers (bell peppers, chili peppers, paprika, pimentos, cayenne, etc)
While there is not an accepted medical reason for this type of intolerance, nightshades (Belladonna) have been accepted and used throughout history as a poison.
It is theorized that because my wife was a 30 year smoker and then quit (less than 24 months before all this started occurring), that she may have developed an intolerance to Solanaceae present in all nightshades (including tobacco).
As one who fires up the grill of BBQ several times a week, the list of foods she was now going to be avoiding was alarming.
Peppers? Paprika? Tomatoes?
Well that just about describes every BBQ rub and sauce on the planet.
So I had to adapt.
For the past few years I have been playing with various salts, spices and herbs to produce seasonings I could use at home that wouldn't make my wife any sicker.
Gourmet Salts
In July 2016 the Gourmet Salt line was added, again it was based on our personal experiences. Our plan was to use as few ingredients as possible and keep them as unprocessed and natural as possible. Simple. (KISS)
Since salt was the main flavor enhancer we were using, I wanted to make sure we used the best available. All of our salt comes from the Trapani region of Sicily, Italy. It is hand harvested an minimally processed (traditionally ground by windmills)
The first 3 products that were offered were sea salt that was blended with herbs and citrus.
I had found that the addition of citrus brightens up the flavor of almost anything it is used on.
2 months (Sept. 2016) after the introduction of the citrus salts, we added a Hot Salt (only one my wife has not tried, because it contains peppers) and a dry brine product called Harvest Brine.
The fall of 2016 was very good to Naturiffic.
- Hot Salt won Best New Product of 2016 in the 2016 Chile Pepper Magazine contest.
- Harvest Brine was huge hit during the holidays with hundreds of folks dry brining their turkey with Harvest Brine, both locally and online (thanks Brethren!)
Coming into 2017, I knew I wanted to develop a seasoned salt that could be used at the grill or smoker. It needed to work with Brisket, Pork, Chicken..all it.
I started developing this new salt in February 2017 and by June 2017 (after many cooks and variations), it was ready for a field test.
Now named Q-Salt. We launched Q-Salt on our website in late July and the response (from brethren and locals alike) has been nothing less than phenomenal.
Challenge
I challenge you to start reading ingredient labels on your favorite rubs and ingredients, and then compare to what is in our products (ingredients for all our products are plainly listed on our products and our website). No hidden ingredients on purpose.
Yes! You can cook without seasoning that has a dozen ingredients, some that are difficult to pronounce or recognize.
Yes! You can brine and maintain moisture and texture without phosphates.
Join Us
Join Naturiffic in making BBQ simple again!
Thank you to everyone for being such a huge supporter of Naturiffic and the reason for our continued success!
John Shepard