South Philly Review

photo credit: Staff Photo By John Taggart

The spice of life A local man has created a line of hot sauces and salsas bearing his neighborhood's name for sale in stores along the East Coast.

By Caitlin Meals

review staff writer

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Though a 12-year-old may prefer bubble-gum ice cream with extra sprinkles and a cherry on top, as palates mature, an appreciation for complex flavors take shape.

J.D. Pasternoster was no exception. As a child, he was picky with a standing order at McDonald's: a Quarter Pounder, hold the mustard and ketchup.

"I was always one of those bland eaters," the 43-year-old from 21st and Shunk streets recalled.

Not these days. Now he's more open to add a little kick to his meals and not just any fiery liquid will do.

Pasternoster's launched his own J.D.'s South Philly HaHa Hot Sauce five years ago and now it can be found, in addition to the company's Web site, in supermarkets like Whole Foods and Giant. The six products range from hot and barbecue sauces to salsa and were born out of a lifetime love of gardening. It was only when the entrepreneur relocated a decade ago he brought his hobby to fruition.

"When I moved to South Philly, I got my garden set up and redid the whole backyard. It had perfect growing conditions," he said. "During the height of summer, it's maybe getting 14 hours of sunlight. That was enough for me to buy the house. The first year, my wife was like, 'Cheese and crackers! How many peppers can you get?' I had chili peppers, all kinds of hot peppers. I was giving them out to whoever would take them. Then I started reading up on how to preserve them. I didn't want to grow stuff to throw it away."

About five years ago, Pasternoster began preserving his veggies in vinegar or vodka. To make the best use of them, he read up on how to make hot sauce and conjured up a recipe after a lot of "playing around" with various ingredients -- a process five years in the making, with results he was "really happy with" only in the last year-and-a-half.

Pineapples and figs went into his two flagship concoctions: Pyro Pineapple Hot Sauce and Figgin' Hot Sauce. Before these, J.D.'s Vodka Pepper Sauce was a simple blend of peppers preserved in alcohol and spices made in his kitchen.

The signature products remain among his top-sellers at small stores and supermarket chains. As the business grew, Pasternoster's condiments were created and bottled at a food-production facility in Punxsutawney.

The fig sauce -- spawned from his mother-in-law's plentiful trees -- has been altered a bit and is now Figgin' Hot Dippin' and Grillin' Sauce. But don't let the ingredients fool you; just like the character on the Pyro Pineapple bottle, Pasternoster's sauces are sure to set a mouth on fire.

Or at least make it feel that way.

"The Pyro Pineapple is hot, it's got medium heat, a decent little kick to it. The Figgin' Hot is hot! There's lots of jalapenos in it," he said.

Growing up in Burlington, N.J., Pasternoster took the gardening lead from his mother and his own green thumb began with coddling tomatoes in his family's 20-by-20-foot parcel, which he soon found was not as easy as it looked.

"I was growing 20-foot plants, but only one or two tomatoes. Then, when I learned how to properly grow fruit, started to read up on it and get some books and get into it, it became a passion of mine," he said.