About Us
It’s named after a small town where it was first made four decades ago. A town that doesn’t exist anymore, its long forgotten main street and shops now just a busy intersection in the heart of Mississauga in southern Ontario. The farms and orchards have disappeared but the sauce lives on!
In the autumn of 1974, Paul Casey was a struggling student studying at the University of Guelph. Located in southwestern Ontario, the University is surrounded by farm lands and agriculture and has an abundance of locally grown fresh produce that is sold in local markets. Paul was renting an old house in the nearby town of Cooksville. One warm, sunny Friday afternoon, while on his way home from school, he stopped at a local market in Erindale to pick up some supplies for the weekend. He noticed one vendor selling hot peppers by the bushel.
An idea hit him. His monetary funds were limited, but instead of buying the usual student staples of potatoes, onions and the like, he went with the peppers and his idea. Purchasing a sufficient amount of chilies, he headed home and that night cooked them into a sauce. There was the usual Friday night party at the house and all of the guests became willing test subjects for this new hot sauce. They liked it! People dropping by the now legendary house at 3151 Hurontario Street also tried it and began requesting bottles for themselves.
The idea had worked. Enough income was generated from sales to not only buy food, but that other student staple. Beer! Cooksville Hot Sauce was born!
Production increased as the years went by. The company moved to Ottawa in the late 1980’s and continued to expand.
Gardens were cultivated and different types of peppers were grown and experimented with. Seeds for more exotic chilies were searched for and purchased. Currently we list over 160 varieties of hot peppers from around the world in our seed inventory. Pepper plants were cultivated on our two acre property in Dunrobin, just west of the city, to produce different recipes which were then test marketed and refined before going into production in our modern commercial kitchen. The company relocated to Hamilton Ontario in 2009, which gave us access to a larger market as well as the vast agricultural bounty of south western Ontario.
We continue to try different ideas to bring you exceptional sauces. Our sauces are made with the finest natural ingredients. We use fresh picked locally grown peppers, pure natural water, the finest distilled vinegars and spices, natural citrus juices, and sea salts.
Cooksville hot sauces are not just about heat. They are about flavors and we pride ourselves in offering original recipes that we have discovered on our travels around the world.
We have a passion for food and a love of cooking. From our kitchen to yours, the joy of great food and sharing it with special people are in the best family traditions all over the world. Give our sauces a try. We know you will enjoy them.