In 1883, our great great grandfather, Rev. Arthur Elwin Main, purchased the land we toil on still today. Our family has grown orange trees, watermelons, corn, ferns and even tried growing tung oil trees in the 1930's. Today, we grow Florida’s hidden gem, the rare and unique Datil Pepper. The Datil has a very mysterious past with multiple stories of its lineage. Grown primarily in Northeast Florida, we consider this to be our Florida heritage pepper. Minorcan families grew Datil Peppers for use in cultural dishes and every family has their own particular sauce. Our Mema’s “Hot Stuff” Hot Sauce was our family favorite and the genesis of our hot sauce, Mayhem Original. Like many families, we began growing peppers for our own sauce. Our love for the datil pepper had to be shared so we began shipping Mayhem Original and fresh datil peppers all over the country. Now we have almost 1,800 datil pepper plants and have been privileged to meet some of the most creative minds in the food business. It is a lot of work but we are lucky to have our families’ help and support!
The sweet, fruity, and tangy Datil Pepper has many diverse uses. Knowledgeable chefs in the area are using this wonderful pepper in every phase of cooking from appetizers to dessert. Creative mixologists are experimenting on cocktails featuring the datil pepper by infusing the flavor into liquors and beers. Home cooks use the datil in pilau (perlow), chowder, and of course their own hot sauce. This versatility is why we feel the datil pepper needs to be protected and highlighted; it is truly one of a kind.
We created #savethedatil as a way of bringing awareness to this amazing and versatile chili. In the book Chasing Chiles, by Friese/Kraft/Nabhan, the author, notes that the datil pepper was “boarded” on “The Ark of Taste” - a catalog of endangered foods - because it is in danger of being lost. We hope #savethedatil will direct chiliheads to the datil pepper in much the same way New Mexico helped grow the popularity of the Hatch Chile.
We are the only farm that ships fresh Datil peppers all over the country (we hope that changes). In addition to selling peppers, we also produce the St. Augustine Datil Pepper Festival Championship Hot Sauce - Mayhem Original. Mayhem Original has been the reigning sauce since 2018. The Datil Pepper Festival is hosted by University of Florida Agricultural Center in St Augustine on the first Saturday in October, which is Datil Pepper Day.
We invite you to our 100 acre family farm during harvest (July-Nov) and learn more about this amazing pepper. Our Minorcan culture, heritage, and culinary influence are unbelievably important to us and we hope that you will join us in helping save the datil!
We look forward to hearing from you! We would greatly appreciate any awareness you could bring to the datil pepper. SAVE THE DATIL!
The sweet, fruity, and tangy Datil Pepper has many diverse uses. Knowledgeable chefs in the area are using this wonderful pepper in every phase of cooking from appetizers to dessert. Creative mixologists are experimenting on cocktails featuring the datil pepper by infusing the flavor into liquors and beers. Home cooks use the datil in pilau (perlow), chowder, and of course their own hot sauce. This versatility is why we feel the datil pepper needs to be protected and highlighted; it is truly one of a kind.
We created #savethedatil as a way of bringing awareness to this amazing and versatile chili. In the book Chasing Chiles, by Friese/Kraft/Nabhan, the author, notes that the datil pepper was “boarded” on “The Ark of Taste” - a catalog of endangered foods - because it is in danger of being lost. We hope #savethedatil will direct chiliheads to the datil pepper in much the same way New Mexico helped grow the popularity of the Hatch Chile.
We are the only farm that ships fresh Datil peppers all over the country (we hope that changes). In addition to selling peppers, we also produce the St. Augustine Datil Pepper Festival Championship Hot Sauce - Mayhem Original. Mayhem Original has been the reigning sauce since 2018. The Datil Pepper Festival is hosted by University of Florida Agricultural Center in St Augustine on the first Saturday in October, which is Datil Pepper Day.
We invite you to our 100 acre family farm during harvest (July-Nov) and learn more about this amazing pepper. Our Minorcan culture, heritage, and culinary influence are unbelievably important to us and we hope that you will join us in helping save the datil!
We look forward to hearing from you! We would greatly appreciate any awareness you could bring to the datil pepper. SAVE THE DATIL!
We hope that our passion to "Save The Datil" comes through with our fresh Datil Peppers, sauce and rubs!
Please tag us in your recipe photos and comments on Facebook!
Thank you!
Thank you!