Founder of El Rancho del Fuego
Tennessee Bob
Straight out of the Appalachian mountains, Bob lends heart and mind to humble, down to earth folk. Campfires blaze, songs get sung, and everybody dances. That is the mind of this homegrown hillbilly.
El Rancho del Fuego
The Pepper People
El Rancho del Fuego is a solace and a retreat for lost pepper souls. They converge on Bob's farm, they change, and they end up on a label. Three books tell the rest of it.
The main character
Jalapeño Jack
Jack was the first of the world's refugees to find his way to the ranch. He popped off the truck after a trip to the market, and once he showed up on Bob's ranch they all started coming.
Goddess of the ranch
Ma, La Abuela
The one who keeps the peace. Now transformed from a person into a pepper, Ma comes from Ecuador and is known as the Mother of the Earth, La Ma de la Tierra, or simply La Ma. Her chimichurri recipe is in the bottle.
Carolina Reaper, the hottest in the land
Jim Grim
Ole Jim is not one to reckon with, the baddest of all the rancheros. He came in from the Wild West as a gambler, a cowboy and a snake. When Jim gives that crooked smile, you feel like you just lost something.
Real name Javier
Happy Habanero
Born in Tijuana, moved to California after high school and became a surfer. He did well working the surf shops, auditioned for Baywatch, and did not make the cut because his eyes were always a little red.
Ma's son, Bob's brother in law
Rico
When the family came to live on El Rancho from Quito, Rico was a young professional doing well in his career. He never expected to wake up one day and see a pepper in the mirror. He took it hard.
Cajun, of Choctaw descent
Cayenne Dan
Dan is Cajun fo' sho', with a deep Creole drawl and Native American roots. After the 1831 Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek scattered his Choctaw people west of the Mississippi, some stayed behind. Dan's line is one of them.
Scotch bonnet
Rasta
One cool pepper who will still burn you if you are not cool with him. Hotter than Happy, though Happy disagrees, and the two of them have been competing for the Sweet Bells' attention ever since.
Nickname Ancho
Pablo Poblano
Out of Puebla, Mexico. A big, strong farmer's son with a warm heart and a fondness for cattle rustling, a skill his father taught him. Back when he was a man he could lasso a steer five times his size.
Serrano, class of the roaring twenties
Guido
This Serrano Pepper Person ran with a gang in the twenties. He is always packing heat and always standing by, ready to do whatever needs doing, for better or for much worse.
Thai pepper
Ty
Small and fiery. They call him an ornamental pepper, but he is not pretty like an ornament and he is definitely mental. He can really get Jim Grim's goat, and he is convinced he is the hotter of the two.
Happy Habanero's boy
Happy Junior
Junior and his father are two of the more spicy peppers on the ranch. If spicy equates to spastic, Junior is high on that scale and full of life. The Sweet Bells love them both, but Junior is their boy.
Sir Shagglesworth, the ranch dog
Waggie
Bob's dog Shaggy, aka Sir Shagglesworth, loves his steak, and this sauce with it even more. Formulated to be super gourmet for Wagyu beef using shiitake mushrooms, shishito peppers and nutritional yeast. It is waggilicious.
The books
Read the fables
The Pepper People started as stories about an Ecuadorian farm and the not so friendly neighbours next door. Three titles, plus the bundle.