Tapataldo - 2025
IN SHORT…
Tapataldo was an idea we came up with at breakfast: we wanted to create a Mexican-style hot sauce with the deep, fermented flavors that are the signature of our style. The result - an intricate combination of both fresh and dried peppers - which we named after Tim’s polymathic friend Aldo Beltran, has quickly become one of the best sauces in our lineup.
Food Pairings: in Mexico, hot sauce is rarely an afterthought; it is an essential counterpoint to the richness of everyday cuisine. With its backbone of toasted, dried chiles and bright fermentative notes, Tapataldo excels when drizzled over traditional favorites like huevos rancheros or a steaming bowl of pozole. However, its complex, savory depth is equally at home traversing borders, offering the perfect acidic punch to a slice of pizza or a grilled cheese sandwich.
This sauce was low-temperature pasteurized and preserved with calcium disodium EDTA (to maintain color and inhibit rancidity) and ascorbic acid (to prevent oxidation). While unquestionably shelf stable, we would strongly recommend keeping it refrigerated to help preserve its flavor.
Common Allergens: Onion/Garlic, Fish
This sauce is not vegetarian. It contains fish sauce which is made from anchovies.
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Mexican Spring Water, Fresh Peppers (Fresno, Jalapeño, Chilhuacle Rojo), Dried Peppers (Guajillo, Puya, Morita, Serrano Seco, Pequin), Cider Vinegar, Red Onions, Charred Tomatoes, Garlic, Salt, Fish Sauce, Distilled Vinegar, Cumin, Mexican Oregano, Ascorbic Acid, Black Pepper, Cloves, Xanthan Gum, Calcium Disodium EDTA
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Many of the peppers were grown on our very own “Hot Sauce Farms,” located, not on any actual farmland, but instead on Tim’s back patio in Baltimore County, Maryland.
Perhaps our most important partner, Moon Valley Farm in Woodsboro, Maryland agreed to ripen some jalapeños just for us (they usually sell them green) and also grew some of the fresno peppers and garlic.
All of the dried chiles and the Mexican oregano came from The Chile Guy, an online retailer based in Bernalillo, New Mexico. The quality of his offerings is truly exceptional.
The Central PA Produce Co-Op - a cooperative of organic Amish farmers - grew the red onions, while another Pennsylvania-based Amish cooperative, Franklin Sustainable Farms provided the remainder of the garlic.
Alrbright Farms in Baltimore County, Maryland grew the cherry tomatoes we later charred.
“Mexican Spring Water” refers to Topo Chico.
The fine people at Keepwell Vinegar in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania made the cider vinegar that in many ways provides the backbone for this sauce.
Finally, the fish sauce that gives Tapataldo a uniquely savory note came from Red Boat which is based on the island of Phú Quốc in Vietnam. We don’t think there is a better fish sauce on the planet.
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Tapataldo is a combination of five fermented mashes - all of which contained fresh and dried peppers alongside roasted onions, garlic, charred tomatoes. fish sauce and spices - which we then combined with a more traditional, non-fermented sauce we made from dried peppers that we cooked with vinegar, water and more spices. We mixed the combined sauce in our T&M Proprietary Mixing System and then left it to age in oak prior to bottling.
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Brix: 14.9
pH: 3.3
Soaking dried peppers prior to fermentation.