Dave’s Gourmet commemorates its 20th anniversary by unveiling World’s Most Expensive Pasta Sauce at the 2013 NASFT Winter Fancy Food Show. White Truffle Marinara Sauce handmade in Dave’s Gourmet’s own kitchen will sell $1,000 per jar.
The pasta sauce which contains vine-ripened tomatoes, white truffles, and edible gold flakes, is packed in an antique handcrafted wooden box bearing the company’s insignia. It is being produced in a very limited quantity, and each jar takes approximately six weeks from order to delivery.
“The White Truffle Marinara is a fun and fitting next step in our mission of developing innovative premium products,” said Dave Hirschkop, founder and CEO of Dave’s Gourmet.
Dave’s Gourmet is the result of Dave owning and managing a small restaurant called Burrito Madness near the University of Maryland. Late at night a number of Dave’s patrons were usually drunk and troublesome. Quickly Dave discovered that if some of these drunks ate super hot hot sauce, then they either left or became extremely quiet. Since it worked out that the hotter the sauce, the faster drunk patrons left; Dave went on a mission to create the hottest sauce in the Universe. The end result of this mission was Insanity Sauce, which once held the title of “world’s hottest sauce.”
The original Dave’s Insanity Sauce premiered around 1993 and was one of the first sauces to be made directly from capsaicin extract, allowing it to be hotter than the hottest habanero-pepper sauces of the day. It was the only hot sauce ever banned from the National Fiery Foods Show for being too hot. It has been rated at 180,000 Scoville units, compared with 2,500-5,000 for Tabasco sauce. Part of the intrigue behind the sauce name (Insanity) Dave Hirschkop’s wearing of a strait jacket at events promoting his products.
Dave’s Gourmet won the award for best pasta sauce in the industry two years in a row with the first of its kind, Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce followed by the unique Masala Marinara. His he excellent quality items has garnered the company a number of awards including a prestigious gold trophy and 6 silver trophies from NASFT (The National Association for the Specialty Food Trade). Dave’s Hurtin’ Habanero Mustard won a gold award the last 3 years in a row at the World Wide Mustard Festival.
During this year celebrating its 20th Anniversary and launching world’s most expensive pasta sauce, Dave’s Gormet will organize other events including a video program and other online contests aimed at rewarding Dave’s Gourmet’s most loyal and longtime fans with various prizes and acknowledgments.
“These events symbolize our continuing commitment to innovate, have fun and grow for the benefit of the consumer, and we are really grateful to our partners and customers for all their support for the past 20 years,” said Mr. Hirschkop.