Cycle 4 – Item 226

19 (Mon) August 2013

Hotdogs with Pico de Gallo à la Tapatio

2.5

by me

at home

-Oksu, Seongdong, Seoul, Republic of Korea-

solo

A couple years ago, MtG and I toyed with the idea of launching a business to import chili sauce.  Picante Seoul.  We figured on starting with a single brand, like Tapatio Salsa Picante Hot Sauce, which had been one of my favorites back in the States.  As part of our research, we ordered a box from the website, thinking maybe that we could develop some recipes, give out some samples, whatever.  Number One Fan LJY, who provided free legal advice and would’ve been our lawyer had a deal gone through, even brought me a box of the little individual packets on one of her trips here; she’d even gone to the actual headquarters to pick it up and get in some face time with the potential supplier.

The main obstacle, other than the fact that it was a dumb idea, was that the Korean government has ridiculously strict standards concerning the import of chili-based products, like an insane 40% tariff and full disclosure of the ingredients.  Presumably, the protectionist measures are in place to insulate the domestic gochujang and/or kimchi industries.  It would explain the dearth of chili sauces available on the market here, other than major brands produced locally under license (e.g., Tabasco).  In any case, we couldn’t really make the numbers work.  And Tapatio never even bothered to respond to our emails – “Hey, we’re these guys with no business experience.  But for our initial venture, we want to try and sell your product.  Please send us your formula so that we can secure customs clearance from the Korean government.”

Anyway, I still have a lot of the packets.  No expiration date.  They seem okay.  Does unopened hot sauce ever go bad?

(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)