Branford's hot sauce is seasoned with love

Posted on Thu, Sep. 11, 2008

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BY ELLEN KANNER

ellen@ellen-ink.com
CARL JUSTE / MIAMI HERALD STAFF
Everardo Branford's dream is to own a restaurant, but today he makes and distributes his own brand of hot sauce at various chain supermarkets.
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CARL JUSTE / MIAMI HERALD STAFF

You can't bottle love, but Miami Lakes' Everardo Branford has come close. All-natural and preservative-free, Branford's Original Hot Sauce has a habanero kick gentled by a tropical tang and the sweet memory of his Panamanian grandmother, who created it.

A petite force of nature whom everyone called Mama Chichi, she raised Branford in Parque Lefevre, Panama, after his parents separated, supporting him as she had once supported her own children, by working as a maid.
After cleaning houses all day, she would come home and ''make meals that brought our family together,'' recalls Branford, 44. ``One of her joys was cooking for her kids.''

Ingredients came from Mama Chichi's garden or her daily stops at the open-air market.

''Going to the market with her, picking the fresh stuff we used, watching her bargain with the vendors was the most exciting thing,'' he says. ``Everything we did at home was fresh. We always made our own sauce.''

Turmeric-rich, mellow and versatile, ``it enhanced the food -- it has flavor.''
By the time Branford left Panama at 17, cooking had become his joy as well.
''I love cooking for my family,'' says the tall, shaven-headed father of four. ``Especially the recipes my grandmother taught me.''

He cooked with her sauce, kept it on the table at meals and brought it to parties and made it for friends, who always clamored for more.
That was plenty until 2006 dealt him a double-whammy. Mama Chichi died at the age of 90 and shortly thereafter, Branford got laid off from his job at a car dealership.

His wife, Shirley, encouraged him to forget about selling cars and start selling Mama Chichi's sauce, offering to invest part of her 401(k) fund in the effort.

''If it wasn't for my wife, Branford's Original would not exist,'' he says. ``She's like my grandmother -- she's the glue that holds my family together.''

Drawing on his own retirement savings, too, he launched Branford's Original Hot Sauce last year, making it just the way Mama Chichi had taught him: ''fresh peppers, fresh garlic'' plus a secret ingredient -- the memory of Mama Chichi.

''His grandmother -- he has her in his head,'' says Hector Vidal, who manufactures the sauce for Branford at Prima Foods International in Ocala.
``We've been trying to interpret those thoughts and memories and put them into a product -- everything natural and without preservatives. It's a very ambitious line of products.''

That ambition is paying off, says Vidal. ``Every time Everardo orders, he orders more. The demand for his product is increasing.''
Branford has convinced a half-dozen retailers to carry his sauce (now in three versions) and also sells it online (see box).

Thanks to product demonstrations at supermarkets and events like the Delray Beach Garlic Festival and Pompano Beach Seafood Festival, Branford has developed his own autograph-seeking fan base. ''I don't get it,'' he says, shaking his head and grinning. ``I'm a simple guy -- I made a sauce my grandmother made. ''Cooking for festival crowds, he says, give him a chance to ``show what I learned from my grandmother.''

Then he comes home and fixes dinner for his family. ``I'm following the traditions my grandmother taught me -- making the meals she enjoyed making.''
Mama Chichi would be proud.