Callaloo Corner

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Callaloo Corner

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Authentic Caribbean Pepper Sauces in 4 delicious flavours to choose:
🌶️ Chayote & Tamarind
🌶️ Apple & Mango
🌶️ Papaya & Carrot
🌶️ Beetroot & Tamarind
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Great Taste Award-Winning⭐️⭐️, Caribbean Heat-Packed Sauces with Authentic Flavours!

🌶️ Chayote & Tamarind ⭐️⭐️
🌶️ Beetroot and Tamarind
🌶️ Spicy Pineapple BBQ ⭐️⭐️
🌶️ Apple & Mango ⭐️
🌶️ Papaya & Carrot ⭐️
🌶️ Roasted Tomato Extra Hot

28/10/2026

Well, that’s a wrap from me for 2026……

Yesterday I made what should be the last Callaloo Corner batch of the year.

When I looked at this lot afterwards, I had one of those slightly surreal thoughts: well… that’s it then.

For the first time, Callaloo Corner will be trading for the entire duration of Wi******er Cathedral Christmas Market, so the last few months have involved a fair amount of calculating, estimating and trying to work out just how much stock the full Christmas Market might actually require.

And now comes the interesting bit. 😏

This will either turn out to be our biggest sales period of 2026…

…or I’ll discover that my carefully calculated stock forecast lands like a lead balloon.

That is the slightly terrifying part of being a small business. At some point you have to stop calculating, commit the money, make the stock and find out whether you called it right.

So, as things stand, production for 2026 is finished.

There is, of course, one possible flaw in that statement.

If you lot give me the best and worst Christmas present ever by buying everything faster than I’ve calculated, I may find myself back in production before Christmas after all. 😏

But for now, this lot is officially off duty.

And I’m quite happy to leave it that way.

behindthescenes

24/10/2026

Scaling a small-batch hot sauce business apparently means everything gets bigger.

The pot.
The stirring paddle.
The food processor.

There’s just one small problem.

I’m still the same size. 😏

What you can’t see in this video is that I’m actually standing on a stool so I can reach the pot properly.

The equipment is getting bigger.

Now I just need to work out how to scale me. 🤔

17/10/2026

From the tree to the sauce — but there’s a lot that happens in between.

These apples were literally picked from the tree and brought home to become part of our Apple & Mango hot sauce.

And that’s the bit I wanted to take you behind the scenes of.

Before one apple can become part of the finished sauce, my home kitchen has to move from home mode to production mode. The space is prepared, the apples are washed and rinsed, then cored, cut, roasted and blended into a smooth apple purée.

It’s careful, hands-on work, because what eventually goes into the bottle starts with how every ingredient is handled from the very beginning.

Those seven bags at the start of the Reel?

That’s the result of taking one real ingredient from tree to production-ready purée.

And even then, I still haven’t made the sauce.

I’ve prepared one ingredient.

10/10/2026

Callaloo Corner has been named a finalist for Best Caribbean Sauce at the 4th Annual UK Caribbean Food Awards 2026. 🇹🇹

What makes this particular finalist place special to me is where the sauces came from.

Papa Yo! comes directly from my mum’s pepper sauce recipe. Doux Doux grew from memories of doubles and the tamarind sauce that brings them together. Roasted Tomato Xtra Hot is a tribute to Tomato Choka and the food I grew up eating at home.

And Spicy Pineapple BBQ reaches back to childhood visits to Rib House in St James. Their barbecue sauce was one of those flavours that stayed with me for years. I never set out to copy it. I wanted to capture something of the memory it left behind.

Very different sauces, but all shaped by Trinidadian food, family and memory.

To have Callaloo Corner recognised in a category celebrating Caribbean sauce, alongside such an established shortlist, is something I am very proud of.

Thank you to the UK Caribbean Food Awards judges for selecting Callaloo Corner, and to everyone who has bought a bottle, recommended us, come back for more or simply told someone else about the sauces. ☺️

Proudly Trini. Boldly Caribbean.

06/10/2026

Callaloo Corner Ltd has been named a finalist in two categories at the Hampshire Business Awards 2026 ☺️

🏆 Taste of Hampshire
🏆 SME Business of the Year

They recognise two very different sides of Callaloo Corner. Taste of Hampshire is about the food and flavours at the heart of what we do, while SME Business of the Year recognises the business being built around them.

Callaloo Corner is rooted in the Trinidadian family recipes, food memories and flavours I grew up with, but it was founded and built here in Wi******er.

To see both sides of the business recognised in this way is very special.

A particular thank you to Kurt Moxham at HampshireGrowth Hub, who sent me the awards information and encouraged me to apply.

Thank you also to Hampshire Fare for continuing to champion Hampshire’s food and drink producers, and to The Business Magazine - South East and the Hampshire Business Awards judging panel for selecting Callaloo Corner Ltd as a finalist in both categories.

The winners will be announced on 26 November. Until then, I’m very happy to be celebrating two finalist places for our little piece of Trinidad, built here in Hampshire. ☺️

03/10/2026

Remember being a kid and telling your parents you were NEVER going to use this kind of maths in real life?

Well… turns out I was wrong. 😏

For small amounts, the baking soda ratio I use is easy enough:

2 cups of water = 1 teaspoon of baking soda.

But when you’ve got several kilos of Scotch bonnet peppers to wash for hot sauce production, two cups of water isn’t going to get you very far.

So there I was with a measuring tape in the sink.

Length × width × depth of water.
Work out the volume.
Convert it to litres.
Then calculate how many grams of baking soda I need.

Measure it out. Mix it in. And finally, in go the Scotch bonnets. 🌶️

Not quite what I imagined I’d be using maths for when I was at school.

So Mum… apparently I DID need that maths after all. 😏

What’s something you learned at school that you were convinced you’d never use, but now find yourself using?

26/09/2026

Three batches in three days. I can confirm that sounded like a much better idea before I actually did it.
By Friday, the sauce was bottled, but there was still plenty to finish: boxes to move, bottles to put away, labels and capsules to complete.
My knees were swollen, every joint ached and I felt as though I’d been run over.
This is my first year employing staff, so this week taught me two things I am still learning: how to accept help and how not to make life difficult for myself.
I brought in help because I need to reduce the physical demands on my body. Finding that some work needed doing again was frustrating, particularly when it used up the time I’d hoped to sit down between stages.
My business partner made me look at it differently.
When someone is learning your process, extra hands do not immediately equal extra capacity.
Teach it. Watch them do it. Ask them to explain back what they understand. Get them to demonstrate it. Then check that the standard you see in your head is the same standard they understand.
“Yep, I understand” does not necessarily mean you both have the same picture in your heads.
Then came the lesson about managing myself.
My husband regularly jokes that my boss is a real Bit@£.
Unfortunately, he has a point.
When you work for yourself, it is easy to forget that you are the person setting the pace. Sometimes circumstances dictate the schedule. Sometimes the brutal timetable is self-inflicted.
Three production days, with finishing work afterwards, took a lot out of me.
Could I do it? Apparently, yes.
Does that mean I should schedule myself to do it like that again? Absolutely not.
As founders, we talk a lot about growth and doing more. We talk rather less about protecting the person the business still depends on.
Without you, there is no business.
My two biggest lessons from this week:
Give other people the time to learn.
Give yourself permission not to run yourself into the ground while they do.
For the other founders and producers here, which took you longer to learn: delegating, or being less demanding of yourself?

16/09/2026

Fried okra / ochro: my son’s absolute favourite. 🇹🇹

In our house, he seems to think the bowl is mainly his, while kindly leaving one serving for the person who made it. 😏

Some crispy bits, some soft bits, and sada roti to scoop it up. That’s my kind of Trini breakfast.

Measurements are eyeballed, as usual. 😉 Adjust to your taste.

YOU’LL NEED
• About 450g fresh okra (an estimate, as I didn’t weigh mine)
• About ⅓ of a medium onion
• 6 large garlic cloves
• Scotch bonnet to taste, or your choice of Callaloo Corner’s hot sauce
• Oil for pan-frying
• Salt to taste

The seasonings in slide 3 were shared across THREE dishes. The onion and garlic quantities above are for the okra alone.

METHOD

1. Wash the okra and dry it well, then slice very thinly. Mince the onion, garlic and fresh pepper, if using.
2. Heat enough oil to coat the base of a wide frying pan. You’re pan-frying, not deep-frying. Give the okra room to fry rather than steam.
3. Fry the minced seasonings until lightly golden, then add the okra and salt to taste.
4. Fry until you’re happy with the texture, turning as needed so it doesn’t burn. I like a mixture of crispy and soft; cook longer if you prefer it crispier. That generous pile shrinks considerably!

Using sauce instead of fresh pepper? Try our Roasted Tomato Xtra Hot or Papa Yo! Papaya & Carrot. Doux Doux Chayote & Tamarind brings a roasted cumin flavour. Add a little to the finished dish and adjust to taste.

💡 HANDY TIP FROM MY MUM
When choosing okra, check the pointed tip. If it snaps easily, that’s the one she’d choose. If it’s tough and won’t snap, leave it.

I serve mine with sada roti, tomato choka, scrambled eggs and baigan (aubergine/melongene) choka. If needs must and you don’t have sada roti, pitta bread can work as a substitute—but it just doesn’t taste the same.

Save the recipe for your next Trini breakfast. Do you like your ochro really crispy, or with some soft bits too?

08/09/2026

Last week, I shared what it takes to run Callaloo Corner with chronic pain and a hidden disability. I promised an update after an appointment about both knees.

The outcome was disappointing. There is no further treatment available for chronic pain at present. My left knee may take months to return to its usual baseline. My consultant does not want to operate on the right knee at this stage and advised me to ask my trainer to begin VMO-strengthening work.

I found my unicorn again. 🦄 His name is Adam French ( ).

Adam is a qualified personal trainer with more than 15 years’ experience, a Sport Coaching & Development degree and sports massage training. We first trained at the University of Southampton and later reconnected through LinkedIn.

Adam took this video during last week’s session. Weeks earlier, I could not have attempted this movement. After a leg stretch, my knee felt as though it had “unlocked”, and I could try.

A tiny adjustment to my feet, hips or elbows, a different position or a change of weight can take me from “I can’t do this” to “What the heck? I can do it.”

Monday reminded me that progress is rarely a straight line.

In the final ten minutes, we tried an exercise intended to load the knee. I could not complete it, and the attempt left my knee feeling locked again.

I was disappointed. You could see how upset Adam was that I was in pain and how much the setback affected him. We stopped, and deep tissue massage to the front and back of my lower leg left the knee feeling easier and no longer locked.

Before I left, he asked me to share my medical reports so my programme could be adapted within the clinical guidance I have been given.

That response reinforced why I value this approach: close observation, knowing when to stop and being willing to understand and adapt when something does not go to plan.

My chronic pain has not disappeared. Once my body cools down, it returns. But working with Adam has given me something I did not leave that hospital appointment with: some hope.

Address

Houghton Lodge Gardens
Stockbridge
SO20 6LQ

Website

https://callaloocorner.com/

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