IS IT HOT IN HERE OR IS IT JUST ROLO'S? Locally-made hot sauce and spice biz hopes to continue spreading the heat. (Submitted photos)

Rolo’s Hot Sauce, founded and run by Osseo local Rolando Morales, has been heating up the Chippewa Valley for three years with its home-grown, small-batch flavor.

Morales says he currently has nine different sauces in his repertoire, including Roasted Garlic Thai, Honeycrisp Apple Habanero, Strawberry Reaper, Blueberry Scorpion, Grilled Pineapple Scorpion Habanero, Mango Scorpion Habanero, and Devil’s Tongue. While these flavors certainly sound heat-inducing – and distinctly flavorful – Morales strives to create a variety of sauces for all palates and spice tolerances. So, if you’re someone who enjoys the odd spice or someone who wants to fill your sweet tooth in a unique manner, Rolo’s Hot Sauces are for you!

Morales began this chili-peppered journey as a hobby, he has enjoyed hot sauce for as long as he can remember. “I’ve always enjoyed hot sauce and then I had a friend who started growing some super hot peppers,” he recalled. “I decided to experiment with different sauces and different flavors … and it turned out that they were pretty good, so I decided to sell them. Every year it just seems like we grow more and more peppers!”

Morales grows the peppers himself and has been doing so for a couple of years. Some of the varieties he grows include the Carolina Reaper, Habanero, Scotch Bonnet, and Komodo Dragon chili.

Morales has certainly found a unique niche in the Valley for fresh fruit-filled hot sauce, too. “They are super hot, so I mix a lot of them with fruit to make them more tolerable.”

Rolo's products at a farmer's market.

Morales credited this palate-pleasing blend, along with the small batch size (about 15 five-ounce bottles per batch) and his farming efforts, for his success thus far. “In this area, you don’t find hot sauce like that, and that fresh.”

You can find Rolo’s Hot Sauce kickin’ up local events and up for grabs at farmer’s markets primarily around Eau Claire and Osseo for $10 per five ounce bottle, along with home-made Rolo’s Pepper Flakes, sold for eight dollars per shaker container, which go great on Pizza or Chili, Morales says. Rolo’s Hot Sauce will be available at the Eau Claire Farmers Market winter markets at the Brewing Projekt (1807 N. Oxford Ave., Eau Claire), which begins Saturday, Nov. 2.

Follow the Rolo’s Hot Sauce Facebook page for more hot sauce information. Questions? Reach out to Rolo_morales80@yahoo.com.