Paul’s Raro Hot Sauce is bringing together a love of all things chilli and a desire to put hot sauce from our little island on the overseas market.

Owner of the enterprise, Paul Lynch (Napa) was “thrilled” to have placed in the top five of two categories in Australia’s “The Mr Chilli” competition, coming away with a trophy award for his efforts.

Lynch said he was curious to see how Paul’s Raro Hot Sauce brand would rate overseas up against 50 companies from Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

He was pleased to say it is “doing okay”.

In the Medium Heat 5+ category, he placed second with his “Raro Lava” sauce, behind Ando’s Hot Sauce. In the Fruit Mild section, the “Shrekalicious” sauce came in a respectable fourth place.

Lynch grows mostly the big red habanero chillies and produces his small batch sauces locally.

He has mastered the blending of local fruit and chillies to market these spicy flavours “which have the delicious ability to bring food alive”.

In 2020 he launched his chilli brand and the first two flavours – Troppo Raro (habanero, mango, pineapple, banana, cane sugar, 2/3 on the Raro heat scale) and Raro Lava (scorpion, ghost and habanero chillies, mango, pineapple, banana, cane sugar).

Then along came Raro Fire, Dragon fruit and Jamaican jerk spices hot sauce, followed by Coco-Nana made with habanero, super sweet local bananas and freshly grated coconuts and rates 2/3 flames on the Raro heat scale.

The Smokin Hot BBQ sauce consists of smoked scorpion and habanero chillies, smoked tomato and onion, sugar, salt and vinegar rating 2/3 flames on the Raro heat scale

Shrekalicious is a green chilli tangy mild hot sauce, Magama, a Sriracha style hot sauce, and then The Core, his first “super-hot hot sauce” made with scorpion and ghost chillies both over 1 million Scoville heat units chillies.

Lynch is at the Punanga Nui Market every Saturday dressed in bright and spicy colours to promote his local chilli products.

His Paul’s Raro Hot Sauce are stocked on supermarket shelves and various shops around the island.

“They’re all selling well as there is something for everyone, from children to grandparents,” said Lynch.