Put down that bottle of Frank’s — a whole new world of Edmonton-made hot sauce is waiting to dazzle your tastebuds.
Lessig Ferments is a new venture for Edmonton chef Roger Letourneau. He launched the brand in early 2023 with a series of hot sauces made from local ingredients. His sauces are fermented, unlike most commercial hot sauces, which are cooked.
When you think of fermentation, you probably jump to common examples of fermented foods like wine, miso, sourdough and kimchi. Any fruit or vegetable can be fermented — when left alone most will spontaneously ferment with native yeasts in the environment.
Letourneau’s goal is to gently ferment chilies and other ingredients separately, at cellar temperatures — just like in winemaking. The process can take upwards of six months, but the end result yields wonderfully complex flavours.
“Fermented hot sauces are a little bit softer on the palate,” says Letourneau. “I’m not trying to make the hottest sauce or anything too spicy. I’m more interested in making something really flavourful and balanced as a condiment.”
Fermented hot sauces are pretty niche, so Letourneau has had to draw inspiration and learn techniques from other types of fermented foods. He has worked along-side winemakers, cheesemakers, and other artisans and chefs in both Europe and Canada who specialize in fermentation.
“Winemaking and charcuterie making are well established, but when you get into these more peculiar fermentation styles, there’s not as much to draw from,” Letourneau says. “You have to piece together the similarities from these different industries that are based on fermentation.”
Letourneau launched Lessig Ferments with an apricot habanero hot sauce, followed quickly by a pair of others. Cheesy Wheezy is a dairy-based hot sauce made with milk from Vital Green Farm, an organic dairy producer in southern Alberta. Strawberry Basil Bomb blends fermented strawberries and basil from Rafferty Farms, an Alberta aquaponics operation.
In the fall of 2023, Letourneau released pumpkin pickles and pumpkin seed syrup, which he describes as similar to molasses. He made both products from pumpkins grown at Prairie Gardens near Bon Accord.
Through Lessig Ferments, Letourneau hopes to help local food producers process some of their excess fruits and veggies into various preserves that will last for years.
“When I was a chef, I worked with a lot of farmers that all had the same issue: They just couldn’t move fresh product fast enough,” he says. “The two things that I’m looking for are either using fermentation, or local products.”
Letourneau uses local ingredients in his products, except the chili peppers. He currently sources those from California, because Alberta’s climate and short growing season curtail any large-scale chili growing here.
Letourneau hopes to launch his first vinegar in the spring of 2024. Vinegar is the project’s namesake, after all: “Essig” is the German word for vinegar and Letourneau combined this with the first two letters of his surname to form his brand.
To that end, he has been working on a beer vinegar in conjunction with local Edmonton brewery Blind Enthusiasm, which has a barrel-fermented beer program called The Monolith.
“They understand fermentation’s most challenging aspects,” Letourneau says. “It’s like sourdough: you’re not trying to force things using products made in a lab. It’s about cultivating a good environment and learning how natural products allow these processes to happen, and adapting your model to accommodate nature, rather than trying to force nature.
“I really like analog cooking and this is similar. I’m trying to get away from using too much technology. I think the path of least resistance is the best one.”
You can find Lessig Ferments at local shops in and around Edmonton, including Meuwly’s (where Letourneau mentored under a previous owner and charcuterie expert, Will Kotowicz), ACME Meats, Color de Vino, Modest Meats, Bonjour Bakery and The Butchery. You can also find Lessig Ferments products on the menus at Biera, Nowhere Wine Bar, Partake and XIX Nineteen, and online at Good Goods.
As to whether or not he plans to scale up and eventually get Lessig Ferments into commercial grocery stores, Letourneau says he’s taking a cue from the Europeans.
“People revere artisans in Europe, but we don’t have the same reverence for them in Alberta,” he says. “I’m trying to answer the question of how much volume I can produce before I lose quality and adaptability.
“Everything is a trade off,” he continues. “I’ve worked at a lot of restaurants and there’s always this battle of wanting to challenge people and their ideas and concepts about the things they are eating. Trying to be a cultural leader is something I care a lot about. I want to give people the option to eat better, regardless of the scale.”
This article appears in the Mar/Apr 2024 issue of Edify
