• Chicaoji
• Goji Berries
• Raw Cacao
• Chipotle Chiles
• Raw Agave Nectar
• Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
• Celtic Sea Salt

Chicaoji Chipotle Chile Sauce

with organic, vegan, gluten & GMO free, and (mostly) raw ingredients

Know what you want? Click HERE to order.

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Chicaoji is a shelf stable hot sauce
~ featuring ~
Raw Goji berries and raw Cacao with the smoky flavor of Chipotles.

Ingredients by weight: Apple Cider Vinegar, Water, Goji Berries, Chipotles, Agave nectar, Celtic Sea Salt, Cacao nibs, and that’s it!

What’s it taste like?

Chicaoji’s unique combination of flavors registers all over the palate. The rich bitterness of the cacao balances with the complex sweet and tart of the goji berries. Agave nectar’s sweetness balances apple cider vinegar’s tartness. The complex flavor of Celtic Sea Salt weaves all the flavors together. The smoky chipotles provide a “medium” heat level. I intend the spiciness to accent rather than dominate the other ingredient flavors.

What’s in it?

Click the “Ingredients” button at the top of these webpages and follow the links on the drop down menu to learn more. Ingredients are organic, vegan,  kosher, gluten free, GMO free, and raw (except for the smoked chipotles). 

• RAW Goji berries are little red fruits used for many centuries in Chinese medicine, very high in vitamins and antioxidants with a sweet, tart, and slightly bitter flavor; a “Superfood” commonly used in health beverages, trail mixes, and really yummy chocolates.
• RAW Cacao is the seed that is used to make all chocolates. Raw cacao has a very complex, somewhat bitter, flavor and smooth texture. Cacao is naturally higher in antioxidants than most foods.
• Chipotles are smoked jalapeños used for their deliciously complex flavor and spicy heat. The smoking process enhances and preserves flavors lost in dried chilies. I call Chicaoji’s heat level Medium. It complements rather than dominates Chicaoji’s flavor. Many who “don’t like spicy” foods like Chicaoji. Chipotles are the only ingredient not technically “raw” (i.e. heated over 118˚F/48˚C) as they are smoked at about 165˚F/74˚C.
• RAW Apple Cider Vinegar with the “Mother of Vinegar”. The “Mother” refers to the naturally occuring microorganisms that transform the sugars of the apple fruit into vinegar. The benefit of this living nourishment is the main reason I stuck with keeping Chicaoji raw. Some people use raw apple cider vinegar every day for their health.
• RAW Agave Nectar provides natural sweetness with a low glycemic index; made from the juice of the agave plant
• Celtic Sea Salt™  is whole salt from a pristine coastal region of France containing a natural balance of minerals and trace elements that help create electolytes. It is hand harvested and dried by the wind and sun. Celtic Sea Salt is recommended by health professionals and culinary chefs.
• Water comes from deep beneath the ground on Lopez Island, WA.

How hot is it?

Medium. Some people drink it out of the bottle and others just do a dab.

Why these ingredients?

I believe food is medicine. I selected Chicaoji’s ingredients because they are recognized as (possibly) having health benefits in addition to their nutrition and most excellent flavor. Our food choices influence our well-being.
By the way, I do not make any health claims for Chicaoji. The food itself makes all necessary claims by being what it is.

I chose all organically produced ingredients for their quality and sustainability. Organic food production is important to us as individuals and as a society. Supporting sustainable and organic food production gives each of us a powerful vote for sustainable and organic farming. Our choices make a difference. How we spend our money may be the most powerful vote we possess in this society.

Where’s it from?

I developed the recipe with the help of  friends and neighbors at the Vortex Juice Bar and Cafe on Lopez Island, WA.  I continue to make it in small batches at Chicaoji Central here on Lopez Island. I did not start out to make a hot sauce. I started with the flavor of goji and cacao together. This delightful flavor asked for a chilies so I tried out 7 kinds and settled on chipotles which add a complexity to the flavor as well as spicy heat. See Story of Chicaoji.

What’s up with that name?

The name “Chicaoji” may be unfamiliar to you because I made it up. I had to come up with some kind of a name. I thought of quite a few. Finally, I sat down and separated the words chipotle, cacao and goji into bits and fiddled around with them.
I came up with a new name for a new thing:

CHIpotle, caCAO, and goJI= CHICAOJI

Say “chee – KOW - jee”

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Pick a bottle size!

Choose from 4 sizes.

• 1.7 fl oz (40 ml) bottles- $3 We call ‘em bitties. I originally started providing these to visitors to the Lopez Farmers Market so they could take them home through airport security in carry-on luggage. They also fit in a pocket or purse, backpack or saddle bag, lunch box or picnic basket. Boaters like them for their galleys. “Cute” is the word people use for the bitties.
• 5 fl oz (140 ml) are your standard hot sauce size bottle. They are nice for keeping on the table and as gifts.
• 12 fl oz (340 ml) Lots of people think the 5 oz bottles are just too small….so I provide these.
• 64 oz ”growlers” provide restaurants and the true enthusiasts enough to refill their smaller bottles.

How to get a bottle, a case, a discount.

Click HERE to order.

Discount for (12 bottle) case purchases

I use Instant-e-Store for online purchases. It works great to add up your order and calculate the cost of shipping from my zip code to yours.

Send it to loved ones overseas.

Reduced price to foreign countries and APO/FPO addresses

I ship anywhere in the world the USPS delivers, including APO/FPO/DPO addresses. You can have any mix of different bottles sizes at wholesale if they they fit into these boxes a USPS Flat Rate International Box. The reduced pricing helps to mitigate the cost of shipping on international orders. The USPS Flat Rate Box works great. Please contact me at moc.liamgnull@ijoacihc to organize shipments outside the US.

Instant E Store isn’t set up for international orders except to CANADA. Pretty cool, eh?

Make Chicaoji local! ~ Get a free bottle!

Ask your local grocery store, restaurant, or deli to provide Chicaoji on their shelves and tables. I offer a free bottle of Chicaoji for help making contacts. Go to the Order Page for details.

No refrigeration!

Chicaoji is certified shelf stable before and after opening. Refrigeration not required!
Keep Chicaoji on the table or in the cupboard.

You may find a bottle labeled “Keep Refrigerated”. I had a bunch of those labels printed when the WSDA required them to say “Keep Refrigerated” because Chicaoji is a raw food, not pasteurized.  I sent Chicaoji in for testing at the appropriate food safety laboratories. Happily, USDA and WSDA lab analyses indicate Chicaoji can be kept before and after opening at room temperature. Chicaoji is shelf stable because of its low pH. We test the pH of each batch and the numbers you see on the bottles correspond to our batch numbers.
You can safely disregard that “Keep Refrigerated” statement on a label if you have one. I just kept on using the labels because it seemed like such a waste to discard them. It’s ok to refrigerate Chicaoji, it just isn’t necessary.

You gotta shake Chicaoji before pouring:

Cacao is naturally almost half cacao butter and it floats to the top of the bottle! Sometimes this floating cacao plugs the top of the narrow necked bottles. Although this is slightly inconvenient, most folks figure out how to get the Chicaoji out of the bottle.

What’s up with those wrinkly lables?!?!

Chicaoji labels wrinkle. I could get better labels somewhere off Lopez Island but my current labels are the best that our local office supply, Paper Scissors on the Rock, can produce at this time.
Here’s what I have to say about Chicaoji’s  wrinkled labels:
We vote with our money. Where and what we purchase provides a powerful voice in our society. I like supporting local businesses. The wrinkled labels are what I can get here on the island so the wrinkled labels work for me for now.
In any case, as I grow older, I realize wrinkles add character to the wrinkled. So be it.

Who am I?

Please visit the About US page to learn more about Chicaoji and me. I might as well include a photo of myself so you can get a look at who you’re dealing with here on Lopez Island, Washington. That’s a Lopez Lobos hat on my head and the neighbor’s pasture and forest in the background.

Chicaoji makes good food taste better.

Try it on anything.

Click HERE for recipes.

Follow Chicaoji on Twitter:
Follow @chicaoji