Chilli No. 5 Sauce: Keepin’ It Hot

The pandemic has affected everyone differently. For Colin Ross, a private villa chef, he chose to let it be positive. Alongside a co-founder, he created a line of gourmet vegan chili sauces packed with superfoods that launched on October 31.

The line launched with 13 sauces, as well as a limited-edition sauce that comes out each month — only 50 bottles were made, including the Champagne Gold and Pizza Pizzazz, with Chipotle CBD being the newest addition in February 2021.

The former superyacht sole chef (pictured below), who spent two years aboard M/Y My Lady Rose, is on leave due to COVID-19. During this time, he decided to partner with Monaco entrepreneur, Rumble Romagnoli, to create the Chilli No. 5 brand in the spring. “This is by no means a one-off,” Ross says. “I am in the process of creating three new sauces at the moment and we also offer many other No. 5 products again, which can be viewed on the website,” Ross says.

“The idea actually came about during the lockdown while I was back in Scotland. It gave me time to come up with the perfect recipes for perfect sauces with ideas from all over the world from South America to Jamaica and back to England,” he says. Although he plans to return to yachting, the entrepreneur says, “We have only just begun and ideas are constantly flying through my mind. It has not made me reconsider my career or life. I still adore [working] on yachts, but during this horrendous year, I feel that we have done what we could to make good of a bad situation, and I’m looking forward to see where it takes us in the next chapter.”

“Chilli No. 5 is my lockdown business,” says Romagnoli (pictured below). “We set up the company with a group of friends to make hot sauce better — taste, variety, health, design, and sustainability. Why? We absolutely love it spicy, at breakfast, lunch apero, and dinner. Based in Monaco and with yacht chef co-founder, we aim to elevate the plate of every yacht crew, captain, and superyacht owner here in the Med and over in the Caribbean.” In an October press release, he said he founded their company because, “It was impossible to find high-quality, healthy, sustainable hot chili sauces at the supermarket or even at restaurants.”

The new line offers a range of flavors, such as harissa, jerk, wasabi, peri peri, and sriracha. These luxury sauces offer a healthy alternative to traditional hot sauces, all created using the finest chilis and antioxidant ingredients. Each sauce is free from artificial flavor and coloring. The superfoods were chosen because they’re known to help with sleep deprivation, libido, concentration, weight loss, and anxiety.

Chilli No. 5 also comes in a hot sauce subscription, which comes in a tasting bottle gift set every three months — every quarter will be a different set of flavors. “All sauces are always made with ten-plus superfoods and antioxidants and our secret chili blend,” says Ross. www.chilli-no5.com

This column is taken from the January 2021 issue of Dockwalk.