The Making of a New Product: Cultured & Saucy Probiotic Condiments

Interview with Lauren Temkin, Chief Fermenter.

In case you missed it, Cultured & Saucy Probiotic Condiment Exotic 5 Spice was chosen in Phil's Food Reviews as a Pick of the Week. We reached out to Lauren Temkin, Chief Fermenter for the company, about how the brand and product was developed. We found out that this healthy and unique product was born when two sisters started fermenting foods to help boost their father's immune system after an ALS diagnosis. 

What inspired you to create your new product? Is there a particular niche or segment of the market you were focusing on? 

Cultured & Saucy is a passion project by two sisters raised by a mother who was into macrobiotics and (thankfully) a French stepmother who showed the art of French Country cooking. Healthy and delicious were the foundation of our cooking.

Our father was diagnosed with ALS, Lauren was already fermenting kefir and vegetables but became obsessed with learning how to ferment more and share everything with our father in an effort to improve his immune system any way we could.    

What makes your product different and able to stand out against similar ones? How important has differentiation been in developing this product?

We didn't plan on being different or innovative. @e've learned that we've created a new category! It seems we are the first product that has preserved citrus, fermented veggies and is naturally probiotic, and at least in our region, the first to call itself a probiotic condiment.

What was the process like of designing your package, and how do you feel the final result has impacted perceptions of your product? 

The label was one of the hardest processes we've faced. With an 8 ounce jar there is very little "real estate." We had so much to say and had to distill our message down to just a few words. Being both naturally probiotic, umami rich, delicious and versatile we had a lot to say!  

Does your product have relevant health attributes? What are they? 

Naturally probiotic, oligosaccharides, allicin.

What sustainability efforts have you made with your product/packaging?

We compost our waste and use local when possible. Our onions are produced in a facility that used the gases from the onions to fill all of its energy needs! 

Through creating a new product, what would you say were the most difficult parts of the process and what came the easiest? 

R & D is easy for us because we love being in the kitchen and creating delicious things together. The hardest is definitely conveying the benefits of our products to a large audience.  

Anything you would change if you were starting from scratch again?

We would have made the label more focused on the flavors, less on the brand. 

Besides your product, what's one out on the market that you admire?

Genuine Grub Spicy Pickled Radish 

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