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Nobody can predict the future, but it’s common sense to have a Plan “B” for those days when things don’t go your way. Gloria and Huémac Badilla spent 2010 New Year’s Day sitting at home and started talking about Plan “B” in their lives. Like many people, they hadn’t given this serious thought, but shortly after joining the ranks at Golden Eagle Budweiser in 2005, Gloria read an article that changed her thinking. The article encouraged employees to create a Plan B that could enable them to be prepared for the future. Coming from an entrepreneurial family, this was a familiar concept to Gloria. With that extra motivation, Chilttepica Products was born.
Gloria and Huémac created fresh salsas and other products with flavorful chiltepín peppers. First domesticated in central Mexico 6,000 to 7,000 years ago, the name chiltepín comes from the Nahuatl words chilli and tepin, translating to “small pepper.” Chiltepín thrives in southern Arizona and northwestern Mexico but is not well known outside this region.
“Chiltepín is often called the ‘mother of all chiles,’ and is believed to be where all chiles trace their genetic origins,” says Janos Wilder, James Beard Award–winning chef and cookbook author.
Gloria and Huémac were able to get their salsas on the shelves at Costco, introducing thousands more to the unique pepper. In 2021, they were first named a UNESCO City of Gastronomy-certified business.
Join us to hear how they introduced a whole new market to heritage chiltepíns and created a flavorful family business!
Sponsored by the University of Arizona FORGE, the Tucson City of Gastronomy (TCoG) presents this monthly series, every second Thursday, on the business of heritage foods. Drawing on a community-wide network of resources, TCoG speakers provide information on how to leverage Tucson's global designation as part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network to grow food-based businesses in Southern Arizona.