The Story & Supply Chain Behind Our Heirloom Mexican Chilis | | When Ori and I launched Burlap & Barrel in 2016, our early innovation was to figure out how to build a supply chain from scratch. What really makes a supply chain work is the people at each end; for us, that's farmers growing exceptionally delicious spices, and the home cooks and professional chefs who love cooking with them. We went to remote areas of Indonesia, Tanzania, Turkey, Guatemala and Vietnam, traveling around the world to establish a network of partner farmers who were both highly skilled and entrepreneurial. Each country brought its own challenges, from transporting spices from rural areas without paved roads to lengthy bureaucratic delays related to paperwork. One country, despite its proximity, eluded us. Mexican chilis are ancient and iconic, and from the very beginning, we knew that without them, our spice lineup would be incomplete. For years, I chased down leads, contacting friends and friends of friends and combing through farmer Facebook groups, without any success. How could it be that in the birthplace of the chili, we couldn't find a single farmer to work with? When we asked chefs in the US for their advice, we heard a long list of complaints—unreliable supply, inconsistent quality, heat levels all over the map and no information about where the chilis were actually coming from. | | When Operations & Supply Chain Manager Alyssa joined Burlap & Barrel in 2022, she made a breakthrough. Through an old coworker from Equal Exchange, she connected with the agricultural NGO NUUP and they agreed to help us find a partner farmer. A couple of months later, we traveled to Guanajuato, Mexico, to meet farmers and explore the viability of the project. As is often the case in new supply chains, the first farmers we met didn't work out, but with NUUP's help, we connected with a farmer named Don Jesús who was willing to give it a try. | | Don Jesús is a chili farmer and the son of chili farmers, with a lifetime of experience. He grows his Pasilla, Guajillo and Ancho chilis in the traditional way, on communal ejido land without chemicals or pesticides, and drying them on straw beds in the sun after harvesting. He carefully selects the seeds of the best chilis from each harvest, saving them to plant the following year. | | | | Before our partnership, he sold to local spot buyers called coyotes, who drive from farm to farm in pickup trucks during the harvest season, offering the lowest possible price to cash-strapped farmers. Don Jesús knew that business model wasn't working for him but he hadn't found a way around it, until he met us. At the start of our partnership, we made clear purchase commitments far above the going rate, and paid a big down payment at the beginning of the season, when he needed money to buy organic fertilizers and other important inputs. We were excited to see concrete progress after so many years of searching and made a second visit just before the harvest in 2023. The chilis were luminous, with bright, fruity aromas, complex flavors and gorgeously colorful. | | But we weren't there yet. First, there was a drought. Despite NUUP's expert assistance with water-saving irrigation methods, it soon became clear that the summer of 2023 was remarkably hot and dry, even for a typically hot and dry region. As a result, his yields were half of what we had expected, which meant we wouldn't be able to recoup the investment. Second, there was bureaucracy. As a rural farmer, it proved impossible for Don Jesús to get his own export license, and we discovered that whole chilis are almost impossible to get through customs, especially without a track record. And third, after harvesting and drying and packing for export, there were moths. We acted quickly and donated the chilis to a local food distribution program before they could reproduce, but it was a total loss for Burlap & Barrel—after more than two years of work and tens of thousands of dollars of investment, we were left without anything to show for it. We were heartbroken. | | Despite the disappointment, we weren't discouraged. Establishing new supply chains is always challenging, and after all the time and effort to find a farmer as skilled and committed as Don Jesús, we weren't going to give up so easily. So we ran it back, planning for the next year's harvest, paying another big deposit, and tracking down a local chili processor who could assist with drying, grinding and exporting Jesus' chilis. When the shipment was finally ready to cross the border, new tariff announcements threw the whole project into question once again, but with careful timing, we were able to get it through customs without too many additional fees. When the shipment reached our warehouse, we breathed a huge sigh of relief. | | Going back almost a decade, this was the problem that we wanted to solve when we launched Burlap & Barrel. By building new supply chains and connecting traditional spice farmers to new customers in the US, we believed we could present an alternative business model in which farmers are paid well and consumers can access supremely flavorful heirloom spices at an accessible price. In the face of unprecedented and unpredictable obstacles from climate change to geopolitics, we're staying focused on what we've always done: building relationships with exceptional farmers and delivering the world's freshest and tastiest spices directly to your kitchen. But without your purchase, none of this is possible. While a jar of ground chilis may seem commonplace, these heirloom chilis represent a years-long effort by dozens of people who are passionate about agriculture, tradition and flavor. By using these chilis, you directly support this project and dozens of others like it that we're pursuing in rural, agricultural communities around the globe. Especially now, they depend on your orders, which are crucial to helping us build new supply chains, source delicious new ingredients, and keep traditional flavors alive for us all to enjoy. Thank you for your support, and we hope you come to love these chilis as much as we do. | | Ethan, Burlap & Barrel Co-founder & Co-CEO | | Questions? Feedback? Ideas? We love to hear from you. Just reply to this email.
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