By Jessy Yancy

ItâА^TMs hard to believe in a city now nationally renowned for its hot chicken, but when Ric Ousley and his sister moved to Nashville from Mississippi 20 years ago, they couldnâА^TMt find any salsa they considered hot enough. So they decided to make their own.

âАЬWe went to the store and started looking at ingredients, and thought, âА^~Hey, we can make this,âА^TM âАЭ Ric recalls. They had grown up barbecuing and playing around with recipes, so he figured it wouldnâА^TMt be too hard to create the spicy salsa he was seeking. That wasnâА^TMt the case.

âАЬWe couldnâА^TMt eat the first batch,âАЭ he says, laughing. âАЬWe like hot, but it was way, way too hot.âАЭ

After some trial and error, they created a more palatable salsa. âАЬHerbs and spices are the secret ingredient,âАЭ he says. âАЬThereâА^TMs a balance to getting that heat level and flavor.âАЭ

Ric and his wife, Haseena, kept tweaking the salsa recipe for years, gifting it to friends and family. âАЬEveryone always encouraged us to sell it,âАЭ Haseena says.

Eventually, they reached out to Barry Burnette of the Produce Place, a natural grocery store in Sylvan Park. Ric is quick to credit Burnette with getting the business off the ground. âАЬBarry helped us with our labels and gave me numbers of people to talk to,âАЭ he says. âАЬHeâА^TMs kind of like my mentor.âАЭ

After getting certification to cook acidified foods and working with UTâА^TMs food science department on process control and FDA regulations, Ousley Ouch was officially on the market. They launched in 2011 with two varieties: hot and mild. âАЬI always said I would never make mild,âАЭ Ric says. But mild is more marketable, though he notes most consider its heat level at medium. âАЬEverybodyâА^TMs palate is different,âАЭ Ric says. âАЬWeâА^TMre not selling heat, weâА^TMre selling flavor.âАЭ

That flavor comes from natural sugars in tomatoes and red onions, organic peppers grown by Green Door Gourmet and that secret mix of herbs and spicesâАФbut not a ton of salt. âАЬI donâА^TMt think you can find any salsa with lower sodium,âАЭ Haseena says.

The result is an all-natural salsa with a rich flavor that cuts through the heat, perfect for topping tacos, adding a kick to chili or on its own with tortilla chips.

ThatâА^TMs how Ric serves it at farmersâА^TM markets and grocery stores, where you can find him doling out samples. He started out at the Richland Creek FarmersâА^TM Market near his West Nashville home, and from there began networking with folks like Alan Powell, who invited him to sell at the Barefoot FarmerâА^TMs weekly CSA drop-off. It opened up connections to more farmersâА^TM markets and grocery stores such as Whole Foods and Publix, and also led to the couple discovering the Cumberland Culinary Kitchen in Lebanon, which gave them the ability to cook much larger batches of salsa. Their all-day cooking sessions now take place every two weeks.

âАЬThe day before, weâА^TMre taking the tomatoes and jars, cutting onions, setting up for the cook,âАЭ Ric says. âАЬThen we cook from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m., almost nonstop. You have breaks between batches, but once it comes up to the level that it has to be jarred, you canâА^TMt stop.âАЭ

Thanks to the culinary center and a couple of helpers on cook days, they can now make 10 times as much salsa as when they started out, building up enough of a supply to take a break by mid-summer. But despite that growth, itâА^TMs primarily just the two of them running the business, from accounting to distribution. âАЬWe do everything ourselvesâАФwe donâА^TMt even let anyone else chop our onions,âАЭ Haseena says with a laugh.

But they do turn to the public for help in coming up with new salsa flavors. âАЬAll the new ones we sample at the farmersâА^TM markets and get feedback so we can figure out where everyoneâА^TMs palates are sitting,âАЭ Ric explains. TheyâА^TMve launched a new flavor every year theyâА^TMve been in business, though he is tight-lipped about whatâА^TMs ahead. âАЬYouâА^TMll have to come to a farmersâА^TM market and see,âАЭ he says with a grin. âАЬThere might be a surprise.âАЭ

The market research helps them formulate the recipes. The black bean and corn flavor, a chunkier salsa with medium heat, is now the top seller. Other flavors include habanero peach mango, following demand for a sweet salsa, and ghost pepper. âАЬItâА^TMs real smoky,âАЭ Ric says of his ghost salsa. âАЬThe heat is on the back of your palate. The hot salsa is a little sweeter, with the heat on the front of the palate.âАЭ

This summer, available only at the Produce Place and Batch Nashville, Ousley Ouch will introduce a sixth variety called Ridiculously Hot, made with Carolina Reaper peppers grown by Randy Aydelotte and Trinidad scorpion peppers grown by Chris Spiegl. Even if youâА^TMre a heat seeker, it will make you sweat.

But thatâА^TMs how the Ousleys like it. Before hot chicken became mainstream, Ric would order the hottest on the menu at PrinceâА^TMs, so spicy he had to wear gloves to eat it. Haseena grew up sprinkling cayenne on all her food. They grow cayennes in their backyard, and dried chile pepper ristras hang in their kitchen, where they come up with the test batches for the new flavors.

âАЬWe cook like weâА^TMre making it for ourselves and our family,âАЭ Haseena says. âАЬWe wouldnâА^TMt sell anything we wouldnâА^TMt eat ourselves.âАЭ

SIDEBAR

Where to Buy

Ousley Ouch is available at more than 15 retailers in the Nashville area, including the Produce Place in Sylvan Park and Hendersonville, the Piggly Wiggly on West End, H.G. Hill Urban Market downtown and the Turnip Truck in East Nashville and the Gulch. During the summer, you can find Ric at the Barefoot FarmerâА^TMs CSA pick-up in Berry Hill on Mondays, 12South FarmersâА^TM Market on Tuesdays, Vanderbilt FarmersâА^TM Market on Thursdays, Hip Donelson FarmersâА^TM Market on the second Friday of the month and West End FarmersâА^TM Market on Saturdays. For a complete list of retail locations and special events, visit ousleyouch.com.