Firefly BBQ Win Big in America

Firefly BBQ, a prestigious business in Hyde that specializes in sauces, jams and seasonings for barbequing, has recently made the headlines again after picking up the top prize at a well-known New York sauce contest.

SauceKingNYC 2023 saw 500 teams presenting their sauces and jams to be judged by a group of master grillers. The sauces were mainly made by contestants from across the United States, but some such as Fireflys’ were made outside of the country.

And Firefly managed to beat the Americans at their own BBQ’ing game, securing Grand Champion for their Smoked Jalapeno Jam.

Noel Bateman, the creator of the award-winning jam and the owner of Firefly BBQ spoke to us about how he came up with the grand champion titled jam. “The smoked jalapeno was started two years ago, it requires 180kg of jalapeno maturing in an oak barrel, which we’ve got out there now. The idea came about as McIlhenney make Tabasco that way, they get the chili, mash it up and mature it. We saw them in London and were showing how it tasted raw and after two years, then we thought we would give that a whirl!”

The business has won multiple awards in the past, including multiple great taste awards for their items. The great taste awards are given on a star basis, from 1 to 3 stars, the lowest – but still very respectable – level being 1, standing for simply delicious. 2 stands for outstanding, and 3 stands for exquisite. Many of the items that Firefly BBQ have produced end up achieving the 1 and 2 star ratings, which puts them in the top 10% of entrants for the award.

But even with their multitude of awards won previously, the feeling of pride and excitement does not go away. Sharon Bateman, wife of Noel, told us the emotions they had when winning the Grand Champion award for their jalapeno jam. “It is always a real rush,” Sharon said, “and to get the Grand Champion was so unexpected! It means other people like it, and with America having a huge and varied BBQ culture that has gone on for years and them actually liking our product, it is such a great feeling!”

The smoked jalapeno jam is a fantastic light green colour and has a great balanced taste, with a subtly sweet tang to it that comes out pretty quickly. The taste then develops and matures, with the smokiness and the spiciness of the jalapenos coming onto the back end of the taste.

To get your hands on a bottle of the award-winning smoked jalapeno jam, and to see more of their products, head to https://www.fireflybbq.co.uk/