We can start by thanking the Portuguese for making KIMKIM possible.  Gochugaru’s history spans over 5 centuries when chili peppers first arrived in Korea from the Americas via Portuguese traders. 

Fast forward to today and we can thank my mom, Sung Jin Kim for being the inspiration and sharing her recipes that make up our signature, award-winning hot sauce and our newest creation, Korean barbecue sauce combining sweetness of Kansas City barbecue sauce with KIMKIM hot sauce.  This is what I grew up on over countless Korean barbecue dinners and family picnics.

To make our Gochugaru, we start with select Korean chili peppers and sun-dry them to perfection before ground into a red pepper powder form offering a unique sweet-heat profile.  It is the most complex and umami-packed flavor that is essential to Korean cuisine.  It is combined with rice then going through a 6-months long fermentation process before it’s transformed into our hot sauce or our barbecue sauce.  The same Gochugaru is also used in the creation of our latest product launch, KIMKIM Chili Crisp.  This might be the most umami-packed flavor in our lineup.

We hope you enjoy all three of our products that each combine fire and flavor in the most unique way.