1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,040
What's up everybody, welcome back to the All Things Croatia podcast. I'm your host,
2
00:00:05,040 --> 00:00:08,880
Stanko Zovak, and I'm bringing you the best of Croatia from around the globe.
3
00:00:08,880 --> 00:00:14,720
This episode is brought to you by Adriatic Tours, the best place since 1974 to book your
4
00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:20,000
cruises, tours, flights, and simply All Things Croatia. Use the personalized code,
5
00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:25,200
All Things Croatia, to get a special discount and book your trip to Croatia today. For more
6
00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:31,760
information, go to www.adriatictours.com or click the link in the description. Now,
7
00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:40,080
eat a modalia and let's get started. All right, welcome back to the podcast, everybody. On this
8
00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:46,480
week's episode, we have Goran Vrabets, CEO and founder of Volim Ljuto. Volim Ljuto is the biggest
9
00:00:46,480 --> 00:00:50,960
and most popular Croatian hot sauce brand and has grown tremendously while partnering with other
10
00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:56,560
local brands to bring more spice to Croatia. Their products can be found in over 300 restaurants
11
00:00:56,560 --> 00:01:01,600
and 50 shops across Croatia. And in this episode, we'll learn how it all started from a small farm
12
00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:06,240
in Zagoria and how the company is growing and expanding into a must-have brand name.
13
00:01:06,240 --> 00:01:10,880
Goran, thanks for coming on the podcast. Thank you for inviting me. Yeah, I appreciate you
14
00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:17,040
taking the time to do this. And I saw that you were voted Croatia's best young farmer last year in
15
00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:24,560
2021. And farming is something that at least I think of as something that's passed down through
16
00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:29,680
family, through generations like that. Can you tell us a little bit about where you're from
17
00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:37,760
and your upbringing? So I'm from Igrišče, a small village in the
18
00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:48,640
Croatian Zagoria region, 25 kilometers from Zagreb. I've grown up here and agriculture
19
00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:57,760
actually wasn't my first choice. Actually, never. I hated it. So I don't have actually like heritage
20
00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:06,400
from agriculture. It's a little bit different because my parents, they did some agriculture
21
00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:13,840
while I was growing up. But it was my mom was actually a bookkeeper and my father was a car
22
00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:24,800
mechanic. So they started agriculture with something like heritage because it was customary in our
23
00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:32,720
region to have, I don't know, like two cows, maybe four pigs and some chickens and stuff. So we got
24
00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:41,040
rid of that and we got into commercial agriculture. We were growing strawberries for some time. We were
25
00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:49,840
growing lettuce, all kind of salads or something. But it was really, really small side business for
26
00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:56,000
them. And while I was growing up, I was helping them with it. So and I didn't actually like it. I
27
00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:04,800
hated it because when I came home from school, I wanted to go to be with my friends, but I had to
28
00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:12,960
work and no matter the weather, if it was raining or it was cold, it always had to be done. So I
29
00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:21,200
hated it and I wanted to go to college and never do the agriculture. But during the college, I was in
30
00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:31,360
the fair, it's like a technical IT college, actually, simply said. And I wanted to be a programmer. And
31
00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:40,640
while there, things actually changed a little bit for me. And I realized that wasn't everything I
32
00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:50,240
wanted to do. And actually, I got involved with food first as a hobby. And then I got introduced
33
00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:56,560
to chili peppers through friends and online ordering and stuff like that. And there was
34
00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:05,440
actually nothing in Croatia except the basco sauce that was actually spicy. So I actually,
35
00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:10,240
it was a hobby. So I ordered some chili pepper seeds from, I don't know, eBay or something.
36
00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:15,120
I can't really remember. It was more than 10 years ago. And I gave it to my mom and asked her,
37
00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:21,600
so can you please grow these 20 seeds for me? I want to have chili peppers at home. She said,
38
00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:30,160
of course, she said yes. And we got first crops and few kilos of chili peppers. It was really
39
00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:36,560
too much for me. It was like, I want to just try if it will grow in Croatia, because it's like
40
00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:42,960
exotic plants and stuff and we never had experience with it. So we tried and succeeded and I didn't
41
00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:48,960
want to throw that away. I had five kilos that suffice me for, I don't know, 10 years to come,
42
00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:58,480
if it was only for me. So I found some recipes online for hot sauce. I made it and I made it as
43
00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:04,320
a Christmas gift for my friend. I had a friend who was a designer. So we designed labels that
44
00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:12,000
said Robasco because I was a rabbit. And that really took really well with friends. And
45
00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:19,040
that's supposed to be it. It never meant to be a business. I wanted to give a great
46
00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:26,160
Christmas gift to my friend. But after a few months, people started calling me and giving me
47
00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:31,280
feedback, even people I didn't know. Because somehow those losses came to them. Wow, this is
48
00:05:31,280 --> 00:05:40,240
great. We would like more. So I decided, okay, maybe I could do some more. I think it was a
49
00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:45,680
vanity. When you get positive feedback, you want to do it more. But it was still a side job.
50
00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:53,360
It wasn't the business plan. It was the project. I loved doing it and I loved the people, loved
51
00:05:53,360 --> 00:06:01,920
what I do. That was all the idea. And then I accepted my parents and asked them, so can I get
52
00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:09,520
one greenhouse to plant a few hundred plants? And they said, okay, we'll give you and we'll help you
53
00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:16,640
with it. So if you want to play with it, go ahead. They didn't take it seriously. And if I'm
54
00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:23,440
honest, I didn't also take it too much seriously. It was like, I don't know, side hobby, side job.
55
00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:30,880
Not job. It wasn't commercial at all at that time. And after that season, I went, I made like,
56
00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:37,440
I don't know, 800 sauces or something. It was really, really, really much, much more than I
57
00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:47,520
expected. And I started to go to pairs and people started buying it. And it wasn't cheap.
58
00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:57,600
And people just wanted it. And we were like, I made a web shop. It was first, it was the idea to
59
00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:05,040
write blogs for people who like hot stuff and to make a community out of it to see if there is
60
00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:12,320
interest for chili peppers. But it ended up as a web shop because I had knowledge how to make it.
61
00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:19,280
And it ended up as a web shop and we started selling online. And it went really well. We sold
62
00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:25,520
out those 800 sauces like to Christmas, you know, in a few months, we were sold out. And then that
63
00:07:25,520 --> 00:07:33,840
was the moment it was 2013 around Christmas. When we set all together, my parents, my girlfriend,
64
00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:39,200
my dad and I, and we decided, okay, there is something in this. Let's do this. Let's do this
65
00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:47,520
seriously. And it was actually the real beginning of when we started to really take that seriously.
66
00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:53,520
And the next year, I went full time in it. And my parents and my girlfriend. So it was
67
00:07:54,320 --> 00:07:59,360
like two years of playing. And after it realized, wow, there is something in it. And we started to
68
00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:06,640
develop less money and start to grow a company. And those first 800 sauces that you sold,
69
00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:12,320
were those all the same recipe? All one? No, actually, I had, yeah, no, actually, I had,
70
00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:19,280
I think, four different flavors and heat because they were like, single chili pepper was inside,
71
00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:25,360
you know, and chili pepper has a heat. And it was like, I don't know, I think from the beginning,
72
00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:35,120
I gave it like one to five star rating on heat. That was the idea. So I think we never had the
73
00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:42,000
heat one because the peppers were mild enough to make it to one. So we started from two,
74
00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:46,240
I think the sauces were two, three, four and five, the first one.
75
00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:53,200
Now, what's the culture around hot sauce in Croatia? Because for me personally, if I go
76
00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:57,840
somewhere like say a kebab place and I get they ask, you know, Luti or bloggy,
77
00:08:57,840 --> 00:09:03,680
the Luti is like barbecue sauce and the bloggy is like ranch almost like it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
78
00:09:04,800 --> 00:09:12,000
That's it. That's it. But what's the common decorations? So in Croatia, actually, there
79
00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:18,240
there was no culture around hot sauce. It was the when we started, it was non-existent product,
80
00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:24,560
you know, thankfully, there was internet and people started exploring international kitchen and
81
00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:31,760
they learned that there are like a lot of uses for hot sauce. And during the time,
82
00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:42,400
we for the first five years, we went like for more than 50 pairs around Croatia, primarily,
83
00:09:42,400 --> 00:09:49,680
okay, to sell something, but primarily to get known to people and to see what they like and to
84
00:09:49,680 --> 00:09:55,040
introduce them our product. You know, so this is a hot sauce. So what do you do with it? How do
85
00:09:55,040 --> 00:10:02,960
you apply it? In Croatia, it was chili peppers were used as dried and ground ground products,
86
00:10:02,960 --> 00:10:08,560
you know, that was it. People didn't know how to use the hot sauce, but it's even more easier to
87
00:10:08,560 --> 00:10:14,160
use it than the ground chili pepper. So when you when you give when you when you teach people,
88
00:10:14,160 --> 00:10:18,640
you have to teach people the culture of using it. And we did it. We are doing it now for more
89
00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:23,920
than 10 years. And now people actually know what the hot sauce is, you know, when we start when we
90
00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:30,400
started was incredible. And to when I remember, like, wow, those are like, what do you do that?
91
00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:37,600
What do you do with it? It's liquid. I don't know. I don't know how. And today is like normal to have
92
00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:46,320
a hot sauce at home and use it. So the I hope that we we achieved at least a part of it, you know,
93
00:10:46,320 --> 00:10:52,400
by pushing our hot sauces and chili products. I'm sure that we did part of it. But the large part
94
00:10:52,400 --> 00:11:00,080
of it was the promotion of international kitchen in Croatia, because all of a sudden with the
95
00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:07,840
internet and the cooking shows and stuff, the international kitchen came and chili peppers
96
00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:15,360
are like the dominant part, but the integral part of some some foreign kitchen. I know here in
97
00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:20,960
Zagreb, for example, there's a lot more international restaurants also opening up. So I'm sure that
98
00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:24,640
helps as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely in the last few years, there were like,
99
00:11:25,440 --> 00:11:29,920
first, we had a lot of burgers, American kitchen steaks and stuff. Now it's more like
100
00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:39,040
Asian kitchen. And Asian kitchen is also well known for chili as an integral ingredient. So
101
00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:44,320
that's also good for us. That's right. Yeah, yeah. What's what's the process behind, you know,
102
00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:52,800
nowadays making the hot sauce? Okay, so the whole process takes at least a year.
103
00:11:52,800 --> 00:12:00,880
You know, yeah, yeah, from from from we're doing garaging from seed to finish product. And
104
00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:11,120
we germinate seeds at in February. Then the plants are growing in a greenhouse,
105
00:12:12,240 --> 00:12:20,800
heated greenhouse until the middle mid of April. Then we then we plant them in outside
106
00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:27,520
greenhouses. They grow for a few months. Then we have harvest from I don't know, like,
107
00:12:28,560 --> 00:12:41,280
August to October, then harvest them, then we then we clean them and then we ground them,
108
00:12:42,480 --> 00:12:49,200
and put them in a put them in a fermentation chambers. Fermentation is a process you you
109
00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:56,720
actually ground the fresh peppers add some salt, put it in a barrels and lock it up tightly. But
110
00:12:56,720 --> 00:13:04,000
there has to be there has to be a, I don't know how it's called in English, the air has to
111
00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:10,320
has to come out, you know, because CO2 is generated. And if you would keep it completely
112
00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:16,640
shut, it would blow the barrel would blow, you know, so it has to have an error release, you know.
113
00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:23,920
And it's really nice sound when you have like 20 barrels and you hear it. And that process actually
114
00:13:23,920 --> 00:13:33,040
the that it's wild fermentation with the new starters. That process takes around one month
115
00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:39,120
to complete. But that process where the active fermentation, but after that we leave it in a
116
00:13:39,120 --> 00:13:47,840
barrel for at least five more months. So it comes it comes to the other February, when we can actually
117
00:13:47,840 --> 00:13:54,480
make the hot sauce. We strain, we strain the peppers to remove the seeds and skin. We have the
118
00:13:54,480 --> 00:14:01,440
essence. And we add other ingredients, like our hot sauce is always based on at least 80% chili
119
00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:06,480
pepper. We call them chili sauces, you can't call something chili sauce, it has like 5%
120
00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:10,720
chili peppers. It's not the main ingredient. That's my philosophy. You know, it's something
121
00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:17,840
it's a hot sauce, it should have the main chili peppers as main ingredients. And then we add like
122
00:14:17,840 --> 00:14:23,600
standard, we don't have much ingredients are the hot sauce is at least not in our basic line basic
123
00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:32,320
like the best seller line from and 80% chili peppers, vinegar, salt, some sugar for balance,
124
00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:40,640
not the sweetness and maybe some spices. And that's it. That is not a lot. There's no like
125
00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:44,480
secret ingredients, you know, that's what it is like chili peppers as a secret ingredient.
126
00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:53,280
Sorry, go ahead. The whole process takes about a year, you know, from the start to finish. So
127
00:14:53,280 --> 00:14:59,280
that's we even recorded a video that you put on YouTube, like I don't know a year ago,
128
00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:05,040
that that pictures the whole process, you know, from the from seedlings to the finish hot sauce.
129
00:15:05,840 --> 00:15:08,640
And how now how many flavors of hot sauce do you have?
130
00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:15,200
Wow, that's a difficult question. We are a little bit overdoing it, you know, because
131
00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:24,880
we have our basic line and our basic line is nine hot sauce. That is like our best selling
132
00:15:24,880 --> 00:15:33,440
sauce is and what we do is our core line. And that is what we do for for supermarket and
133
00:15:33,440 --> 00:15:39,760
for online and for everybody who wants to sell them. But we have more than 30 different,
134
00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:47,520
30 different hot sauce is and 30 other chili products like like pickled jalapenos, like we
135
00:15:47,520 --> 00:15:56,000
are making honey mustard with chili peppers. We are making some ground peppers. Well, I think
136
00:15:56,000 --> 00:16:02,800
I think actually we have more than 200 days. I use it was on our web shop, like gift packages
137
00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:09,360
and stuff. Yeah, we went really wide. That's that's that's that's good because we have a
138
00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:14,080
wide selection on our web shop. But it's not good if you want to if you want to focus on one
139
00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:20,080
product and make it make it scalable, you know, because you can't you can't scale 50 products.
140
00:16:20,640 --> 00:16:24,160
Well, you can but you don't have so much money, you know, you have to invest like that. I don't
141
00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:31,360
know how many million euros to scale all the 50, all the 50 products. Because it's not it's not so
142
00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:38,800
easy scale. Sorry, I wanted to say the process of making it when you were describing it. It
143
00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:43,200
almost sounds like making a rocky out of the chili peppers. You know, you keep it in the barrel.
144
00:16:43,200 --> 00:16:50,400
Well, well, something like that. Yeah, yeah, you ferment it's similar to beer, actually,
145
00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:56,960
you know, you ferment you ferment beer. So it's something like that. Also, but the process takes
146
00:16:56,960 --> 00:17:03,680
takes a little bit longer. Yeah, when you when you make wine or or or a key, it's fermentation is
147
00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:08,320
not so long. We have to wait. Currently, we have six months, but we are planning we are planning
148
00:17:08,320 --> 00:17:14,880
and doing for at least a year when we spend our capacity, because the taste is even better when
149
00:17:14,880 --> 00:17:21,760
it when it's fermenting more. So like wine, then it gets better with yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
150
00:17:21,760 --> 00:17:28,560
we try we try for up to three years. But the one year would be optimal because beyond one year,
151
00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:37,040
you don't get that much of flavor. So one year one year would be optimal. But currently, we
152
00:17:37,040 --> 00:17:42,640
don't have the capacity to store it for one year. We are too small. That will be I think that will
153
00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:49,680
be in next few to five years, we will we will grow so much that we will be could we'll be able to
154
00:17:49,680 --> 00:17:57,040
to store it for one year. Do you guys have plans to expand then soon? And if so, are there any
155
00:17:57,040 --> 00:18:04,400
challenges to doing that? Yeah, sure. Sure. There are we have like, currently, we are very investing
156
00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:12,960
in a new filling line. That is really necessary, because there is currently a lot of a lot of
157
00:18:12,960 --> 00:18:20,880
labor and a lot of job to make hot sauce. And this was this was speed up and make the process
158
00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:28,080
cheaper. That is the first investment we are going in it like now and but the production time is more
159
00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:34,880
than a year. So we will finish that project in a year or so. And the next big project on which we
160
00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:42,880
are also thought we also started working is a new new production facilities. And this is like the
161
00:18:42,880 --> 00:18:47,760
lifetime investment, you know, that is something that is something I have to decide. Actually,
162
00:18:47,760 --> 00:18:56,800
if I want to do because it's like, I don't know, more than two million euros to invest and and
163
00:18:56,800 --> 00:19:03,120
actually, we I think we could get funding. It's not it's not such a big deal. It would be like
164
00:19:03,120 --> 00:19:08,480
credit line for I don't know 15 years or something. Then we could we could do it but it's like more
165
00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:15,120
on a personal base. Now, you know, that is like, like, okay, if I'm going into this, it's like
166
00:19:15,120 --> 00:19:20,720
forever, you know, you're in it. There's no like, okay, I can still now I can feel like, okay, I'll
167
00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:26,400
sell that I can do something else. I don't want to don't get the wrong I'm all in but
168
00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:31,200
this is like, this is like when you're buying an apartment, you know, for yourself, it's like,
169
00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:37,040
you know, you're buying it for life. It's a big decision. It's a big decision, you know, but we'll
170
00:19:37,040 --> 00:19:42,560
go into it. It's not like it's like not not I'm afraid but it hits you, you know, when you're
171
00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:47,760
okay, so you're not now you will own like two million euros to someone. Okay, that you kept
172
00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:55,200
it's a big deal. Yeah, yeah, that's true. Wow. Well, as far as you're also expanding in terms of
173
00:19:55,200 --> 00:20:00,720
collaborating with other companies, you know, a lot of and restaurants as well a lot of restaurants
174
00:20:00,720 --> 00:20:05,920
are offering your hot sauce I was down in Maka for the summer. I forget the name of the restaurant.
175
00:20:05,920 --> 00:20:13,440
It was but it's like a really fancy, I guess you could say restaurant. Yeah, actually, we are working
176
00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:19,440
with a few restaurants down there. I can't tell you exactly which ones because I'm not in sales.
177
00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:25,280
My colleague is in sales. So I can't I can't keep up with it, you know, it's like it's currently
178
00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:32,320
more than 500 restaurants. So it's really taking on so I can't keep up with it.
179
00:20:33,280 --> 00:20:37,120
In that restaurant, I forget what it was called, but it was really good and they offered the
180
00:20:37,120 --> 00:20:40,880
the sauces and we were trying it I was there with my girlfriend and my sister and that was the first
181
00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:46,560
time that I had actually tried a Volin Luto sauce because I'd seen it before but then this restaurant
182
00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:52,320
and I tried it. I think it was three stars of like it was too much for me because I can't handle
183
00:20:52,320 --> 00:20:59,840
I'm not good with it. It should start with something milder. And then also I was at submarine burger
184
00:20:59,840 --> 00:21:04,240
the other day and they offer that as well but I also saw that you guys did a
185
00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:10,720
how do you have you had like an event they have some new spicy burger and there was yeah, yeah,
186
00:21:10,720 --> 00:21:17,920
we had the handle the the spiciest yeah, yeah, we had we had the the competition in eating hot burgers
187
00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:25,120
and it was like insane insane those people we didn't expect that you know they we thought that
188
00:21:25,120 --> 00:21:30,400
there were like five there were like five hot burgers we made them really really insanely hot
189
00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:37,200
but four of them made it to the last one so we had to make another one it was like I never seen
190
00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:44,800
that in my life those guys I give them most respect to what what they did I thought I thought they
191
00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:51,760
would die but they made it it was really great it's really interesting for people so what's your
192
00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:58,000
tolerance of spice like can you handle the the hottest peppers yes I can handle the hot the
193
00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:08,560
hot peppers but it's not I enjoy heat in a way that it's enhancing the flavor it shouldn't take over
194
00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:13,760
you know and that that's the point that's our whole philosophy you should find you should find your
195
00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:19,360
level of heat and use it it's not there is no there is no pride in life oh yeah I'm eating the
196
00:22:19,360 --> 00:22:24,960
hottest sauce yeah of course you can eat it you won't die but you won't feel any other taste
197
00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:30,160
and that's not the idea you know I can eat it but I actually I don't I don't like it because I can
198
00:22:30,160 --> 00:22:35,920
feel anything else it's too much you know but everyone has everyone has its limit so they are
199
00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:42,800
like the hottest sauce and there are people that can eat it and it is okay for them you know so
200
00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:49,360
because each of us has a different tolerance level you know and and when someone says oh this is not
201
00:22:49,360 --> 00:22:55,200
hot for me and you try it and then you die you know it's it's really really really different for
202
00:22:55,760 --> 00:23:02,080
for each of each of us so that's why we make so many different levels of heat so everyone can find
203
00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:08,880
what they like yeah it's more about adding flavor than yeah yeah yeah yeah because uh because the
204
00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:15,680
chili peppers and heat is there are natural flavor enhancer you know it enhances the flavor but you
205
00:23:15,680 --> 00:23:20,720
if only if only if you do it right if you if you put the right amount if you overdo it it's not good
206
00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:27,520
that's true yeah are you speaking of overdoing it are you guys experimenting with any like peppers
207
00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:33,920
to try and create even hotter or spicier peppers well I don't know in the US I guess that's yeah yeah
208
00:23:33,920 --> 00:23:42,960
but it's cross pollination is like really really really a serious process and we we we weren't trying
209
00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:50,080
to do it so far we tried some we tried some cross pollinating we had thank you some bad results that
210
00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:59,280
we we didn't we didn't try to get hot pepper because it's the heat it depends on a lot of factors you
211
00:23:59,280 --> 00:24:06,160
know of course it depends on genetics on predisposition of peppers to be heat but to be hot but
212
00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:14,320
it's uh it's also it's also depends on the climate you know and I think in Croatia we can get as hot
213
00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:20,400
the peppers as in some other parts of the world you know that that's also because it depends on
214
00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:27,200
the how much sun you have how much how much warmth you have how much you water them it depends on
215
00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:32,240
nearly everything you know it depends on the season I can I can see on our sources there is like
216
00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:38,240
there is like a heat margin of plus 10 or minus 10 percent you know from season to season because
217
00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:44,400
I don't know like this season we had the immensely a lot of sunshine and the peppers are a lot a lot
218
00:24:44,400 --> 00:24:49,360
more fought well not not a lot but it's like five to ten percent harder than the last season when we
219
00:24:49,360 --> 00:24:56,800
had the month of rain you know and that's it really makes a big difference so when you you can't
220
00:24:56,800 --> 00:25:03,680
you can't define this is habanero it's like 300 000 skulls no no it always has a range you know
221
00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:10,640
from like 150 000 to 350 000 there's no like a lot of factors that yeah there are plants they're
222
00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:17,440
live live beings and they they're not like you you can standardize it like each one will be the same
223
00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:23,920
on the same plant you get peppers that are like very very different in heat that makes sense yeah
224
00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:30,960
yeah uh go around I saw you guys have a um a new podcast series that you put out that's similar to
225
00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:36,080
in the US it's called hot ones you know where they interview people and you eat spicy things and you
226
00:25:36,080 --> 00:25:42,000
guys have a similar format to that can you talk about that well it's not we we didn't want we
227
00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:48,720
didn't want to do like the exact exact same format the meat already exists you know and it's okay
228
00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:54,640
hot ones is a great show so we didn't want to copy it exactly uh we're doing uh we're doing something
229
00:25:55,520 --> 00:26:06,080
like uh how to explain it uh uh the people try chili pepper they and then they recite a popular
230
00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:12,560
creation a popular creation song and it's and it's really and it's really funny you know and then
231
00:26:12,560 --> 00:26:19,040
they're like a few questions for for the guests and then we just finished filming the first season of
232
00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:25,680
10 of 10 episodes and each one is airing on our youtube channel weekly and then we'll see where
233
00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:31,200
to go from that yeah that's awesome i'll put a link in the podcast description so anyone who wants to
234
00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:37,120
can can watch that I saw you had uh riba fish on there I interviewed him yeah a few weeks ago for
235
00:26:37,120 --> 00:26:42,480
for this a great yeah he was he was yeah I know I know even for like 10 years and he's a really great guy
236
00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:48,400
go around as we're winding down here um I just want to thank you for taking the time to come on
237
00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:56,960
the podcast and ask you one last question that what typical Croatian food or food that's you
238
00:26:56,960 --> 00:27:01,680
know popularly eaten here in Croatia gets better with hot sauce and what gets worse
239
00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:09,120
I don't know what gets worse I'm the I'm the wrong person to ask I put so-called my hot sauce on
240
00:27:09,120 --> 00:27:14,480
everything you know it's like I never I never got anything worse with hot sauce but less like
241
00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:22,240
you you you you have you have to love it you know so I can't say anything gets worse
242
00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:30,800
but what gets better hmm well first talking of traditional Croatian food it's like really hard
243
00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:38,080
because there are not a lot of things traditional Croatian so but the hot sauce is as I as I imagine
244
00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:46,000
them are are really because we went for a like American model you know the the pizza is always
245
00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:53,440
better with hot sauce the burgers and the barbecue you know that's it's always better okay so in
246
00:27:53,440 --> 00:28:01,200
Croatia we also have like our local barbecue so I would say every meat is better with hot sauce so
247
00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:08,160
something like that but traditional food I don't know I wouldn't I wouldn't mess with it too much
248
00:28:08,160 --> 00:28:13,120
you know because it would be a sacrilege if I if I told you yeah yeah you can put hot sauce on
249
00:28:13,120 --> 00:28:19,520
sarmah yeah you can I'm eating it but I don't think it would it would went well with some people
250
00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:24,640
you know they wouldn't accept it you know it's because it's what we do is actually not traditional
251
00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:29,920
you know you know I wouldn't I wouldn't want to want to like say okay so you put hot sauce on sarmah
252
00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:37,520
my grandpa did it so no you know but yeah but it's good yeah so you'll do it but you won't promote it
253
00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:44,080
yeah of course I'll do it I do it I will promote it on my channels but I won't say it's traditional
254
00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:48,160
you know I I don't want to because we're not the traditional basis you know we're on business for 10
255
00:28:48,160 --> 00:28:53,520
years and like there is no there is no tradition of hot sauce in Croatia like we started it you know
256
00:28:53,520 --> 00:28:58,720
this is now maybe this tradition because we're 10 years on the market but it takes a lot more than
257
00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:05,280
that to make it traditional that's true yeah but uh I mean volan luto is really becoming a brand name
258
00:29:05,280 --> 00:29:10,400
I see you guys everywhere um so I'm really thankful that I got a chance to have you guys on the podcast
259
00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:16,160
and thank you for coming on um yeah go on I really appreciate it thank you very much for
260
00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:19,360
making me thank you