Corraleño launches barbecue sauce brand

CORRALES — A Corraleño generational launched his new barbecue sauce in the Sandia Bar courtyard June 29.

Chef Jon Young, owner of Sandia Mountain Sauce Company of New Mexico, made a change in his life to start the brand.

“I’m going to be leaving as the chef ambassador for the Department of Agriculture,” he said at the launch.

Young did trade shows with NMDAG where ingredients from local agriculture were used. As a chef who has been cooking since he was 14 years old, Young thought it was time to put his skills toward his own business. Now he says he will be a vendor instead of an ambassador at those trade shows.

“Developing this sauce just seemed like a really good fit, and I’m stepping out of that role so that I can. It’s not a conflict of interest kind of deal, so I’ll be going to the trade shows, and I just think it would be really cool to be able to represent New Mexico food culture, but in a kind of fusion way,” he said.

That “fusion” comes out in the sauce flavors, which Young showcased at the launch. The offerings come with Young’s answer to the New Mexico state question: “Red or green?” He actually had three answers for the question: “Red, green and Christmas barbecue sauce; it doesn’t get better than that,” he said.

The New Mexico local brand also gets more local because of Young’s ties to Corrales.

“I am a third-generation Corraleño, and then my grandkids are the fifth generation in Corrales,” he said.

Young is also a friend of the owners of Sandia Bar, which was renovated recently. He thought the courtyard was the best place to launch the sauce.

“It’s just been all redone. It’s beautiful on the inside and ‘Sandia Bar’ and ‘Sandia Mountain Sauce Company’ just sounded really great. They were gracious enough to let us utilize their facilities,” he said.

For the next step, Young plans to take his sauce flavors to a trade show in Anaheim next year for the Healthy Food Show.

“Another reason why I wanted to develop the sauce the way that I did is there’s no high fructose corn syrup, there’s no food colorings, it’s naturally preserved, there’s no chemical preservation to it, it’s natural sugars, natural products from New Mexico,” he said. “I just thought it was kind of my job to be able to get a healthier product out there.”

In October, Young said he will be working to get the New Mexico agriculture product represented in Europe.

Locally, people can get the sauce at the Growers Market in Corrales every Sunday, and it will eventually be available at the Frontier Market. There is also hope on Young’s part to get the product in Natural Grocers and Whole Foods.