Vernon's Jamaican Jerk Sauce
www.vernonsjerksauce.com

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TIMES UNION
Albany, NY
March 13, 2003

 The king of jerk sauce
By Doug Blackburn

Jerk sauce is as common in Allan Vernon's native Jamaica as barbecue sauce is in this country.

The fact that jerk sauce, a spice marinade that gives meat and seafood a distinct and succulent zing, is beginning to make its way into mainstream America is in part a tribute to Vernon's belief in his home country's culture.

Vernon opened Vernon's Jerk Paradise in the northeast Bronx more than 20 years ago. When he opened a second shop in Manhattan's garment district, celebrities from nearby Madison Square Garden like former New York Knicks star Patrick Ewing and comedian Bill Cosby became ardent fans of Vernon's down-home Jamaican chicken.

They also convinced him to bottle his jerk sauce, which Vernon has been doing for the past eight years. Playboy magazine called it the best jerk sauce in the United States. (Vernon has since closed the Manhattan restaurant.)

"What I do that a lot of jerk makers don't do is I don't try and burn you," Vernon explains. "I give you a taste but my jerk sauce doesn't choke you."

"My sauce has a smooth taste," he adds, "It doesn't overpower you. The whole idea is to make you want to go back and try more."

According to the legend of the Jamaican Arawak tribe, its ancestors discovered the jerk method of cooking and preserving meat centuries ago. Vernon believes he's merely keeping the tradition alive.

Numerous hot sauce catalogs and online sites distribute Vernon's jerk sauce, which sells for under $6 for a 15.5 ounce jar. Several specialty stores in the New York area also carry his sauce.

Vernon believes jerk is more than a marinade or style of cooking meats and seafood. As far as he's concerned, jerk is an all-purpose condiment. He urges people to treat it like ketchup and apply it to a sandwich, or to add a few drops to a salad.

The Bronx-based entrepreneur is developing a line of products and a Web site for distributing them. He has created a hot pepper sauce, and adobe sauce and a curry powder and says he is now waiting for the economy to start heading in the right direction before going into full-scale production.

"What I'm really looking for is a good broker who can move my products throughout the country," Vernon says. "I want to be I the supermarkets. That's where the money is."