About Us

 Our Story 

            Most businesses start off with a well thought out idea and plan, except this one. Funny right, well this business started by accident although the saying goes, ''Nothing happens by mistake". From a young age, our Mother (Leona) had a passion for cooking. You could always find her in the kitchen observing the cooking process as meals were prepared and her mother was always baking. As a child, she remembered her mother would use peppers to season and preserve meat, fish and chicken and would fry them. With that thought, Leona made her first pot of fried peppers in 1987 as a way of preserving the abundance of pepper that she had purchased. She has been making fried pepper for her family and friends since then.

            After lunch/dinner with family and friends, they would all talked about how nice the pepper was and would ask to take some home. A family friend in particular would ask for a jar of pepper whenever he visited. After a while, he felt guilty and decided he would pay for it. Of course we said NO, you are more than welcome to have it. But he always insisted encouraging us to get in business selling the pepper. One day as he was leaving (of course he had a jar), he insisted to pay and as he walked out, he left some money near the door and said it's for the pepper.

            And that is how we reluctantly started Essie's Pepper in October 2016, which later turned into Essie's Kitchen in April 2019. The name Essie's was chosen to honor the matriarch of our family Sylvia Elizabeth. Here at Essie's, we bring you wholesome ingredients to keep you healthy as we always use a mixture of fresh ingredients to enhance the quality & flavor of any dish. Essie's Fried Pepper Paste can be used to add flavor as a marinate, while cooking, and to a finished dish. After years of perfection, we bring our products "From our kitchen to your palate." ENJOY.