DR Trouble

If you love hot sauce, family run businesses, supporting local and great flavour then look no further. DR Trouble brings you all that and much more. With two sauces to offer they excel in excellence and provide a quality product time after time. 

How did it all begin?

It all began with Robert Fletcher travelling to the South of Zimbabwe when working as a Scottish surveyor.  It was 1892 and Robert was busy at work. He was writing down all his findings in a diary and without realizing it at the time,  he was slowly creating the original now-famous Dr Trouble recipe in those pages. 

Over generations within the family (5 to be exact!) The recipe was slowly developed and progressed to what we know it to be today. With lots of persuasion by friends and family he started to create the sauces on a much larger scale. Even though this was a big transition for them their aim was to keep the integrity and avoid artificial preservatives, chemicals and colouring. – which they did!

The process

Unlike a lot of other sauces on the market, Dr Trouble sauces are made with a very finely tuned slow process. Each batch can take between 100-120 days and being slowly fermented under the African sun for that length of time is the key. 

Only 30 litres of sauce is made per batch which ends up being only 230,000 bottles per year! 

So if you manage to grab yourself one of these bottles you are very lucky indeed. Differences in the weather and climate can really affect production numbers dramatically each year. 

DR Trouble is proud to only use fresh lemon from the tribal lands, locally grown chillies and spices with salt from neighbouring Botswana. Each 30 litre batch is stirred twice a day for consistency and helps encourage the smooth aromatic flavours.  They believe that is the secret to their success.

With each DR Trouble sauce you get:

• All natural and no artificial preservatives
• Vegan and ethically sourced 
• No added sugar
• A handcrafted 125 year old recipe
• A sun cured product for 100 days 
• To support a socially responsible company 
• Access to a limited small batch sauce

An exclusive market 

Unlike your peri-peri sauces popping up in every supermarket, DR Trouble is classed as the ‘18 year old single malt’ in the hot sauce community. It has become extremely popular in the luxury market and is making waves. Rather than some other sauces you may find where the aim of the game is to ‘blow your head off’ with heat, DR Trouble provides you with sauces that pair well and enhance the flavour of your meal. 

Their sauces 

[The Lemon Chilli]

This sauce is of medium heat, and blends 75% Bird’s Eye chilli with 25% Cayenne. A strong, clean lemon flavour with notes of ginger, mango masala and a touch of garlic.

It’s most often paired with chicken, fish, sliced avocado dishes, guacamole, and even Bloody Marys.  It works well with freshly cooked spinach and steamed vegetables.

[The Oak Smoked]

Oak Smoked is  a piquant sauce with a clean lemon flavour and full-bodied oak smoke. With a touch of mango masala. It is made with a blend of 25% Bird’s Eye chilli and 75% Cayenne.

Works well with all BBQ dishes, red meats and cheese  and is perfect for the traditional English fried egg and bacon breakfast. It pairs nicely  with steak or ham sandwiches.

Giving back to the community 

DR Trouble’s motto is ‘Real Ingredients, Real Change’. Being situated in some of the poorest communities in the world it is their belief they have to do everything they can to help them and the local tribesmen. 

Some of their achievements have been building ‘Ruyomura Clinic’ with waiting rooms and maternity wards and installing an incinerator. Donating pens and paper to schools and paying school fees for over 150 children each year. Running a feeding scheme for orphans and building and maintaining vegetable gardens where the proceeds go to families suffering from the HIV epidemic.

If that wasn’t enough they run anti-poaching operations to help protect giraffes, antelopes and zebras! 

In Conclusion

If you want to support a good cause while tasting delicious sauces with your meals then what are you waiting for? 

It’s a win-win in The Sauce Shops opinion!