The Duchess of the Datil Pepper
Sherry Stoppelbein is “The Duchess of the Datil Pepper.” Owner and operator of Hot Shot Bakery and Café located in the heart of beautiful downtown Saint Augustine between the Lightner museum and the Villa Zorayda. A specialty item is Datil Peppers dipped in chocolate. For those who can’t take the heat, you get two for seventy-five cents.
The Datil is an exceptionally hot pepper, a variety of the species Capsicum chinense (syn. Capsicum sinense).
Datils are similar in strength to habaneros but have a sweeter, fruitier flavor.
Their level of spiciness may be anywhere from 100,000 to 300,000 scoville units.
Mature peppers are about 3.5 inches long and yellow-orange in color.
Datil peppers are cultivated throughout the United States and elsewhere, but the majority are produced in St. Augustine, Florida. Although local lore suggests datils were brought to St. Augustine by indentured workers from Minorca in the late 18th century, it is more likely they were brought from Chile around 1880 by a jelly maker named S. B. Valls. Datil peppers are used by the Minorcan community in many recipes. There are many commercial manufacturers of datil pepper products in St. Augustine, and there is an annual Datil Pepper Festival.
Located in the heart of beautiful downtown Saint Augustine between the Lightner museum and the Villa Zorayda is a small café. When you walk in you’ll find a few tables, glass display cases of freshly made baked goods and a small counter next to an open kitchen. What might catch you off guard is the woman bouncing from the cash register, to the oven and then to the cutting board. She’ll repeat this dance with the next customer who approaches the counter. With the energy of a Flagler student who is picking-up double shifts to pay her hefty college tuition, this woman is “The Duchess of the Datil Pepper.” Her name is Sherry Stoppelbein and she is the owner and operator of Hot Shot Bakery and Café. You can find her any day of the week working the Panini press, baking cupcakes, serving up her soup of-the-day or creating a new dish from scratch. With the way she moves behind the counter, you would probably think that she just started her shift, but the truth is she has been there since about 7am and will be there until 6pm.
With the first taste of your order, you can tell there is something more to Hot Shot then just quality food, its home cooked quality food, made from scratch and all from Sherry’s personal recipes. Proudly displayed around the café are the many awards she has acquired. Many recipes have a common ingredient, the Datil Pepper. Not only does Sherry own and operate Hot Shot she also has a condiment line called “Datil B. Good” which as you might guess, contains the Datil pepper. Her award winning Datil pepper sauce ranges in degrees of heat from 2 to 4, her Chunky Datil Salsa, Sloppy Good BBQ Sauce, Datil Chocolate Sauce, Mild Datil Pear Relish, Datil Vinegar and finally Datil Citrus Jam. She has been making her sauces practically since day one when she started in business twenty-five years ago.
Sherry chose a name to work under that would include her selection of Datil pepper choices. “My original name was Lovin’ Oven and a lot of people still know that but I had so many things going on, my Datil pepper sauces being one of them,” said Sherry Stoppelbein. She once had a large restaurant and at one time an even larger café. “But this is like downsizing to me. I retired for a while but then I came back. I decided to open the bakery. I didn’t want to put up Lovin’ Oven Datil B. Good and da da da, so I kept thinking about how to combine everything and came up with Hot Shot Bakery & Cafe.
You hear all kinds of stories about where the Datil was developed. It’s believed that it came from Peru and then carried around the world. The Minorcans brought the Datil pepper to America in the late 1700s. Minorcans, natives of the island of Menorca, were brought by a Colonel to help develop an area outside of Daytona. After Minorcans worked for some years they were to earn land but soon realized they were basically slaves and they took off on a trek to St. Augustine. Their journey took quite a while since they were walking and there were no roads or development. They brought the Datil with them.
The traditional, original Datil sauce was a hot sauce that you would use in place of ketchup for shrimp and such. Now with eleven standard flavors and the introduction of two new ones, Mango Pineapple Dipping Sauce and Cranberry Orange Datil Jelly. Sherry is always coming up with new ideas. “They’re all handmade and all made with the Datil pepper in the traditional St. Augustine way. Because it is a local pepper, it doesn’t grow successfully anywhere else in the United States. There are a lot of families that have had recipes that have been handed down through the years,” said Sherry.
Sherry has lived in St. Augustine all her life. “I’ve traveled a lot but never lived anywhere else,” said Sherry. “We grow our own peppers. My husband is the grower. This year we planted sixty plants. When we get low I get on the phone and call all over the county to about five or six different growers to fill up my freezer. I can’t sell my sauce unless I have peppers.” Today there are about fifteen different companies that sell it.
One of the most interesting items on her menu is the Crawfish Crab Savory Cheesecake. “That’s a Datil!” says Sherry. “About four years ago the St. John’s County Agricultural Center came up with the Datil Festival and the first year I got ‘Best At Show’ with a cake I made using the Datil pepper. I recently entered a Crawfish Crab Savory Cheese Cake with the Datil pepper in it and won “First Place” out of twenty area restaurants.”
A specialty item is Datil Peppers dipped in chocolate. It’s half as hot as a Habanera so it’s got a good kick to it. You get two of them for seventy-five cents. “I just ordered a plaque to hang on the wall named ‘The Wall of Flames” for my customers who eat a large portion. Along with that idea, her plan is to invite food fanatic Adam Richman from Man v. Food to a challenge to see how many Chocolate Dipped Datil Peppers he can eat.
For those who can’t take the heat, Sherry Stoppelbein offers a regular menu and a selection of ever changing fresh baked goods. A real popular treat is ginger bread cake with whipped cream. She also makes a pineapple upside down cake; most everything is made in portion sizes. Open for breakfast and lunch daily you can enjoy in the café, on the outdoor patio, or take to go. Catering services, wedding cakes and even free downtown parking available to Hot Shot patrons. To place an order or get more information call 904.824.7898 or visit hotshotbakery.com.
