“Yummmmm” was the refrain that echoed around the Mouth tasting table when the terra-cotta-colored Garlic Hot Sauce (No.7) made the rounds. Makes sense, given that Brooklynites Einav Sharon and Jeff Silva founded Filfil with the mission of “adding yummy to life.” Mission accomplished and exceeded.
You’d expect with something this delicious that its makers would’ve known each other forever, but surprisingly, the Brooklyn-based pair that launched Filfil Foods in 2012 don’t go way back. They weren’t childhood friends or even college roommates. No, Einav and Jeff met because of their cats. And their apartment building, where they’d follow their wandering felines into the hallway and chitchat .
Israeli-born Einav had been busy perfecting her filfel chuma, a pepper and garlic paste popular in North Africa and throughout the Middle East, and invited Jeff to have a taste. The San Diego native loved it (duh) and the newfound friends hatched a plan to bring it to the world.
So really, we have cats to thank for this hot little number. This is their seventh version (more pourable than No.6) and we’re officially obsessed.
But tastiness isn’t the only thing this saucy duo finds important – healthy and natural ingredients are always front of mind too. The 20 cloves of garlic in each bottle (and that’s the toned down version!) are from Gilroy, California, garlic capital of America. Garlic gets high marks for lowering blood pressure, reducing bad cholesterol levels and boosting natural immunity. The canola oil Einav and Jeff use is a hard-to-find non-GMO, expeller-pressed version. Plus, unlike sugar- and sodium-laden sriracha and ketchup, there’s not a gram of sugar and only one-percent sodium in their good-on-everything No.7 sauce.
The hardest part is figuring out what not to douse with No.7. Eggs, hummus, avocado toast, tuna salad, tacos, soup, rice and beans are all ready and willing. We even liked the bite of watermelon from our overcrowded plate that got a little saucy…
But our favorite vehicle for getting massive amounts of No.7 in our Mouth? Pizza. The sauce is a little creamy, a bit tangy and a lot kicky, which makes it the perfect accessory to pizza of any style. We begin pizza night by setting out little bowls of this hot sauce (for dunking ease), but who are we kidding? We always end up reaching for the bottle.
Filfil, you fulfill us.