“Based off an old family recipe”
About Harvest speaks with Julie Busha, owner of Slawsa, a unique “slaw-salsa” hybrid condiment. To coincide with the brand’s national primetime television debut of ABC’s hit show, “Shark Tank,” November 15th will also mark National Slawsa Day.
AH: Julie, will you please tell us about how and when Slawsa got its start?
JB:Well it initially got its start back in 1998. It was based off of an old family recipe from probably 20 years before that, my former partners mother who has since passed. And it was just something that she whipped up in the kitchen. And this is the original Slawsa, I mean, just a homemade recipe, it wasn’t a production recipe. And my former partner thought that he would go ahead, and try to launch it out back in the late 90s. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a lot of success when I came aboard in 2011, not one jar being sold to one grocery store. So it kind of sat there for a little while. And I think that speaks a lot to there’s so many fantastic potentially awesome brands that are out there. Just homemade recipes, and for whatever reason, they just don’t get out in the public eye.
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AH:You have recently been on “Shark Tank” and I know you can’t share too much of that before it airs. But what can you tell us about your experience with “Shark Tank”?
JB: Well, I can tell you, I believe in season four about 35,000 people had applied for the show including me. It was something my former partner wasn’t interested in, and I said, “Well we’ve got to do this.” And they obviously, there’s 35,000 people. There are only about 100 spots. So your chances are pretty slim to none. But I decided to try again for Season 5, and it will air on November the 15th.
AH:Have any customers surprised you with the ways that they’re using Slawsa?
JB: I had a lady in Charlotte reach out to us just through our website, and she said, “Julie”, she said, “My particular Publix is out of Slawsa right now.” She said, “How am I going to make my guacamole?” So I never really thought of it in guacamole. Yesterday, I did a radio show and I made some Slawsome deviled eggs, so I incorporated Slawsa into the yolk mixture of the deviled eggs. And it added, I mean, it just adds really nice flavor. So really any way you would eat a slaw or a salsa. So you could put it on top of your hotdogs, brats, burgers, pulled pork. You can incorporate it in like an egg or tuna salad. So any place you would have a pickle relish in a recipe, replace it with Slawsa, and it will give it a little bit more zip. You can also dip it with tortilla chips in place of a traditional salsa. Slawsa is all natural, fat free, cholesterol free, gluten free, extremely low in sodium, and kosher. So when I say low in sodium, it’s about 1/3 of the sodium that ketchup has, and about as half of the sodium that a jarred salsa has. So it’s just a much healthier option than some of the more traditional condiments out there.
Julie Busha Slawesome Deviled Eggs Recipe
12 Hardboiled Eggs, slices in half lengthwise
1/2 Cup Slawsa Spicy
1/4 – 1/3 Cup Mayonnaise
Paprika (optional)
Mix yokes, Slawsa and mayonnaise thoroughly and pipe into egg halves using a plastic bag, corner cut out. Sprinkle with paprika. Serves 24
AH:How and where do you distribute Slawsa?
JB:Well most of our relationships are direct with retailers. So the retailer that we’re in the most stores is Kroger, and we’re in almost 1,500 Kroger and Kroger Banner stores from the center of the country on eastward. I just launched the garlic, and spicy garlic at the Fancy Food Show this July, so we don’t have a lot of distribution in the United States, although we are in Canada, and my Canadian list is growing. Other major retailers in the US that carry us; we are in some select Wal-Mart’s, that list continues to grow. We are in Meyer and a lot of Piggly Wiggly’s. Publix is a big one. Lowes Foods, Ingalls, Food City. But we’re also in small gourmet and butcher shops too. So we’ve been embraced from the biggest of the big all the way to the smallest of the small. And I think primarily because Slawsa is just so different from anything that buyers have really seen out there, and it is not only a healthier version of what people consider a relish because ours is cabbage based whereas most traditional relishes are pickle base. But it is much more versatile than a pickle relish, and it’s I think far tastier. And we should all be eating more cabbage, it’s absolutely good for us and it’s a super food.
Photo credit: Julie Busha
AH:Please tell us about how your childhood agricultural experiences have influenced you?
JB:Sure, absolutely. Well I was both a chapter president of the FFA, and a club president of the 4H, and I was actually vice president in my county for 4H as well, back in Sarasota County in Florida. I had a hog in the fair every year from seventh grade on for FFA, and my specialty in 4H was bearing cattle of which I milked many a cow. But I was the state dairy quiz bowl champion, so I know a lot of useless information about dairy cattle. And I had Holsteins, and Jerseys. And I think the nice thing about the 4H, and the FFA, it not only gives you leadership skills, and but it gives you work ethic.
Photo credit: Julie Busha
And granted I — I had a pretty insane work ethic with my running because that’s where I got a college scholarship. But everyday in high school, I would get up before school, do my run. After school, you were involved with clubs, and academic stuff, and of course after school practice. And then I would go milk the cows, and muck out horse stalls, build fence; do whatever you needed to do to take care of your animals at night. And then I would sometimes even run again in the evening time. But 4H, and FFA just, it was such a great, great experience. I think anybody who had the opportunity to raise livestock really gets a sense of work ethic. Just you got to be there, you got to do it everyday. It’s not like you can take a day off. So and I treat my life like that now. I don’t take a day off of work. I’m seven days a week, and that’s how you get ahead.
To learn more visit: Slawsa.com
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