Coburg North couple turns up the heat with their new spicy sauce range

A Coburg North sauce master dreamt of one of his award-winning flavours before going on to create it the next day. Our reporter put his tongue to the test.

Natalie Harris and Dan Verbi with their Danny Balboa's award-winning sauces. Picture: Hamish Blair

A growing hot sauce business is literally a dream come true for a Coburg North family.

Daniel Verbi first imagined his “juice head” flavour in a dream, and then woke up and created the red grape and habanero chilli sauce at home.

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With two children, Mr Verbi had realised his days as a travelling electronic musician were numbered.

He and partner Natalie Harris created the spicy sauce range Danny Balboa’s Sauce, and they range from mild to extremely hot.

With help from children Charlie and Frankie, the pair placed twice at the national Mr Chilli Awards last month.

“We quickly realised we were onto something good so I left my job and we slowly built the business,” Ms Harris said.

The business name was born from Mr Verdi’s obsession with a famous movie character.

“I’m a very large Sylvester Stallone fan and my friends would come around and I’d be watching Rocky all the time so I got this nickname and it just stuck,” he said.

TESTING OUT THE HEAT

Five flavours make up the current Danny Balboa’s range, and reporter Josh Barnes put his mouth to the test to try them all.

FIGHT SAUCE

Ms Harris said smoked tomatoes made the difference in this mild barbecue sauce, which would pair well with a sausage straight off the grill. A little bit more spice than your general barbecue sauce, this is a summer staple.

Heat: 4/10

JUICE HEAD

Red grape gives a very fruity flavour on this sauce before the habanero takes over and heats things up. “Roasted red grape sounded so strange the first time Daniel said it but it’s my favourite of our sauces now,” Ms Harris said.

Heat: 6.5/10

ELECTRIC DYNAMITE

Mr Verbi said he named this capsicum, orange juice and habanero sauce after a Jack Black’s dream band in the 2000 film High Fidelity and the orange juice adds a little twist on a warm sauce.

Heat: 7/10

The Danny Balboa's collection includes five sauces and a meat rub. Picture: Hamish Blair

SNAKE OIL

A new flavour, this green sauce combines jalapeño, pineapple and lime for a citrus flavour before the heat takes hold of the lips and tongue.

Heat: 8/10

REHAB

Crank it up when it comes to this black sauce. Mr Verbi said he uses this combination of the hottest of the hot — Carolina reapers, ghost pepper, Trinidad Moruga scorpion — for cooking with pork or Mexican dishes. It certainly packs a punch, and it’s sweat-inducing from the moment it hits the tongue. Approach this one with caution.

Heat: 9.5/10

Danny Balboa’s is available in a handful of local foodstores including Coburg IGA, the Local Pantry at Preston Market and the Friendly Grocer in Coburg North and online.