Koroška's food culture runs on garlic-heavy Carinthian cooking, smoked pork from Mežiška dolina farmsteads, and the cured meats that come out of a former lead-mining valley turned smallholder country. ČILI ROŽA, a craft chilli kitchen in Mežica run by Dolores Rožej, has taken Bronze in Garlic Chili Sauce at the European Hot Sauce Awards 2026 (heatawards.eu), Europe's flagship hot sauce competition, with Garlic Chinense.
ČILI ROŽA works out of a small kitchen in Mežica, building handcrafted sauces in small batches from chillies and garlic grown locally in the Koroška valley. The range leans on the Carinthian kitchen Dolores grew up in, where garlic is a base note rather than a finishing touch, and the Bronze in Garlic Chili Sauce is the producer's first European medal.
Nathan Austin on Garlic Chinense:
"Garlic Chinense is built on four chillies at once, White Devil's Tongue, Rocoto Yellow, Numex Sunrise and Lemon Drop, paired with Slovenian garlic grown in the same valley as the kitchen. That is a deliberate creamy-yellow chilli palette, not the red-chilli default you see in most garlic sauces, and the whole build sits inside the Carinthian garlic-cooking tradition rather than next to it." – Nathan Austin, Tasting Editor, Republic of Heat
Garlic Chinense (Bronze, Garlic Chili Sauce): handcrafted in small batches using White Devil's Tongue, Rocoto Yellow, Numex Sunrise and Lemon Drop chillies alongside Slovenian garlic, both cultivated locally. The sauce is built around a creamy yellow and white chilli palette, with the flavour shaped by traditional Carinthian dishes abundant in garlic and the comforting aroma of a home kitchen.
"We've put Mežica on the European chilli map. From a small kitchen and our own handcrafted recipes to competing against producers from across the continent, we earned a Bronze in the Garlic category. It's proof that passion, persistence and dedication can stand shoulder to shoulder with the very best in Europe. We truly earned this recognition, and it gives us even more motivation to keep creating with greater passion and ambition in the future." – Dolores Rožej, ČILI ROŽA
The European Hot Sauce Awards 2026 ran over 200 sauces from across the continent through blind tasting this year, scored on five criteria by a deliberately mixed panel of chefs, sommeliers, critics and chilli specialists. Garlic Chili Sauce is one of the harder categories to medal in, because garlic has to carry the build without smothering the chilli or sliding into a paste.
"That's a small kitchen in a small town taking a Bronze in a category that rewards balance over heat. EHSA exists to surface exactly that kind of result, and we're watching for what Dolores brings next year." – Neil Numb, Founder, European Hot Sauce Awards
Garlic Chinense is available through ČILI ROŽA at ciliroza.si. Full EHSA 2026 results across all 16 categories: heatawards.eu/results/2026?utm_source=press_release&utm_medium=press&utm_campaign=ehsa2026&utm_content=cili-roza.
The European Hot Sauce Awards 2026 are announced ahead of the Berlin Chili Fest, 29–31 May 2026. Republic of Heat's EHSA 2026 Top 3 winner box is live at republicofheat.com/de-en/discovery-set/euhsa_top3, with further EHSA selection boxes at republicofheat.com/de-en/hot-sauce-sets.
PRESS RESOURCES Reveal video on YouTube, embeddable: - Garlic Chili Sauce: https://youtu.be/7ATiV-ZJHU0 Press kit (photos, logos, AI lifestyle composites credited Republic of Heat / European Hot Sauce Awards 2026): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1di42a8-iFBi_dm1XafFOc8S0c5l8sYO_?usp=drive_link
ABOUT ČILI ROŽA ČILI ROŽA is a craft chilli kitchen in Mežica, in the Koroška region of northern Slovenia, founded and run by Dolores Rožej. Sauces are handcrafted in small batches using chillies and Slovenian garlic grown locally in the valley. The range, including Garlic Chinense, is available at ciliroza.si.
ABOUT THE EUROPEAN HOT SAUCE AWARDS The European Hot Sauce Awards (EHSA) is the professional competition for commercially produced hot sauces in Europe, run annually since 2024 from heatawards.eu. EHSA was born out of the Berlin Chili Festival, which has run since 2019 and returns 29–31 May 2026, and became an independent competition in 2024. Over 200 sauces from producers across the continent were entered in 2026. Entries are judged blind across five criteria: aroma, heat profile, flavour, creativity and finish. The 2026 edition covers 16 categories, with Gold, Silver and Bronze medals awarded across multiple positions in each. Each category also names a Best in Category, the top Gold. EHSA is run independently of any single producer or retailer.
ABOUT REPUBLIC OF HEAT Republic of Heat is a European hot sauce subscription designed to show off the flavours coming out of Europe and help solve the distribution problem independent makers face. Founded June 2025 in Berlin by Nathan "Naga" Austin and Simon "Scoville" Gardner. The Discovery subscription delivers three handpicked craft sauces plus a spicy extra to subscribers across the EU each month. Press partner of the European Hot Sauce Awards 2026. republicofheat.com.
PRESS CONTACT Press: Republic of Heat, on behalf of European Hot Sauce Awards contact@republicofheat.com +49 176 41601284
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