The Brie countryside east of Paris runs on a kitchen culture of Brie de Meaux, Coulommiers and the mustard pressed in Meaux. Kaathoon, a small-batch hot sauce kitchen built on a family recipe carried from Sri Lanka, has placed three times at the European Hot Sauce Awards 2026 (heatawards.eu), Europe's flagship hot sauce competition: gold in Medium Chili Sauce, gold in Chili Paste, and silver in Freestyle.
Kaathoon is run by Anfas Jasool with his mother and French co-founder Jérôme Nicolet. Anfas began recreating his late grandmother's chili sauce, originally from the village of Akurana in Sri Lanka, in the family kitchen in Faremoutiers with his mother. Her nickname Kaathoon, which translates as "noble woman", gives the brand its name. Friends and family pushed the work into a brand, and Anfas built the Kaathoon artisanal laboratory with Jérôme, producing by hand in small batches.
Nathan Austin on Kaathoon Chili Sauce:
"Kaathoon Chili Sauce reads as a curry-paste tradition put into a hot sauce bottle, with aromatic build doing most of the work and the chili sitting underneath rather than out front. The medium-tier heat is deliberate. The depth is what the panel scored." – Nathan Austin, Tasting Editor, Republic of Heat
Kaathoon Chili Sauce (gold, Medium Chili Sauce): the grandmother's-recipe sauce, made by hand from the original Akurana template. Built on flavour depth and balance rather than extreme heat, designed to be tasted first and felt warm after.
Kaathoon Veggie Sauce (gold, Chili Paste): a vegetable-forward chili paste from the same family-recipe foundation, built to layer into cooked dishes rather than sit on the side of the plate.
Kaathoon Ananas Ardent (silver, Freestyle): a pineapple-led sauce, the same kitchen technique applied to a fruit-forward build.
"Honestly still speechless. This sauce began as a way to reconnect with my grandmother's cooking and the flavors I missed after coming to France as a refugee. Now, seeing my sauces have 2 gold medals and a silver one is something very emotional for me. Now in Europe, made by hand in Faremoutiers, with my mother's help and the support of my close friends. All are believing in my project from the beginning. Massive thanks to everyone supporting Kaathoon. We hope this is only the beginning." – Anfas Jasool, Co-Founder, Kaathoon
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. Medium Chili Sauce and Chili Paste demand opposite things from a producer, one a pourable table sauce, the other a cooked-in flavour build, and Kaathoon landed Gold in both.
"Two Golds in Medium and Chili Paste from one kitchen, plus a Silver in Freestyle, is a producer who can build to entirely different categories. A grandmother's recipe carried from Sri Lanka, reworked in France, scoring at the top of two European categories. EHSA exists to surface exactly that kind of result." – Neil Numb, Founder, European Hot Sauce Awards
Kaathoon Chili Sauce, Kaathoon Veggie Sauce and Kaathoon Ananas Ardent are available direct from the kitchen at kaathoon.sauce@gmail.com. Full EHSA 2026 results across all 16 categories: heatawards.eu/results/2026?utm_source=press_release&utm_medium=press&utm_campaign=ehsa2026&utm_content=kaathoon.
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 videos on YouTube, embeddable: - Medium Chili Sauce: https://youtu.be/t6_GvbkBCM8 Press kit (photos, logos, AI lifestyle composites credited Republic of Heat / European Hot Sauce Awards 2026): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1L8axHYkujqPtXjaD0ppu2ZLPQSW9jf-h?usp=drive_link
ABOUT KAATHOON Kaathoon is a small-batch hot sauce kitchen in Faremoutiers, in Seine-et-Marne east of Paris, founded by Anfas Jasool with his mother, Kaathoon, and French co-founder Jérôme Nicolet. The kitchen produces by hand from a family recipe originating in Akurana, Sri Lanka, with a focus on flavour depth and balance over extreme heat. Kaathoon Chili Sauce, Kaathoon Veggie Sauce and Kaathoon Ananas Ardent all medalled at EHSA 2026. Contact at kaathoon.sauce@gmail.com.
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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