For those of you who may be wondering what’s going on with Chicaoji and why there isn’t any available, scroll down for the May 2025 update.

Chicaoji began here on Lopez Island, Washington, one day when a good friend who is into using food as medicine offered me a snack. She loaded up my hand with goji berries and cacao nibs. I had tasted goji and cacao in other foods (like hot cereals and chocolate which I love)  but not just those two together. I flipped the whole scoop into my mouth.

As I chewed an amazing flavor developed. A bell went off. My first thought was “WOW, That’s really good but it sure could use just a little spicy heat“. I walked from my friend’s place across a field to Blossom Organic Grocery and bought some of ever kind of dried of chile peppers they had in stock, some goji berries, and some raw cacao nibs. I took  them home and started playing with the blender.

I have played around making hot sauces in the past but this little combination was new culinary terrain for me. I used other ingredients I had on hand such as pickling vinegar and salt. I brought the results down to the Vortex Juice Bar and Cafe which is one of the best places to eat on Lopez. The owner, Jean Perry, strives to make the best food she can using locally produced ingredients to the extent they’re available; mostly things like wraps, salads, soups, and juices. It is actually a main hangout spot here on Lopez Island where lots of locals congregate to eat and socialize.

I foisted upon these innocents my concoctions based on goji berries, cacao, and chilies. I continued to play with various chilies, salts, vinegars, and sweeteners over the Summer of 2007, guided by the “Food is Medicine” concept.

I was onto something. I wanted the best possible ingredients so I asked  knowledgeable locals what’s best.
For example, I learned that people have salt gurus. Who’d have thought? A friend who had a salt guru in the 70’s said Celtic Sea Salt is one of the best. Best is good enough.

As the Summer progressed, I explored combinations guided by the responses from fellow Lopezians: too hot, not hot enough, too sweet, not sweet enough, too vinegary, not enough vinegar, and so forth. Finally, after much fine tuning, I had a concoction many found delicious.

It didn’t have a name but people were stopping me in the street to say “Hey Randall! When you gonna make more of that sauce?!”

I needed a name. I sat down and broke the words chipotle, cacao, and goji apart into their basic syllables. I came up with CHIpotle, caCAO, goJI: CHICAOJI. A new word for a new sauce.

I didn’t know much about running (much less starting) a business but I proceeded to get approval from the Washington State Department of Agriculture to produce and sell Chicaoji to the public. Jean Perry very kindly let me use the Vortex’s legal kitchen.
You can thank Jean Perry for Chicaoji in your life because access to her kitchen let it spread.

I also credit Washington Community Alliance for Self Help (WA CASH) now called Ventures, a nonprofit based in Seattle, WA, that helps people start small businesses. Just when I was overwhelmed by the the complexities and challenges of starting a business WA CASH offered a small business start-up class right here on Lopez Island sponsored by the Lopez Island Family Resource Center. The class transformed what seemed an insurmountable wall of business jargon and practices into discrete bits that actually made sense. I learned that if I patiently approach each problem as it presents itself rather than try doing everything at once I could actually make my little business work.

Many people have helped me along the way. Friends have given their time, advice, and encouragement in many ways to keep Chicaoji moving along. I see Chicaoji as a sacred mission. I sense that Chicaoji is a coming together, a gathering, of healing tribes of Beings. The ingredients represent what I call Tribes (or Family or Genus or Clan) of Beings including each ingredient’s home flora and fauna. Each tribe brings to this gathering its own healing gifts. The people who helped Chicaoji come together and now spread out into the world share their own healing and loving gifts even just if it is simply enjoying a meal together.

I like that Chicaoji tastes good and can also be good for us.

That’s pretty much the Chicaoji story. Thanks for reading this far. I hope you enjoy Chicaoji.

Randall

UPDATE: May 2025

The text above was composed back in 2009 or 2010. Now, in the Springtime of 2025, I’m making some changes. I stopped making Chicaoji myself but I’m passing it on to the next generation.

From the very beginning, my vision of Chicaoji has been to use the proceeds from sales of the sauce to benefit the students at Lopez Island school. I dreamed of students traveling to the far-flung places where the ingredients are grown to meet the producers and handlers of each ingredient: from Ningxia in far western China where goji berries grow, to the cacao orchards of Central and South America, and so on. By myself, I was not able to fulfill that vision. Now, along with school personnel and community members, I am working on a plan that might possibly manifest that vision.

The Lopez Island school will partner with Taproot Kitchen, Lopez Island’s shared use community kitchen and food processing facility. Taproot is a 501c3 nonprofit that serves the community by providing affordable commercial food processing facilities and equipment to entrepreneurs and community members who want to make their own value added food products. Taproot assists with food safety training and has a mentorship program. I’ve already been making Chicaoji at Taproot Kitchen for years.

I hope this endeavor will provide Lopez Island students with the following opportunities.

• Small business education
• Safe food processing training
• Business Mentorship
• Marketing and sales training
• Lopez Schools and students would benefit from sales of sauce.
• Students would benefit by traveling to the far flung places where the ingredients are produced.
• Chicaoji continues to be available to you and your loved ones!

Students can learn about procurement of the items needed for production (ingredients, bottles, labels, etc.) and put them together as a shelf-ready product. They can learn about receiving and fulfilling orders, billing, accounting, paying taxes, making reports to the government and all the other parts of running their own business. These skills could apply to other non-food businesses they want to run.

You might be asking, “OK….so… where can I get some Chicaoji Sauce?!”.
We are going to start small. At this point, the Lopez Island Farmers Market will be the place to get your Chicaoji starting probably in June at the Lopez Lobo booth. Supplying stores in San Juan County and beyond will be next. Online ordering will resume at some point.

I am so stoked that the Lopez school administration wants to do this. It is a testament to their dedication to the betterment of the Lopez Island community in particular and the world at large.

I gotta say that I am pretty excited about this project on many levels.
Thank you very much!
Randall Waugh

P.S. If you want to support this endeavor then feel free to make a donation to Taproot Kitchen at their donation page here: lopeztaproot.org/donate. Annotate your donation with “Chicaoji project” if you send a check. Taproot is helping with this part because I don’t have an alternative donation channel and Taproot Kitchen is going to be a key player in this endeavor.