About Us

We started Fire Tongue Farms in 2014 on 7 acres in Hollister, CA with the goal of growing high quality, rare chile pepper varieties for local chefs, hot sauce makers, and spice companies. In 2019 we started growing our hot peppers in other regions of California, matching varieties to specific micro climates across the state. Now we specialize in pairing particular varieties of chile peppers with the best microclimates to maximize flavor and fruit quality. Every year we grow over 20 varieties of chile peppers in three distinct California regions, so that our mild varieties grow along the coast in Santa Cruz spending part of the summer maturing in the cool coastal fog, our medium peppers grow in the Mediterranean climate of the San Juan Valley, while our hottest cultivars ripen in the hot inland temps of the Capay Valley. Our peppers are always grown to full maturity and peak ripeness to maximize heat levels, sugar concentration, and color. 

At the end of the season after harvesting mature peppers we dry and smoke our chiles. We pride ourselves on slow drying the peppers in late summer into fall. We also smoke certain varieties using pruned fruit tree wood from local apple orchards in our region. This allows us to deliver the highest quality whole-dried peppers, flakes, powders, and other small batch condiments that you can view in our shop. 

Ryan and Levon

Reach out to us at firetonguefarm@gmail.com