Long Valley Natives Spice Things Up With Family Recipe Chili Oil

NORTH JERSEY - Jessica and Herman Chu have taken a family process of curating a sauce of ripe bird eye chili peppers, savory dried shrimps and spices into Chumami Chili Oil which is available for purchase outside of the Chu's home.

"I’m an international foodie that travels to eat. I have always had a passion for food. Whether it be learning recipes from my mom or blogging about a new restaurant, it’s something I was naturally drawn to and that brought me a lot of joy. I was born and raised in New Jersey and grew up in Long Valley, where I attended West Morris Central High School," Chu said. "Being from such a small town, I’ve always had dreams of starting my own business. Now at the age of 26, I’m proud to say that I’m pursuing that dream today."

Chumami Chili Oil is a start up family business based on a three generation recipe. Chuu said the oil is commonly used to drizzle, lather, slather on your meat, vegetables, breads, pastas, pizzas.

"As long as we can remember, our Mother, most know her as Momma Chu, has always had a gift for cooking," Chu said. "Every year, she’d make this chili oil for our family and friends and give it away as gifts. Within a month, we’d have people reach out asking for more and that’s where the idea stemmed from. When you look at our company name, as well as the logo you’ll see that it actually pays homage to our mother."

Chu said that since the launch, initial reactions and honest feedback from family and friends, who were extremely supportive, provided important insight such as the importance of delivery packaging, the preferred ratio between chili peppers and oil.

"Through that, we were able to take our preceding batches to the next level and perfect our product," Chu said.

Chu said what makes Chumani Oil unique is that it is a family recipe that cannot be replicated or found in stores. It is not mass manufactured in a factory, but artisanally crafted in small batches with the utmost care and respect to ingredients.

"Although we are excited to bring our family heritage as first generation Chinese Americans, our chili oil is a flavor enhancer that takes any dish to the next level regardless of its ethnicity," Chu said. "We’ve been successful in concocting delicious pairings with Chumami including a broad range of foods; from hors d’oeuvres to breakfast sandwiches, spaghetti Bolognese and adds a beautiful kick to your favorite barbecue glazes."

Trying to find a foothold during a pandemic has been difficult for the fledgeling company, but Chu noted they have tons of support.

"We have been blessed to have our family, friends, and ourselves healthy throughout this pandemic. From a business perspective, this may be one of the most challenging times to start a business particularly in the food segment. With social distancing and high levels of self-quarantining, this limited our ability to engage with our community through social events such as Farmers markets and promotional tastings," Chu said. "But with positive encouragement from our small, yet mighty group of supporters, which we like to call 'Chumamians' we used the first couple months in 2020 to really focus on bringing our story to life. Through social media and our website, we took every opportunity we could to post. Although we’d love to see the smiles on people’s faces when they try Chumami, we know everyone’s safety is the most important."

For more information, or to purchase, visit the website.

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