Harvesting for hot sauce

Thankful for another bountiful planting season to fuel Houshmand's Hazardous Hot Sauce and support students—and our local community—in need.

By Rowan University

November 17^th, 2021

Four thousand plants producing more than 30,000 pounds of produce. Eleven Rowan students working alongside University employee volunteers. Four organizations distributing truckloads of fruits and vegetables to those in need. One university president using his passion for gardening to feed the community and raise funds for student scholarships through his signature hot sauce.

What began as a small project to grow peppers for hot sauce has grown into an initiative to feed Rowan students and the community. Pepper production at the West Campus Farm is now in its eighth year and the farm's efforts have expanded to grow a wider variety of fruits and vegetables than ever before.

Each year, from April to November, Rowan President Ali Houshmand and his team of Rowan University West Campus Farm student workers plant, tend, pick and prepare produce. Each week, students deliver their harvest to organizations including the Boys and Girls Club of Gloucester County Glassboro Center, Fresh for All, The SHOP, and the Samaritan Center of Glassboro so they, in turn, could distribute thousands of pounds of eggplant, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, beets, melons, sweet peppers and more to community members in need. Picking everything by hand, the student team saved the hot peppers—jalapeños, habaneros, long hots, Carolina reapers and ghost peppers—to make President Houshmand's latest batch of Houshmand's Hazardous Hot Sauce, a creative and flavorful way to raise money for Rowan's Student Emergency Scholarship Fund.

FALL PICKING

This past summer and fall, Zayne Pino served as a student lead on Rowan’s West Campus Farm, helping to manage day-to-day operations and guide other student workers during the farm's eighth year of production.

Having been involved with the farm since his freshman year, Pino, a senior history major, helped with coordinating harvests and organizing donations to organizations like The Unforgotten Haven in Blackwood, the Philabundance Fresh for All program, the Boys and Girls Club in Glassboro and The SHOP, Rowan’s on-campus food pantry.

For yet another year, the farm yielded more than 30,000 pounds of produce in 2025 including watermelons, squash and succulent Jersey tomatoes. Pino said the biggest reward is knowing that student efforts helped provide food to those in need.

“We know all that work will benefit others,” Pino said. “It’s rewarding work, but also a fun thing to do.”

SPRING PLANTING

Dr. Houshmand grows the majority of the plants from seeds in the West Campus Farm greenhouse. In May, he and Rowan faculty, staff and student volunteers planted 17 types of fruits and vegetables.

THE HARVEST

From July to November, dedicated Rowan farm students and volunteers pick thousands of pounds of produce each year.

A typical harvest includes habaneros, eggplants, tomatoes, long hots, watermelons, jalapeños, beets, melons, squash, pumpkins and cucumbers. In some years, they include heirloom varieties as well as specialty produce such as Armenian cucumbers and Japanese eggplant.

Houshmand’s Hazardous Hot Sauce

Rowan University President Ali Houshmand has a passion for gardening, cooking and high-quality, accessible and affordable higher education. In 2017, he combined all of them to create Houshmand’s Hazardous Hot Sauce, a three-flavor (plus swag) brand that donates 100 percent of its proceeds to the Rowan University Student Emergency Scholarship Fund. Each year, Rowan helps hundreds of students in need through the monies raised for the Emergency Fund. But it’s not all about the hot sauce. President Houshmand uses his sauces as a conversation starter with donors, elected officials and business leaders to discuss creative ways to make a college education more affordable.

Houshmand's Hazardous Hot Sauce launched in 2017 with Wing Wars, a wing-eating competition that introduced the hot sauce project to a standing-room only crowd. Since then, the hot sauce project has attracted attention worldwide, drawing coverage in news, podcasts and social media.

For National Hot Sauce Day in January 2018, University and community chefs used Houshmand's Hazardous Hot Sauce in their own recipes to compete in Cook-Off. Judges selected the top three winners and attendees awarded a fan favorite.

In 2019, Houshmand's Hazardous Hot Sauce teamed with Bonesaw Brewing Co. to create Houshmand's Hazardous Bonesaw Brew, a spicy brown ale made with President Houshmand’s signature habanero-based hot sauce. With every pint of beer sold, Bonesaw donated $1 to the Rowan University Student Emergency Scholarship Fund.

Stirring up interest and support all year long, the Houshmand's Hazardous Hot Sauce student team offers free tastings and sells sauce and merchandise at events including the Gloucester County Boys and Girls Club gala and Rowan Homecoming, athletic events and the annual President's Welcome & Picnic. The sales team packs hot sauce and ships it across the country and (so far) even to customers in Japan, Germany and Australia. Wherever they are, Houshmand's Hazardous Hot Sauce fans support students in need with each purchase.