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www.shelbyinfo.com Our 41st Year • Issue No. 39 • September 26, 2024
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Hot stuff coming to Cleveland Mall on Oct. 1 By Alan Hodge Thanks to young entrepreneur Duncan Blount, things are fixin’ to get hot and spicy in the Cleveland County region. That’s because Blount will be throwing open the doors to his new Cleveland Mall store, Shelby Spice, on October 1 where his homemade hot sauce as well as other condiments and gourmet goodies, many made by local folks, will be for sale. Blount lives in Shelby with his wife and three kids. He’s a forward looking, extremely energetic, chap who decided that Cleveland County was in need of a culinary and cultural kick, so he came up with the idea for a unique, signature pepper sauce made from an Italian hot pepper hybrid called puma peppers. Blount’s poetic motto for his sauce is “hits like a train, sings like a song”. Blount credits his family background with planting the pepper seed of hot sauce love in his soul.
It’s an election year, right? Signs like this have been popping up all over Shelby. Shelby Spice owner and founder Duncan Blount proudly shows off some of his peppery product. (Photos by Alan Hodge) “Growing up, I was mortified every time I entered a Mexican restaurant,” he says. “Why? My dad would ask the waiter in his
loudest, most dramatic voice for the hottest salsa; ‘muy caliente por favor’ he’d exclaim. I inherited my love for hot sauce
Members of the Kings Mountain High School FFA class that grew a bumper crop of red-hot puma peppers for Blount’s “Fang” hot sauce. (photo by FFA)
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from him. I come from a family of farmers and taste testers. My greatgrandfather was the dairy manager for the Allied forces in World War II, and he had impeccable olfactory senses. I believe I have the culinary passion, management leadership, and marketing pizazz to reach my dream and bring the heat back to North Carolina.” To turn his hot sauce dream into reality, Blount teamed up with the Kings Mtn. High School FFA class to grow the
One of the Italian hybrid puma peppers that the Kings Mtn. High School FFA class grew for Blount. puma peppers he uses in his signature Fang sauce. See SPICE, Page 2
The space in Cleveland Mall where Shelby Spice will be located when it opens on October 1st. Like Us On
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