Standing on the side of a road near an airfield 25 miles outside of Dallas, Texas, Ed stared into the Zoom video and waxed poetic about his mission to create the best Latin flavors. In this exclusive interview with Startup Cuba, Big Ed shares his inspiration for starting up Spicy Caballero. His first blend, El Borikua. Born out of his desire to replicate the ‘sabor’ of his home in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, he started mixing seasonings together in his kitchen when he needed steak seasoning. After dabbling for a bit he brought it to work and explains, “One day, I bring it to work and the people at work were like, man you gotta sell this, you gotta sell this, you gotta sell this.”
Big Ed’s first blend, appropriately named El Borikua is a mix that can best be described as adobo, sazón and sofrito, blended into a single powder. He sent it to a seasonings company in Alabama and they told him it was too Latin-forward to be used for barbeque. So, he decided to go for it himself and started his own small business called Spicy Caballero Seasonings.
Today El Borikua is his best seller amongst a product line that includes catchy names like Asiarican Dust, a blend of Southeast Asian flavors with Big Ed’s Latin American twist.
