Hot sauce spurs teens

Last fall, a half-dozen teenagers from the Southern New Jersey city of Camden brought hot peppers they’d grown in an urban garden to a rented industrial kitchen. Donning latex gloves, they de-seeded and chopped the chilies before adding them to vinegar and salt. A few days later, they processed and bottled the resulting product into their own brand of hot sauce, Kapow! The group is part of a teen-focused entrepreneurial program called Eco Interns, offered by the Camden-area Center for Environmental Transformation(CFET). The mission of this nonprofit is to create a sustainable, healthy source of fresh fruit and vegetables through community gardens and a farmers’ market for an underserved urban community, while offering job training and education with a focus on meeting environmental challenges.