![](https://i.imgur.com/CLvY2jA.png")
06-11-2022, 02:38 PM
Helen Sullivan
Sat 5 Nov 2022 05.00 GMT
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Tao Huabi is the woman behind Lao Gan Ma Spicy Chilli Crisp, a hot, crunchy sauce of chopped chillies that are fried to a red so dark it is almost black.
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Lao Gan Ma, iconic in China, is increasingly appearing in cupboards and fridges in the rest of the world. It is so popular in fact that Tao Huabi is worth far more than three silver coins. Forbes China estimates her fortune at US$1.05bn.
Born in 1947, the eighth daughter of a poor family in a village of mountainous Guizhou, Tao did not go to school and did not learn to read or write. She spent her childhood hungry, and survived the Great Chinese Famine by eating plant roots
......
When her husband died, she moved to the city of Guiyang and started selling noodles with a sauce that she made herself. She eventually opened the charmingly named Economical Restaurant in the 1990s. When a new highway brought truck drivers to Guiyang, she gave them free jars of the sauce and they spread the word. In 1996, she set a factory up in a house in Guiyang, and a year later Lao Gan Ma Special Flavour Foodstuffs Company was born.
Today, according to its website, the company produces 1.3 million bottles daily. Heinz Ketchup produces 1.8 million, and Huy Fong Sriracha – also known as “Rooster Sauce” – 55,000.
......
The product is so popular that in 2016, Bloomberg credited Lao Gan Ma with helping the historically poor Guizhou achieve 10.5% growth – the second fastest of every Chinese province that year, and ahead of the national rate of 6.7%.
......
But Lao Gan Ma is also increasingly popular overseas, especially in the US, where several boutique versions have popped up in recent years, including Fly By Jing and Momofuku chilli crunch
......
Both are several times the price of Lao Gan Ma, which sells for around US$2 a bottle in China.
......
In 2021, as people looked for a way to make their home-cooked meals more exciting during pandemic lockdowns in the UK, online retailer Sous Chef said Lao Gan Ma sales were up 1,900%.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/n...ed%20woman.
Sat 5 Nov 2022 05.00 GMT
......
Tao Huabi is the woman behind Lao Gan Ma Spicy Chilli Crisp, a hot, crunchy sauce of chopped chillies that are fried to a red so dark it is almost black.
......
Lao Gan Ma, iconic in China, is increasingly appearing in cupboards and fridges in the rest of the world. It is so popular in fact that Tao Huabi is worth far more than three silver coins. Forbes China estimates her fortune at US$1.05bn.
Born in 1947, the eighth daughter of a poor family in a village of mountainous Guizhou, Tao did not go to school and did not learn to read or write. She spent her childhood hungry, and survived the Great Chinese Famine by eating plant roots
......
When her husband died, she moved to the city of Guiyang and started selling noodles with a sauce that she made herself. She eventually opened the charmingly named Economical Restaurant in the 1990s. When a new highway brought truck drivers to Guiyang, she gave them free jars of the sauce and they spread the word. In 1996, she set a factory up in a house in Guiyang, and a year later Lao Gan Ma Special Flavour Foodstuffs Company was born.
Today, according to its website, the company produces 1.3 million bottles daily. Heinz Ketchup produces 1.8 million, and Huy Fong Sriracha – also known as “Rooster Sauce” – 55,000.
......
The product is so popular that in 2016, Bloomberg credited Lao Gan Ma with helping the historically poor Guizhou achieve 10.5% growth – the second fastest of every Chinese province that year, and ahead of the national rate of 6.7%.
......
But Lao Gan Ma is also increasingly popular overseas, especially in the US, where several boutique versions have popped up in recent years, including Fly By Jing and Momofuku chilli crunch
......
Both are several times the price of Lao Gan Ma, which sells for around US$2 a bottle in China.
......
In 2021, as people looked for a way to make their home-cooked meals more exciting during pandemic lockdowns in the UK, online retailer Sous Chef said Lao Gan Ma sales were up 1,900%.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/n...ed%20woman.
