Watcharee’s Thai sauces are brimming with authentic flavors of Southeast Asia. Watcharee Limanon produces the handcrafted, thick sauces in a production facility in Yarmouth, Maine, but she was raised in Bangkok. Limanon moved to Maine four years ago with her husband, Paul Violette. Many of the ingredients are imported from Thailand, and she created the sauces to taste true to the ones she grew up with ($9.50 for 11 ounces). In Thailand, Limanon was an environmental lawyer and traveled throughout Asia consulting with governments, but her passion was food, and she trained at cooking schools in her homeland. Thai green curry sauce, blended with green chiles, Thai basil, fish sauce, and lime, is sweet and salty with a touch of heat; Thai massaman curry sauce is made with red curry paste, tamarind, lemongrass, turmeric, and other spices. The Thai peanut sauce, spicy and tangy, has a strong flavor from red and green chile paste. Use it to make satay or as a dipping sauce, or on a cold noodle salad. The sauces are versatile and can be used with various meat, chicken, and fish dishes, or for the barbecue to give foods a Thai twist. Customers have told Limanon they use the sauces in ways that never occurred to her. One said that Watcharee’s pad Thai sauce, which Limanon based on a traditional recipe from a fishing village near Bangkok, is outstanding stirred into mac and cheese. Another uses it to top a hot dog. “It’s not traditional,” says Limanon. “But it sounds good.” Available at Savenor’s Market, 160 Charles St., Boston, 617-723-6328; Ward’s Berry Farm, 614 Main St., Sharon, 781-784-3600; Common Crow Natural Foods, 200 Eastern Ave., Gloucester, 978-283-1665; Whole Foods Market locations; and on Sundays at South End Open Market at Ink Block, 375 Harrison Ave., Boston; or go to www.watcharee.com.
Ann Trieger Kurland can be reached at atrieger@comcast.net.
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