The Heritage behind the Brandt Family
Behind our hand-labeled bottles lies a dual history: Sakkie van Rooyen's real-life kitchen recreation of a lost recipe as a tribute to a late friend, and a tong in the cheek family folklore we created to bring our characters and products to life.
The Real-Life Story
From a lost recipe to a massive lockdown breakthrough
The Lost Friend & Recipe
The true story of the brand begins in Mbombela (Nelspruit). Sakkie van Rooyen, principal of Pam Golding Properties Lowveld, sold a property in 1997 and became close friends with the seller. His new friend hand-crafted an exceptional, secret-recipe peri-peri sauce that everyone loved. Sadly, when the friend passed away years later, the recipe was lost, leaving only memories of its fiery kick.
Traditional South African peri-peri oils rely on oil infusion to preserve garlic and capsicum aromas.
Kitchen Experimentation
Sakkie approached his late friend's widow. Together, they spent hours in the kitchen, mixing, sieving, adjusting, and testing ingredients until they successfully recreated and perfected the original taste. To give this traditional peri-peri kick a unique local signature, Sakkie decided to blend it with lowveld citrus like mango, oranges, lemons and marulas.
Fruits contain high amounts of natural pectin, which acts as a stabilizer to hold the chili oil suspension.
Lockdown Breakthrough
For years, the sauce remained a hobby shared exclusively among family and friends. However, when the Covid pandemic hit South Africa in 2020, Sakkie saw the opportunity. He wrote himself a travel permit in Covid and introduced his sauce to farm stalls all over South Africa. When the travel ban was lifted, the farm stalls started ordering and immediately captured the local hearts. At this stage the product is still homemade and the Brandt family is slowly growing to make sure that the foundation of the business is strong.
Our facility on Van Der Merwe Street utilizes sterile hot-fill bottling to ensure shelf stability.
The Bottle Folklore
A tongue-in-cheek family lore created to bring our unique label characters to life.
Kaptein Jan Brandt
Smooth fire born in Kaapschehoop
In the early 1900s, Captain Jan Brandt trekked to the port of Lourenço Marques (Maputo) to load gold onto a ship. At the harbor, he crossed paths with Vasco da Gama (a deliberate historical joke!). Vasco gifted Jan a vial of fiery peri-peri oil. On his trek back, Jan stopped in Hectorspruit at Annie Louw's orchard, got sweet fruits, and blended them back home in Kaapschehoop to smooth the fire.
Annie Brandt
"Jy Brandt nie vir Annie nie, Annie Brandt vir jou"
Annie was the farm girl from the Hectorspruit mango orchard. According to the lore, she loved three things: men in uniform, sweet fruits, and pure heat. She married Captain Jan and moved to Kaapschehoop. Finding his original recipe a bit too weak, she added far more chilies. Her famous warning: "Jy Brandt nie vir Annie nie, Annie Brandt vir jou!"
Alie Brandt
Named after the nephew whose backside was always on fire
Named after Jan's nephew Christiaan "Alie" Brandt. He earned the nickname "Alie" (Afrikaans slang for backside) because his rear was always burning from the hidings he got for pranks�like tying a dog to the church bell chain. Because his alie was always on fire, they named their extra-hot bottle after him.
Ranger Marula
Inspired by illicit bushveld brewing in 1918
A legendary Kruger National Park ranger famous for brewing illicit Marula beer during the 1918 Spanish Flu lockdown when alcohol was banned. Captain Jan was one of his regular customers. They became great friends and would always braai steaks together using the Captain's sauce, which eventually inspired this special wild variant with the marula fruit from the Kruger Park.
Sussie Salie
Herb garden secrets & lemon herb blends
The Salie family was farmers from the Lowveld and Sussie Salie was a cute farm girl always busy in the herb garden on the farm. Peanut her dog always helped farming and they were a tight team enjoying farm life and did everything together. With all the herbs and lemons on the farm she made an excellent lemon and herb sauce which she and her friend Annie enjoyed with their salad and her dad used to marinate a chicken flatty for his weekly barbecue. Family and friends were madly in love with the lemon and herb sauce and orders came from far and wide.
Kaptein se Moer
Arabica coffee roasted over lowveld campfires
Whenever the Captain went to Lourenço Marques with his ox wagon, he always traded some of his Brandt sauce and Annie's rusks for Arabica coffee beans from the Middle East at the harbor. Back home, he roasted the beans and ground his own "moer" coffee. Around the kitchen table, a lot of coffee was drunk and the Captain told all his stories; young and old listened attentively to his stories which frequently grew little tails. The best days start and end with Kaptein se moer coffee!
Annie se Beskuit
Ouma Annie's buttermilk & bran rusks
The Brandt clan, their ox wagon, camp, Kaptein se Moer coffee, and Annie's rusks were inseparable and their great passions. Ouma Annie Brandt baked the most delicious buttermilk and bran rusks and the recipe was passed down through the generations. With every expedition, when the ox wagons trekked or the men went hunting, a batch of Ouma Annie's rusks was packed and enjoyed along the campfire early in the morning and late at night. Relive the tradition, dip an Annie!
Shop the Heritage Batches
Hand-bottled and numbered. Secure checkout and fast nationwide courier.