Edible Food Finds: Alicia's Homemade
Photos by Linda Campos
Don’t let the sleek packaging or simple ingredient list fool you.
Behind Alicia’s Homemade in Worcester is a complex passion project that runs deep with family influence and a love for offering healthy alternatives to what’s currently on the market. Alicia Haddad, owner of the certified woman-owned business enterprise and recipient of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce’s 2020 Entrepreneur of the Year award, explains that everything started when she was a young girl cooking with her grandmother, Leta. “She’s the heart of all of my inspiration,” says Haddad.
As a child, Haddad began baking, preserving and experimenting with recipes and fresh produce that her grandmother grew. “We had gardens growing up and we canned everything you can imagine. She was the queen of canning.”
Haddad continued to cook and create unique homemade recipes, often giving her creations as gifts to family and friends while always keeping her eye on how she could tweak each recipe to get the most flavor while still keeping it healthy. Yet while she started preserving fruits and vegetables early on, it was after a chance opportunity that Haddad began to start a food business.
While working at a restoration roofing company in New York, Haddad met a couple who owned a maple farm. They asked her to make some maple-inspired sauces for the farm to sell. When the inventory sold out in one day, Alicia realized there might be an opportunity to do what she loves full time. Originally from Shrewsbury, she set up shop in Worcester in 2015 to offer healthy, all-natural, no-filler alternatives to popular varieties of commercial sauces and rubs.
All Alicia’s Handmade products are made with simple ingredients, locally sourced and organic whenever possible. They’re also gluten free and vegan tested, something that’s important to Haddad. The Jalapeño Verde hot sauce is bursting with a flavor and freshness as if the peppers were freshly picked that morning and had just come out of the blender. It’s citrusy and sweet with a nice touch of heat. The Habanero Heat hot sauce packs a bit of a punch but doesn’t overtake the flavors she gets from fresh carrots, garlic and orange juice.
She makes barbecue sauces—the Maple Barbecue is a roller coaster of sweet and savory while the Carolina Style pays homage to southern BBQ fare—and creates spice packets and rubs for dips, marinades or salad dressings plus Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract and a seasonal Honey Maple Jalapeño Spread.
In addition to providing the Worcester community with delicious all-natural products, Haddad hopes to create opportunities for the children of Worcester to learn about food and nutrition while also experimenting with their own healthy recipes and creations.
You can find Alicia’s Homemade products online or at the Market Pantry at Worcester Public Market and Maker to Main in Worcester, The Rose Room Café in Webster and Julio’s Liquors in Westborough.
Follow Alicia’s Homemade on social media for updates, product releases and news and check out her website for recipes.
This story appeared in the Winter 2021 issue.
