Secrets in The Kitchen Marinara

by Brian J. Lowney

If you haven’t yet tasted Karen Greene’s delicious Secrets in the Kitchen marinara sauce, be prepared for a healthy taste sensation that will be enjoyed by the entire family.

Greene, a Barrington resident and retired teacher assistant in the Providence public schools, created the sauce based on a family recipe at Hope and Main kitchens in Warren and offers the product at small stores throughout the region and at farmer’s markets. She’s produced the sauce for the past eight years and continues to attract a strong loyal following for customers who enjoy good, healthy food.

“I grew up cooking with my mom,” Greene begins. “We cooked on Sundays. We got together and everyone was there. No one was exempt.”

The entrepreneur adds that growing up in a Lebanese family in Fox Point, she enjoyed the food and friendship of Irish, Portuguese, Cape Verdean, Italian and other nationalities in the bustling and closely-knit neighborhood.

“I learned what my grandfather Samuel Simon used to cook,” Greene recalls. “He came from Lebanon where he was a cook for his family. He was a builder here when he came to this country and he was fine carpenter and good cook.

“My mother was so grateful for the time that she spent with her dad to learn how to create these family recipes,” Greene shares.

Greene notes that her family’s appreciation for various cuisines eventually lead her to start her company, Secrets in the Kitchen, in 2014.

“I wanted to showcase my cooking,” she adds, noting that she began producing the sauce at Hope and Main that year while still working as a teacher assistant. She retired four years later and now devotes her time to produce and sell the sauce and to showcase additional foodrelated events.

“The ingredients in the sauce recipe are strategically placed in the large pot to give you that sauce that you crave,” Greene emphasizes. “Through trial and error, I learned how each ingredient should be placed for the flavors to blend without burning them. Although there are crushed tomatoes in my recipes, I still crush the plum tomatoes by hand, remembering that there should have a little bit of chunkiness in the sauce thus giving it the same authentic look that I saw in my mother’s pot as she cooked her sauce.”

Greene adds, “Elephant garlic is a member of the leek family and it takes about a year to grow and it must have have its own designated piece of land for optimal growth. Although the original recipe called for garlic, I have routinely used elephant garlic which has a much milder flavored and is a perfect fit for our marinara sauce.”

Greene emphasizes that the sauce contains no added sugar or sweeteners and is very low in sodium.

“Having having family members who’ve experienced many health issues and seldom being able to find low sodium products, I felt compelled to produce a product that consumers would appreciate so I kept them in mind when I recreated this family recipe.

“I’ve also heard from many customers that our marinara sauce is ‘easy on digestion’ and has no acidic effects,” Greene tells.

The busy entrepreneur credits her friend, Chef Trafford Kane, who owns Kane’s Kitchen Salsa, for helping with marinara sauce production at the Hope and Main production kitchen.

“We produce about 300 jars of the sauce per month,”Greene tells, adding that the sauce is sold at Prica Farina Fresh Pasta in Warren; Barrington Butchery in Barrington; Sweet Berry Farm in Middletown; What’s Good online farmers market; Farm Fresh Rhode Island in Providence; and various farmers markets across Rhode Island.

For more information: visit the webs site: www.secretsinthekitchen.com

“My advice to others who want to develop a food business or any business is that the road will be hard and bumpy but you do what you love and share your passion with others, money will follow,” Greene ends.