THE SECRET’S IN THE
SAUCE A LOCAL FAMILY CONTINUES TO GROW ITS BRAND
A
BY AMBER WATSON
sauce by any other name is just a sauce, and Cackalacky is no ordinary sauce. Two decades ago, Harry Page Skelton Sr.
and Caroline Lee Skelton
experimented with locally grown ingredients in their kitchen to make a sweet potato-based hot sauce with a “secret spice blend.” “We were having everyone try our yet-to-be-named
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CHATHAM MAGAZINE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN MICHAEL SIMPSON
Harry Skelton, 15, holds the sauce with his parents, Caroline Skelton and Page Skelton.
sauce creation, and one of our friends said, ‘Hey, pass me some of that Cackalacky!’ That was it. We knew immediately that was the name,” Page says. Though there’s no definitive origin for the word, “cackalacky” seems to best capture the spirit of a feisty, homegrown brand with a commitment to authentic and locally sourced ingredients, production and partners. “We deliberated over the best way to spell the name and did a little digging,” Page explains. “No one had ever
FEBRUARY / MARCH 2022