Founded by Karen Putman in 1988 as the pioneer of the fruit based sauces. In the last few years she has been established as the undisputed “First Lady” of barbeque, with her initial exposure to charcoal flames at the 1984 American Royal Barbeque contest. Karen has amassed more than 400 state, local, National and International cooking awards. Among the awards are 1st place at the 1989 American Royal Barbecue in Kansas City, MO., the 1989 and 1991 Jack Daniels Invitational World Championship Barbeque Contest, Lynchburg, Tennesse, where Team Kansas City, of which Chef Putman was a prime member, took the Grand Championship Award; and the World Championship 1989 and 1990 in Lisdonvarna, Ireland.

The Flower of the Flames is a title bestowed upon Karen by Remus Powers, founder of the “Diddy-wa-Diddy Sauce Contest. In a sport usually commanded by boisterous back yard barons, Remus saw Karen as a sweet Flower among the Flames. The title stuck and has proven a winner as the logo for a successful line of gourmet barbeque products. The Flower of the Flames has had the honor of winning the Chairman’s Choice Award, People’s Choice, and Chairman’sChoice in Packaging among many other awards.

“Gourmet” is a much misused term to imply connotative of quality or epicurean prestige. In the case of Karen Putman, “Flower of the Flames” has proven true gourmet expertise at many levels and employs these skills to make barbeque much more renowned, having cooked for the Michael Jackson Tour as well as the NCAA Final Four and several Presidents.