From our family to yours
Our Story
Black Sombrero was established in March 2019, in London, Ontario by Alberto and Lisa Estrada and family.
How it all Began:
Alberto moved to Canada in 1992 from Mexico City after marrying his wife Lisa, who is from the London area. In todays world of so much food diversity from all over the world, it is easier to find a vast variety of food products. That wasn’t the case in the early 90’s! Alberto struggled with finding a good Mexican chorizo here in Canada like he was accustomed to eating growing up in the heart of Mexico City. He purchased many different chorizo sausages from many different places over the years. The ones he tried were always disappointing for his needs. Due to the frustration of not finding exactly what he wanted, Alberto finally decided to find a solution to his problem. He decided to make his own Mexican chorizo! He consulted with his relatives in Mexico about their recipes and he came up with his custom spice blend. The chorizo was made at home with his recipe, a meat grinder, and a sausage stuffer. Finally, a taste like home!
The Estrada family has always loved to cook and entertain. During these gatherings, family and friends got to enjoy the chorizo that Alberto had created. Eventually, people started to ask from outside of the family if they could purchase the Estrada family chorizo.
The family started to look for a place to make the Mexican chorizo on a larger scale. This is where the relationship with Atwood heritage began. They are a Mennonite run meat processing facility that uses only top quality local meats and a tried and tested process. They made the chorizo for the Estradas to be consumed for personal use. The processing and creating of cured meats such as summer sausage and meat snacks are a specialty of Atwood Heritage. One day as a trial, Alberto asked the owners to take some of his custom chorizo spice blend and try it in their cured meats. The product was delicious! Black Sombrero cured meats were born from that idea on that day.
The Estrada family started attending different farmers markets to allow others to try their foods. Soon more people were asking to purchase Black Sombrero products. The family then decided it was time to take their products from something for the family and friends to the next level of retail and wholesale for all to enjoy.
Black Sombrero chorizo, summer sausage, and mini chorizo are all made with our custom spice blend, locally sourced lean meats, no filler, no dairy, and no gluten. Our cured products are done in the traditional Mennonite heritage style of fermenting, curing, and cold wood smoking. Much of our product is hand made and done in small batches. The result is a top quality artisanal sausage.
We are so happy to be able to bring you our custom products to your table to share with your family and friends. We take great pride in our products and hope that you enjoy them.