Levi Roots had to change Reggae Reggae Sauce recipe as it was too hot

Levi Roots has revealed he adapted the original recipe of his Reggae Reggae Sauce so that white people could handle it.

The 63-year-old star, whose real name is Keith Graham, shot to fame back in 2007 after pitching his jerk barbecue sauce on the BBC show 'Dragons' Den'. He successfully managed to persuade Peter Jones and Richard Farleigh to invest £50,000 into his product and developed it into a hugely successful business.

Levi told the Metro newspaper: “When I think of the response I had after 'Dragons’ Den', I’ve never seen anything like it. Overnight I was perhaps the most famous black man in the country who didn’t kick a ball or run fast.”

Levi, who started off by selling spicy sauce on stands at Notting Hill carnival, admitted he adapted the original recipe so it wasn't as hot for people.

He said: “I felt that the sauce was ready because I did it for many years at the Notting Hill Carnival – my stall had the longest queue. But, I had changed my sauce – originally it was really hot but I wanted to do one that white people could take.

“They didn’t like the very hot sauce that everybody else was doing so I created a sauce inspired by my grandmother’s, which was about flavours.”

Levi, who was inspired by his Jamaican heritage to come up with the Caribbean cuisine, was accused of stealing the recipe from his friend in 2011 and reflected on the difficult experience.

He said: “That was worse than low. I always try to warn kids nowadays that one of the key spends is to get legal advice at the beginning. It’s a mistake that I made. There was no legal advice that I was getting at the time. I was sued for a lot of money.

"It was a massive case. The sauce was just flying out of the stores then. It was three or four years after the Den. But I went through the case and thank God the judge knew that it was my hard work and my recipe. But winning it and moving forward was just the most amazing thing."