Making Hot Sauce

The peppers in our greenhouse needed to be picked and Kathy was going to be out of the house, so I decided it was time to make a batch of hot sauce. The boys and I had used up the last batch.

My recipe is just the basic Louisiana Hot Sauce recipe I found on pepperscale.com.

1 lb. peppers
1 Tbsp. salt
1 1/2 cups vinegar

One important word of caution: The vinegar fumes are unpleasant to breathe and the hot pepper fumes can be downright dangerous. For a larger batch or hotter varieties of peppers I would move the operation outdoors.

I'm making two batches, one red and one green. For the red I'm using an Aji Dulce/Habanero cross, Aji Panca, Guajillo, Aji Brazilian Starfish, ripe Big Jim Chile, ripe jalapeno and ripe Ancho. For the green I'm using jalapeno, serrano, green Big Jim Chile, green Panca, green Starfish and green Ancho. 

I really like spicy foods and hot peppers, but I'm not foolish. I don't go in for extremely hot peppers and I rarely eat hot peppers raw. Cooking cools the peppers down, or at least spreads the heat around. When I make fresh salsa I use jalapenos, not anything hotter. I did just discover Mrs. Renfro's Ghost Pepper Salsa and I really like it. For me, Mrs. Renfro's is the grocery store brand I know will be good.

Another thing, I think peppers developed in New Mexico are the best tasting. Hatch green chiles have the best pepper flavor I know of. I grow peppers that are common in Mexican and Chilean cooking because they are my favorite. I don't mess with peppers they grow in Italy, Thailand, etc. because I'm trying to limit my scope. Not to mention, some of those are crazy hot.

I cut up the peppers, discard the stems and add the peppers, salt and vinegar to a sauce pan. Then I bring the vinegar to a boil, reduce the heat and cover the pan, simmering for about an hour. When the peppers are soft, I remove them from the heat and let them cool for awhile. The colors look faded, but will come back in the final process.

The cooked and cooled peppers go into the blender and I pulse them at first, gradually increasing to the highest speed.

After rinsing the cooking pan, I put a wire strainer over it and pour in the pureed peppers. Using a wooden spoon or a rubber spatula, I press the sauce through the mesh. About two thirds or three quarters of the sauce will press through, leaving the fibrous material and seeds behind. I like my sauce thick.

After straining, the sauce is smooth and rich looking. I transfer it to a jar, twist the lid on tight and refrigerate. The sauce will keep for at least six months in the fridge if it lasts that long

Each batch makes about one pint of sauce.

Many recipes involve fermenting and aging the sauce. The Tobasco company uses fermentation and then ages the sauce for three to five years. It's good stuff, but I like the fresh sweet flavor I get with the above recipe. Maybe I'll try fermentation sometime, but for now that just seems like a lot of extra work.

Stephen