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Friday, June 28, 2013

Home Made Hot Sauce - Quick and Easy!

 

Making your own, customized hot sauce is one of the easiest things you can do. It's great when you create something that is tailored to your personal taste and personal tolerance for heat. Here is a recipe that I use all the time. You can use any kind of peppers you like. You just have to be aware of the thickness of the skin on the chili peppers that you use. For example, cayenne and jalapeno chili peppers have relatively thin skins. But, Poblano and Fresno chili peppers have thicker skins. If the pepper you choose has a thick skin, you may want to roast the peppers and remove the skin before making your chili pepper sauce.

Here is my basic recipe for making hot sauce. I prefer jalapeno or Fresno peppers, but you can use any peppers you prefer. Just make sure you deal with the skin accordingly.

My latest sauce was made with Fresno chili peppers. Here is the recipe.

8 to 12 Fresno chili peppers (use whatever chili peppers you prefer)
2 cloves garlic or 1/2 tsp. granulated garlic
1 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon fine grind black pepper
1/3 cup distilled vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard (the emulsifier; holds the ingredients together)
1/4 teaspoon xanthum gum (the thickener)

Put all of the ingredients in a food processor and let it whirl until everything is very finely ground. Pour into a sauce pan and simmer it for about 20 minutes. As it simmers the Fresno chili pepper puree will turn from pink to reddish orange. Strain it, discard the solids (or save them for a sandwich spread which is what I do) and then pour the sauce into a sterilized bottle. I use 5 ounce woozy bottles. Keep refrigerated and serve on anything. It's delicious!


Play around with the recipe and make it your own. Do you like a sweeter sauce? Add some honey or brown sugar. Or, how about some pineapple juice or pureed mango or strawberries? Make the sauce your own and have fun!

P.S. - Chili peppers or Chile peppers: Who cares? It's delicious no matter how you spell it!

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