Careful, you could have a ticking time bomb if after a few weeks or months in jars, they could still get botulism. Do you mean with this recipe, Ken or in general if sub lemon juice for vinegar? In this recipe, if the total amount of low acid ingredients is kept the same and the full amount of acid is used (3 c) it will be safe. More safe than even the recipe if lemon juice is subbed for the vinegar as it is higher acid. But the flavor does become a concern - it may have a real pucker factor. ;) You may want to try 1 1/2 c vinegar and 1 1/2 c lemon juice for less pucker. And cider vinegar will give it a softer, milder taste than white vinegar but will darken the product some. In future, can I assume I would always be able to substitute equal amounts of lemon juice for vinegar in recipes? 2 different issues: as far as acidity issues, yes you can always sub equal amounts of bottled lemon or bottled lime juice (never fresh) for vinegar as both lemon and lime are more acid than vinegar. The reverse is NOT true - you cannot safely sub vinegar for lemon juice so if lemon juice is called for do NOT change it to vinegar. But the other issue is the flavor of the end product. Some things that call for vinegar would 'gag a maggot' if lemon juice was substituted. ;) Dave

I did not roast them this time. I only had 2 ripe brains on hand, and was afraid of screwing it up. next week I'll roast some of my many thai peppers I have laying around and call that sauce a practice run. all of course leading up to my master plan, the roasted ghost sauce. ohh man it's gonna be good. btw I only use hardwood charcoal when I grill, I'm sort of snobbish about my grilling. if I'm gonna do it I wanna do it right. I could see adding some mesquite chunks in there to go the extra mile. what's the best wood to use? some salt and black pepper was indeed all that was needed. for this one I think this might be the best one yet (the mango sauce give it a run for it's money though), it's really really good. the above recipe yielded about 16oz, and I think the 2 brains was the perfect amount of fire in there for a nice tasty sauce that isn't too too hot. the red bell pepper added some good flavor too, a nice balance. I will of course have to wait and see what the wife thinks.

This year I grew Lemon Drops and Yellow Russian, which are both C. baccatums and look really alike the picture of Hot Lemons. I have dehydrated most of them and grinded to powder to be used as seasoning for fish. I do also like use the fresh ones to spice up shrimp. Last week I made a patch of hot pepper jelly by using a blender full of ripe seeded Lemon Drops and Yellow Russians and also a handful of Aji Oranges. I substituted half of the vinegar in the recipe with fresh lemon juice. I used blender to get all the peppers to as fine as I could get by blending them with the liquids and a cup of the sugar. The jelly set perfectly and has a really nice yellow color. This became the hottest pepper jelly I have made so far. It is hotter than my habanero jelly, made from seasoning peppers and chocolate habaneros. The heat in the lemon pepper jelly is sharp and intense compared to the warming heat of habaneros, which seems to be quite much subdued by sugar in the jelly.

Hey, Buddha! Oh, I have a couple pounds in the freezer in case my hot sauce supply ran out before next season's harvest, I will have to send some into the restaurant with my husband, he loves ceviche and he can get them to sub for the jalapenos. I've been trying to figure out how to get them into the restaurant, they are so prolific! And of course, it's a good way for me to get him to bring home some ceviche for me... Do I think Aji Lemon and Aji Pineapple would be similar to Burpee Hot Lemon? I do, but I am going on limited experience here. It sure looks like them both and is described just like AL. Don't get me wrong, there's a distinct difference between the AL and the AP, it's just too subtle for me to want both. To me the AL is citrusy with a shade of lemon peel, the AP is citrusy more like lemon or orange juice, no peel flavor. Their base flavor seems otherwise identical to me. Man, you would think we're discussing wine... Now there's a thought, pepper wine... Anyway, I would still like to know more about any of the other Ajis, there are so many. Man I just re-read that first sentence. One of my longer run-ons. Just imagine a few periods whe I have commas.