I made a version of Linda Ziedrich's Tomato-Pepper sauce with Hinkelhatz peppers 2 years ago (last year was not a good year for the peppers, we've been eating off that one batch but only DH and DS use it). Dh says it's not hot enough, so you may want to try the hotter peppers but since it calls for 2 cups of minced peppers for 2 pints of sauce, maybe don't use all ghost peppers ;-) Tomato-Pepper Sauce from first edition Joy of Pickling 4.5 lbs of tomatoes, coarsely chopped, or 3.5C tomato puree (see page 334) 2C seeded and minced or ground red chile peppers 3.5C distilled white vinegar or cider vinegar 6 garlic cloves, mashed 2 tsp pickling salt 1. In a nonreactive saucepan, bring to a boil the tomatoes, peppers, and 1.5C of the vinegar. Boil the mixture until it is reduced by half. 2. Puree the mixture in a food mill or blender. Return the puree to the saucepan. Add the garlic, salt and remaining vinegar. Boil, stirring often, until it's as thick as you like (Caution here - I'm typing the recipe as written, but since it's a puree you want to keep it thin, pourable, to avoid density issues when canning). 3. Ladle the sauce into pint or half-pint mason jars, leaving 1/4' headspace. Close the jars with hot two-piece caps, and process the jars for 15 minutes in a boiling-water bath. Store the cooled jars in a cool, dry, dark place. Or pour the sauce into sterile bottles, cap or cork the bottles, and store them in the refrigerator. I know Linda Z has made a sauce with the Hinkelhatz peppers, the one on her blog is just a puree, refrigerated not canned. She also mentioned a green one, I think that was made the same way (with just vinegar and salt). She might have a fermented version. BTW, Hinkelhatz aren't as hot as habaneros - but I'd be sure to mix some sweet peppers in with the ghost peppers if you make the pure pepper-vinegar version from her blog! Small Batch Preserving also has a Fiery Yellow Pepper Salsa recipe that I imagine could be pureed after opening to make a sauce, it uses less tomato (and you can substitute the peppers). Here is a link that might be useful: Linda Z's blog - Hinkelhatz peppers

Peanuttree - Thanks for your suggestion. I may try to experiment with some different liquids (like tequila). Lamalu - With most of the others I used the basic recipe below. BASIC HOT PEPPER SAUCE 3 c Distilled white vinegar 2 lb Cayenne OR jalapenos Seeded and chopped 2 ts Salt Simmer vinegar, salt and peppers at least 5 minutes. Process in processor. Store in a glass bottle. Put in a dark cabinet and let age at least 3 months. Strain when ready to use. I did make one batch of Habenero sauce using a mix of yellow habs and Jamaica Scotch Bonnet and the following recipe. HABENERO HOT SAUCE 1 ½ cups chopped carrots 1 onion, chopped 1 ½ cup lime juice 3 cloves garlic, minced 2 tsp salt 1 cup chopped habanero chiles, about 12 chiles, (I generally use 15-20 habs) 1. Combine all the ingredients, except for the habaneros, in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes or until the carrots are soft. (Adjust the heat by adding fewer habaneros not by increasing the carrots, as this can alter the flavor.) 2. Place all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Strain for a smoother sauce. 3. Pour in sterilized jars and refrigerate (or process in a water bath as I do). Both of the recipes came from Pepperfool that has many more (see link below). I have already bottled the Habenero sauce and it's just as hot and flavorful as you might expect. I put 1 pint in a canning jar and hot processed. I put the rest in 5oz woozies that I had sterized but did not hot process them nor did I refrigerate. The pH was about 3.5 when I bottled it. Does anyone have any thoughts on whether it needs to be refrigerated? John A Here is a link that might be useful: Pepperfool

Favorite commercial sauce is a tie between Chipotle Tobasco and El Yucateco green. But home made is much better. Give this one a spin: THICK & SWEET HOT SAUCE 8 oz red ripe bell pepper 2 lbs moderately hot ripe red peppers (jalapeno/serrano/gusto green etc.) 12 oz red ripe Anaheim peppers 1 cup Blues Hog Sauce (or other sweet BBQ sauce) 2 cups white vinegar 1 cup cider vinegar 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar 12 cloves garlic, minced 2 small yellow onions, coarsely chopped (about a pound) 1 7-oz can chipotles in adobo 3 Tbs chopped ginger 2 Tbs black pepper 4 tsp plain salt 2 tsp dried oregano 1 tsp mustard powder 1 20-oz can crushed pineapple 4 oz lemon juice Core and seed the bell peppers, and chop coarsely. Remove stems from other peppers and chop coarsely, leaving seeds and cores. Combine peppers with all other ingredients in 6 quart or larger stock pot and bring to boil (with good ventilation). Reduce heat and let simmer, covered, one hour, stirring frequently to prevent scorching. After simmering, puree all ingredients. A good immersion blender will be adequate, or use a blender or food processer. Bring sauce back to boil and pack in sterile jars. Cover, let cool and refrigerate. Makes about 4 quarts. Batch 1: I omitted bell pepper and used Heritage NM 6-4 and Billy Goat Habaneros. Boiled then ran through a food mill. Next time let steep for a week or so before food milling. Recipe credit goes to Kevin Cleek on the smokering list.

Sorry I took days to get back to this. I had to go away for a few days and my personal life was at a stand still. Kay, that is exactly what I intend to do gram for gram...but I just wanted to ask if anyone already had some experience and for my very first round just keep things simple so that I get the ropes of the fermenting procedure itself.....thank you though! Dave, You know, when I was thinking how it could be possible that the calyxes if left on make a big perceptible difference in flavor to the sauce I thought it might be some special bacteria that reside in this tissue that produce some chemical(s) during fermentation that imparts the difference in flavor. I didn't this it would spoil the pepper mix. The calyx region is actually known to cause spoilage?? This recipe is an adaptation from the published and very popular Sriracha book, for all that its worth. A did read in a few places that you are suppose to use about 2% of the weight of the produce in salt. In the recipe I am using there is 1-1/2 lbs of peppers (675gms) to 2 tsp sea salt. I weighed this and it was 13 gms for me which is about 2%. There is no added water. Is that what you know to be correct? Today I read to add 3.3%. Well...maybe next time? And they say to ferment for 4-7 days, stirring once or twice a day, keeping loosely covered. They do say to stop the fermentation and move on to adding vinegar when you like the taste. That is vague for me! When am I supposed to stop? When it tastes 'right' or when fermentation is over? And how do I really know when fermentation is over? People say allow to ferment 1 week, 4 weeks.....you know all about that. Well things seem to be going OK. The fermentation did start on day 2, bubbling nicely, flavor changing very nicely. No mold or off flavors what so ever. This is day 6. I am letting it go on because I really don't know when I am supposed to stop. The fermentation (bubble production) is much slower now. I asked about this in a separate post also. Thank you so much. K.