I made a hot sauce last weekend - won blue ribbon in today's Grange fair (along with all my other submissions - jams, jellies, preserves). The recipe is in The Joy of Pickling (one of my favorite canning books). 4.5 lbs of tomatoes, coarsely chopped (I peeled mine, was about 7 C liquid volume) or 3.5 C tomato puree 2C seeded and minced red chile peppers (I only used 1/2C of Hinkelhatz, Thai, and cayenne, and left the seeds in, not hot enough for DH but pretty good - use more peppers and/or hotter ones to taste, up to the 2C) 3.5C white vinegar or apple cider vinegar, 5% acidity 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 until reduced by half. 2. Puree the mixture, add garlic, salt, and remaining 2C of vinegar (I subbed 1/2C of lime for 1/2C of vinegar). Boil, stirring often, until it's as thick as you like. 3. Ladle the sauce into pint or half-pint mason jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Process for 15 minutes in BWB. Or pour into sterile bottles, cap or cork, and store in the refrigerator. Makes about 2 pints (I got 2.5 since I like it thin, didn't reduce much in step 2.) Then there's this one in the newer edition of the book (thanks kayskats for looking it up for me): first, you make brined peppers --page 71 -- 2 pounds ripe peppers, hot or mild, stemmed and halved but not seeded 5 tbsps picking salt 2 quarts water >put the peppers into a jar with a capacity of about 3 quarts. Dissolve the salt in the water and pour 1 quart of the brine over the peppers. Push a gallon-size freezer bag into the mouth of the jar, pour the remaining brine into the bag, and seal the bag. let the jar stand at room temperature. >the next day, check to make sure that the brine covers the peppers. If it doesn't, make and add more brine -- same proportions. >after a few days the brine should begin to look a little cloudy. If a scum develops in the jar, skim it off, rinse off the bag and replace the bag carefully. >after three weeks, begin the testing the peppers (carefully if they are hot). when they are as sour as you like, drain the brine into a non reactive saucepan, bring it to a boil, skim off the scum and let the brine cool. Put the peppers into a clean jar and pour the cooled brine over them over them. Tightly cap the jar and refrigerate. The peppers should keep in the refrigerator for several mnths. now you go to page 339 if you want to make a relish .about 3 cups, yield... 2 quarts of brined peppers with seeds.(Since she says use the peppers, I'm sure you drain and save the brine)) In batches, whir the peppers in a blender to a mash, stop before you have a puree. transfer the mash to jars, cap tightly and store in refrigerator. should keep several months. if you want a smooth hot sauce (no info on yield) Put the mash through a fine disk of a food mill ... to remove the skins and seeds. If you wish, you can thin the sauce by using a little of the pepper brine or some vinegar. Transfer to jars or bottles, cap tightly and store in the refrigerator ... will keep several months.

There is a Carolina Cayenne listed above(developed in the U.S.A. 100,000-125,000)that gets in the range the add says. When I grew it ,it was hotter than regular Cayenne but I only grew it once. There are probably tons of hybrids/developed cayenne types out there that are in all different heat ranges. I was refering to Cayenne in general. Maybe it was my growing conditions but in general , I don't think Cayenne peppers pack that much heat. I haven't grown them in a while. I use mostly C.Chinense,Baccatums and Pubescens for my powders and rubs heat. Annuums I use mostly for flavor.Especially Chile Negro , Poblano and Cascabel. For short intense bursts of heat a lot of the Frutescens do the trick. I grow a lot of Pubescens too. They'll fool you though. They have all 3 kinds of Caspaicin in them so they feel hotter than they are. They hit up all the receptors in your mouth. I'm more into using several types of peppers to blend together to get the taste and heat i want. I'm growing several strains of 7 Pot,Trinidad Scorpion ,Nagas and Bhuts this year with a couple seasoning type peppers to mellow them out. I guess if the growers are using a similar strain to the Carolina Cayenne type for their powder it could reach up to 125,000 units. I've just never had a Cayenne that I thaught was anything to write home about as far as heat goes. I did like yellow Cayenne better than the other ones for taste when I grew them a few years back. I've grown several different ones.Regular assorted Cayennes,Long Slim,Long red,Yellow,Carolina,Thomas Jefferson,African,Purple,Super,Orange,Golden,Turkish,Picante,Portugal,Processing and sweet.

you can test the acidity with a pH meter or pH test strips. from what i gather, you want the pH to be around 4. but again, ask on the harvest forum.

I had found Bricktown in OKC, and that was the site that completed my order before I had authorized payment. They even sent me a receipt but never charged my paypal account. The price is good at $29.25 for a case of 12, if I could get their web site to work properly. Chipotles in adobo have ingredients that I do not want in my hot sauce, and so I may have to grill some ripe jalapenos in order to make my own chipotles or else try to find them in a Latin market. There is a Cuban market on Venice Blvd that should have them - at least that's where I bought them before. The dried ones aren't always that good, and so I mixed pasilla and ancho chilies with them when I made chipotle chili sauce before. Thanks for your help! Lars