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.

I don't know if it's Mexican, but I just put up a batch of tomato-pepper hot sauce yesterday. 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 used 1/2C of Hinkelhatz, Thai, and cayenne, and left the seeds in) 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.) 1/2C of the hottest peppers I grow (all the ones that were red plus 2 green Hinkelhatz) was hot enough for me. Even DH liked it - we'll see how it is after it mellows a bit. I liked this recipe b/c it doesn't have any sugar - we don't want a sweet sauce. I used apple cider vinegar and Reallime juice, it might be better with less vinegar, more lime, and I'd rather use Nellie and Joe's Key Lime juice instead but I can get RealLime in a big bottle from BJ's so it's cheaper.

I didn't read the article until today, and Kevin told me yesterday that he had heard about this. Irwindale has some very beautiful spots, located at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, which I can see from my house. I don't know about a racetrack in Irwindale, but it is very close to Santa Anita and the L.A. County Arboretum, which has the pond and house from the TV show Fantasy Island. I can imagine the fumes from the factory from the chilies - I would not mind the garlic, but chili pepper fumes make me gag. But then I use habanero chilies, and the fumes from them are quite intense. I never noticed any intense garlic smells in Gilroy (I must have been there at the wrong time of year), but the smell of broccoli in Oxnard is quite offensive, even though I love broccoli. Stockyards are even worse, and my worst memories of those are from Fort Worth. I've heard they have even bigger ones in Chicago. I would take Sriracha over a meat packing plant or paper mill any day! Lars Here is a link that might be useful: Rec Area in Irwindale

<Does anyone know whether you can toast (char the skins a bit) of the peppers before chopping for the fermentation? Years ago I made an unfermented roasted pepper sauce that was very good.> I don't know of any fermentation recipes that call for pre-charring. Doesn't mean there aren't any though. But just a word of caution - there are hundreds of fermentation recipes and books floating around out there that are unsafe. And I don't just mean unsafe per the USDA guidelines. They are very risky well beyond the guideline restrictions. So reader beware and if not experienced with the process stick with tested and approved recipes. My main concern with the roasting, and this is just speculation on my part, is that it would kill the beneficial bacteria so might delay the fermentation process and it would clearly change the flavor. <My question is can I really let this go longer without it actually rotting or is it done??? The initial burst of fermentation was probably because of the added sugar but is it still fermenting now? How do I know when fermentation is over? How does the flavor change perceptibly as it ferments longer? What should I be able smell or taste? How is 'aging' different from fermenting?> Bottom to top - aging something does not normally include salt. It is a process of time and exposure to air of a specific temp in a controlled environment. You know when it is done/over (after the 7 days recommendation) when it tastes good to you, when it has the flavor you want. I know that sounds vague but fermented foods really are a matter of taste. Some folks want their kraut or pickles only fermented for 7-10 days as they don't care for the stronger taste that develops. 2-3 weeks is the minimum for my tastebuds but others prefer the flavor of 6 week old kraut and 6 month old pickles. So how that flavor changes depends on the brine strength and the ingredients you use but most of all on YOUR tastebuds. Until you add vinegar to the mix (if you do) then yes it is still fermenting and will continue to do so even when refrigerated. it will continue as long as you let it. It does not rot. It does not spoil as long as it is refrigerated once the majority of the fermentation is done. The worst that can happen is it may develop a layer of yeast scum from air exposure. That you just keep skimmed off regularly. This is all assuming you have used a safe level of salted brine to begin with and therein lies the risk. In this world of low-salt diets folks keep trying to reduce the amount of salt used. Do not do that and avoid those recipes calling for what seem to be low levels of salt. I so strongly encourage anyone who wants to get into fermenting on a regular basis to by a copy of Linda Ziedrich's The Joy of Pickling as it covers in detail all the basics and charts out all brine levels that are safe to use. With that knowledge you can then safely expand your fermenting horizons. Dave