Seeking Hot Sauce Advice

9 years ago

Hello all,

Well, I finally finished grinding all my dry pods and finished my spice rack. Now I am wanting to make hot sauces. I have made some before just looking for tips/pointers on what others use for ingredient's etc. I have never made hot sauce with Chocolate peppers before. Looking for tips on how to maintain that color (Food coloring?) and what would be recommended on getting a Chocolate taste?

I have used the normal stuff such as roasted Garlic, Carrots, Onions, Pineapple, fresh Cherries.

All of these peppers in the picture are in pure 5% vinegar and have been in the refrigerator from 2 months up to a week.

Back row front to left:
Banana Peppers
Choc Scotch Bonnet
Choc Bhut
Orange Hab
Red Hab

Front row left to right
Red Savinia
Dorset Naga
Reaper
Choc Hab
7 Pot Douglah
TSBT
Sweet Cayenne
Red Moruga

I am open to any and all advice, recommendations etc. I am one that likes his sauces Vinegary but I am willing to try other methods. I plan on trying fermentation next year.

Thanks in advance,

Bill

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Comments (6)

seysonn
9 years ago
I have peppers in 5% vinegar that are maybe 4 years old and never been refrigerated or sealed/canned. The reason is that no known bacteria can survive in vinegar.

About making the sauce , It depends how hot you want them ? I make mine with habaneroe. And for every portion of it (by weight ) I use about TWO protions of filler (red, yellow, orange bell pepper, pineapple/mango ) .and I cook/ simmer everything in enough vinegar to have the needed consistency/thickness. You may also add some water to reduce acidity ( 2 part vinegar, 1 part water). Bottled lemon juice is an alternative to vinegar too.
Some people use tomato sauce , carrots, .. to dilute the heat . It is all a matter of taste and preference. The IMPORTANT point is to have enough acidity to preserve it. A pH of 3.5 and lower would almost guarantee it for open container. I never refrigerate my open bottle of hot sauce, because it has enough acidity that no bacteria would dare to get into it.

Adding dry spices are all optional and have no bearing on safety and preserving. Depends what you like : I don't add any of it because my hot pepper sauce is just a SPICE by itself. My spice cabinet contains a dozen or more of herbs and spices.

My rough direction:

After cooking, simmering, I use a stick blender and blend it real good. Then sieve it through a rice strainer (~ 1/8" holes). This gets rid of all the solids and the pulp, resulting a nice creamy sauce.

I am sure other will come in and tell you how they do it.

Seysonn
tomt226
9 years ago
Before you start, get ahold of some Xanthan Gum to keep thinner sauces from separating. About 1/4 teaspoon mixed with two tablespoons water is about right for a quart of sauce. Put it in the mix for thirty seconds in the blender, and then pour it into a bowl and let it sit for one hour minimum to get rid of the bubbles.
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some reactions happen slower than others, and some vinegar boils off in the cooking process. so you have to give it time to reach equilibrium. 24h is the number I was told by my inspector. in my limited experience, sometimes the pH goes up slightly, often it stays very near the same, but it still needs to be tested. the biggest change I've ever seen was from 3.0 to 3.1, usually it'll go up by .02-.03 in the beginning I was using the cheapo yellow one that you can find on amazon, and it gave me results very near (within .1) to what the expensive reader gives, under specific circumstances. with a cheap pH tester it is absolutely vital that you're testing a liquid that is very near to the temperature of the buffer solution you used to calibrate it. (note: temp does not affect pH, but it does affect pH meters) the higher end testers like mine compensate for temperature to some extent, but you should still try to be very near to the temp at which you calibrated your device. what I'm getting at is that for home use, you don't need to spend much for your pH tester, as long as you are very much aware that it's just a ballpark reading, and you are careful to remember that temperature will skew the results. and if you're near the borderline, add more vinegar. for my production line I shoot for 3.1 or below, for stuff for home use I shoot for at least below 4. also know that the cheaper ones tend to just stop working. my cheap one decided to go haywire and the pH just kept climbing until I turned it off, 3 days later it worked just fine again. they're a bit screwy. just accept that fact from the beginning, and know that you need to take their readings with a grain of salt. but I do believe many of those negative reviews come from people who didn't bother calibrating their device, or even reading the directions. I spent about $400 on my meter that I use for making a commercial product, and it was the best $400 I ever spent, because I know I can trust my readings.
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This is my version of a Jalapeno Cafe recipe. We keep a dollar store squeeze bottle of it in the fridge and DH eats it on everything. I increased the vinegar because the original recipe was a bit too close to the pH line for me and the last batch using these proportions was 3.6. We've used all sorts of combinations of hot and sweet peppers. Sometimes it's Muddy Brownish Red Dragon Sauce. I quadruple the recipe to can. * Exported from MasterCook * Green Dragon Sauce Recipe By : Serving Size : 0 Preparation Time :0:00 Categories : Condiments Preserving Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 20 jalapenos -- stems removed, coarsely chopped (2 1/2 cups) 1 medium onion -- coarsely chopped 4 cloves garlic -- sliced 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil 2 cups water 1 1/4 cups white vinegar -- or more, to taste Combine the jalapenos, onion, garlic, salt and oil in a non-reactive saucepan over high heat. Saute' for 3 minutes. Add the water and continue to cook for about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to steep until mixture has cooled. Place mixture in food processor and puree until smooth. With the processor running, pour the vinegar through the feed tube in a steady stream. To refrigerate: Pour into sterilized pint jar and seal. Let age at least 2 weeks before using. *Katie's note: To can-- Pour into clean, hot half-pint or pint jars and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes at 0-1000 ft., 15 min. at 1001-6000 ft., and 20 min. above 6000 ft. Source: "Jalapeno Cafe" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Here is a link that might be useful: Green Dragon Sauce
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Bill_Missy
Original Author
9 years ago
Seysoon, Great information and I appreciate it very much. That is kind of what I have done in the past. I have read and has you have stated nothing will live in 5% Vinegar, but I keep it in the fridge just as an extra precaution. However, my wife would love me to get my "crap" out of her refrigerator lol.

Tom, Thank you for the info as well. Can Xanthan Gum be found in local food store? I have never looked for it.

About the Chocolate color/taste. Would Food coloring be okay for the color and would something like Coco powder be ok to get a Chocolate taste?

Again thank you for the advice.

Bill
judo_and_peppers
9 years ago
one way to get the chocolate color, if you're using other peppers in there as well, is to use a mix of red and green peppers and grind it up really fine in the blender.

I make (and sell) a chocolate scorpion based sauce that incorporates cocoa powder, it does contribute wonderfully to the color of the final product. and will have an effect on the color even when used in very small amounts.

I could have a field day on these hot sauce threads.

doing it the way you did, I would suggest using the vinegar you have the peppers soaking in as part of the recipe, as some of the heat from the peppers undoubtedly made it's way in there, why waste it?

also, in addition to the garlic I like to play around with herbs and spices. allspice, cumin, nutmeg, coriander, cilantro, culantro, tumeric,curry powder, ginger, thyme, and others are worth considering. though not necessarily all in the same recipe. when using herbs if you don't have a good pH tester, it's best to go with dry (assuming you're looking for a shelf stable product).

xanthan gum is sometimes available in health food stores, but I get mine online.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0040DWCXG/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=

despite what seems to be the common suggested use for xanthan I find the best way to add it to your sauce is with a blender that has a pour spout that can open while it's still running, and add it a little at a time while the blender is spinning fast. but that's just me. it's better to start with less than you think you need and add more as needed.
TNKS
9 years ago
Grab a chair and acouple beers
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/29501-making-hot-sauce-101/
tomt226
9 years ago
Bill Missy,
Don't know where you're located, but our local grocery store (HEB) carries it. You can also get it on-line.

Seeking Hot Sauce Advice

Comments (6)

seysonn

tomt226

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