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

1. How do I know if the sauce I make requires a water bath? You use only an approved and tested recipe for whatever you plan to make and the recipe tells you how to process and how long to process. 2. Will a hot water bath create a vacuum on the typical hot sauce bottle lids? Those usually have a plastic seal. No, plastic are seldom vacuum seal caps and plastic will not stand up to the 212 degree water. Safe canning requires you use approved canning-safe containers and lids. Whether safe bottles are available to you or not, I can't say but safe small jars are readily available anywhere canning supplies are sold. They are what most of us use to preserve our hot sauce in. If you don't want a tomato-based sauce, many other tested and approved recipes are available via the sites already linked for you above. Dave

I am looking for any pepper seeds. Heirloom and OP preferred. Especially fond of the quadratos if you have them. I have an abundance of: Beets Cylindra Beets Ciccioga (sp? the bullseye one) Beans Cannellini White kidney beans (bush) Beans King of the garden lima Cabbage Napa Cabbage Standard, several varieties Dill Mammoth I have limited amounts of: Melons, Mostly watermelon. Reds only Winter squash Many varieties Tomatoes Nothing too fancy. I can so have a nice assortment of processing type tomatoes. I have lots of other things in small quantities. Please ask if there is something you want but don't see. Jean

Here's my never failed me yet over 30 years method. New 18 oz. cups with hole drilled or cut in bottom. Potting soil (I like Miracle Grow seed starting mix) 8 qt size, 2 bags. Mix that with 1 pound bag of Vermiculite. Fill cups and wet soil with HOT water until water drains from bottom. Make small circle in soil with my thumb and plant 3 seeds. (Allow soil to cool just a little so it doesn't cook the seeds). Cover seeds with a tiny amount of soil (1/8 inch). Place all the planted cups on a tray under the grow light. Cover cups with plastic wrap. Put lights down to about 1/2 to 1 inch away from tops of cups. Don't let light touch plastic wrap. Set timer to on 16 hours, off 8 hours. Walk away. I almost always have tomatoes up in 3-5 days. Take the plastic off AFTER the tomato has shed it's seed coat. If they don't all do it at once, cut the plastic wrap off of the ones that have without cutting the tomato. I cut the extra tomatoes off at the soil line before they get very big. I keep the light so close after this that the tomatoes grow up into the light, but not enough to damage them when removing the tomato growth from the lights. I fertilize when the tomatoes get pale in color. For your stage of no germination... I would make sure the soil is damp, cover with plastic wrap, put the lights close to the plants, and watch. I am assuming you have used sterile potting soil. If you have no results in a week, start the over. (Something I did before I started my method.) Whatever you do, keep trying and you'll get it down. It's really fun when you get the hang of it. Here's my hot peppers for this year. I use the same method. The peppers take a little longer to germinate. Rebecca