I would recommend to make a smaller batch and see how you like the heat and flavor. Technically, I think you recipe is fine and it it only the question of heat level.
For all that super hots , you have one carrot as a filler ? Onion and garlic are just flavoring.

I have made HS few times with Habanero. For one part of hab I use equal amount of red/yellow/orange bell pepper then just cook it with vinegar ...

I have also made some with pineapple/mango frozen concentrate as filler. I found out that sweetness make the heat more pleasant not as stinging with a lot of acid.

Seysonn

oh, I forgot... 1/2 of the peppers are Red Jalapeno (flesh only, little to no heat imo) the rest are the Super hots. This tames it down a bit....

Good catch!

This post was edited by kclost on Mon, Jan 5, 15 at 16:07

Ditch the carrots and run with butternut squash,better flavor and just a touch of ACV brings sweetness to the front easily
Agave will trump sugar and give a good run at honey,again better flavors

I do mashes for my sauce, but I use a bit more carrot and a lot more garlic and the last batch was my best with some onion.

If I was going to do a vinegar based sauce, I would use rice or rice wine vinegar--- very mild compared to other vinegars.

Kevin

One of my favorite sauces this year was peach, habanero, garlic, onion.

I also tried a roast pineapple/mango (and a second batch without the mango), but really don't care for it as much as I do the peach.

Nice ideas... ACV never thought about using that vinegar.

Seyson, How much of that concentrate are we talking about, something like a table spoon per pint, quart??? Is that similar to lemonade concentrate in consistency?

Peach, Mango, Butternut Squash, any worry about messing with the acidity by adding those sweeter ingredients? Any additional acid required?

This post was edited by kclost on Tue, Jan 6, 15 at 13:05

kc: not to downplay the expertise of the hot pepper sauce makers here, but go visit the harvest forum. Run your recipe past the experts there. They should have the info you need.

Kevin

Good advice Kevin. I figured ajsmama would be along soon enough too. She's real good about keeping us from making fatal mistakes. :D

I also think that consulting with canning pros is helpful.

I think probably they are going to tell you that with the amount of onion, garlic and carrot you should not use any water. Cause those ingredients plus fresh Jalapeno have enough water to dilute the acidity.

The only safety issue here is to end up with right pH ( less than 4). the rest is just personal taste and flavoring.

Seysonn

in any discussion of making hot sauce, a pH tester is worth it's weight in gold. you can get a cheap one off amazon that will give you good ballpark figures.

I personally wouldn't use red wine vinegar, but I don't particularly like red wine in general. I use either white, rice, or apple cider vinegar.

when you say "whole peppers filling the blender" in addition to those other ingredients, it really throws me off trying to estimate what the pH of your sauce would be. the better way to share your ratios is by blending the peppers down first before adding those other ingredients.

again, a pH tester is worth its weight in gold. take all the guesswork out of it.

I have a PH tester but I prefer using the strips, I have never had a reading near the 4.0 mark. Normally around 3.0 - 3.5

I'm thinking of trying peaches, as they have a PH level around 3.4-3.6 range, maybe Pinapple being a little more acidic. Strawberries might work well being under 4.0... The juices obviously would work great as a thinner.

I do agree that adding water is just not a good idea, why not add a flavorful acidic juice? Makes sense.

I have been tempted in the past but never took the leap, what about balsamic vinegar? I always wondered how it would be in sauce. Balsamic is my favorite, very sweet and mild, I've been known to take a swig now and then, can't do that with most other vinegars. I recently bought some expensive balsamic, but honestly, I don't think it's much different than Alessi, which is what I usually use, but I think you'd have to use white, not the dark.

Anyone here ever try making sauce with balsamic? I'd be curious to hear any thoughts on the matter.
Pam

Me too....

I made a sauce last year using balsamic vinegar, along with chocolate habaneros, figs and caramelized onions. Best sauce I've ever made.

Vinegar is just a name for some acetic acid and mostly water. Household PLAIN vinegar is 5% acetic acid and 95% H2O. That is a vinegar with pH of 2.4

So when it comes to food preservation, only the Acetic Acid plays a role. You can use distilled vinegar, cider vinegar, wine vinegar (Balsamic is also a kind of wine vinegar). The bottom line is the percentage of Acetic Acid that counts. Balsamic / wine vinegars might impart some kind of flavor. Then again one can add all kinds of flavoring ingredients to sauce for personal taste reasons.

Seysonn

Yep, I was curious as to how it would affect the flavor. Thanks lee, I might just have to try it next year.
Pam

Wow. Lots of interesting and delicious sounding sauces. I'm definitely gonna have to try and make some sauces next year. I'm going to go overboard on my garden after receiving so many seeds from the swap that I'm going to have to figure out where to use all of them.