If there are any serious hot heads here, I will gladly ship a bottle as proof, provided feedback here 
.
I’d love a bottle. I am fortunate to live by DD Meats on Mountlake Terrace, WA. Their hot sauce selection has got to be one of the largest on the west coast. I go through a lot of sauce. Maybe making my own would be a good call?
How interesting!
I grabbed some more to give as Christmas gifts.
I have enjoyed it and both my sons already went through the bottles I gave them.
Thank you very much for the link.
Kenny,
Thanks for this recipe. Each year I grow a variety of chili peppers in 5 gallon buckets in my front yard, with pretty fantastic results.
Last year I made a batch of hot sauce based on a Donald Link recipe that called for a 3-7 day ferment and a cup of salt (I forget the ratio of peppers but it was nowhere near enough to get the salt ratio down to 2.5%). His recipe calls for tossing the liquid and washing the salt off, and eve with that I found it way too salty.
I ended up with a couple pounds of beautiful ripe jalapeños, seranos, cayennes and dragon cayennes and I combined them all using your recipe, along with some mashed up garlic. I’m about 3 weeks in, and out of the country right now so 5 weeks is the minimum this thing will go.
What’s the level of funk you get when fermenting this for closer to 12 weeks than 4? Does it make sense to check in on it after 5 or so weeks and have a taste to see how ita doing? If so what would I be looking for in terms of flavor profile?
As long as your ferment is clean there is no downside to additional ferment time. In fact it will add complexity and can smooth out some rough edges. But again, clean, no mold contact.
So let’s talk precise technique. When you say “cover” do you mean seal with an air tight cover? Do I need to make sure there is no air between the top of the mixture and the cap? If I need to get rid of the air, how about if I take a 375 wine bottle, boil it sterile, put the mixture in, and then cap with a vacuum cap and suck out the air? Or am I being overly anal about no mold?
No it is not a vacuum it needs to burp CO2. There are all sorts of devices you can get to fit standard Ball jars that provide egress but no ingress. By cover I mean weigh down the mash so everything is submerged. No seed, pepper, or pulp should be in contact with air.
Kenny-
That’s what I thought, thanks. I’d say the ferment is “mostly” clean. Clean container to store the peppers and a clean site to prep them before putting them in the container.
I did not wash the peppers before preparing them though, so whatever beasties were on them when I picked them are likely still there. Though they did spend 1-3 months in the freezer until I had critical mass and time for making a big batch.
And I am using weights to keep the peppers submerged. So any funk that grows on top can easily be skimmed off.
Last batch of the season and damn is it good!
Scotch bonnets from Martinique, red jalapeños, small amount of fataliis from Africa. Fermented with carrots and navel oranges.
Super smooth but hot as hell. I vitamixed these with the ferment liquid, proprietary spices, white vinegar, and a touch of xanthan gum to maintain emulsion. The result is still pure pepper flavor.
Damn, as an aficionado of heat, that looks good Kenny. I love a little fruity character with the fire.
John! Absolutely. I have limited need for fruity, sugar laden, all vinegar, no name hot sauces, I want flavor. A good portion of the peppers here were brought back from a Martinique sailing trip, and these were second year plants as I wintered them indoors then put them back in the ground. There is wonderful citrus flavor and layered complex heat that builds slowly. This batch was fermented for 60 days and no pasteurization.
Looks and sounds delicious!
Fascinated
Kenny did you blend the carrots and oranges as well? Also what flavor elements are you looking for the carrots to contribute?
Wow!!!
I love hot sauce, and keep several types in my fridge for different applications. Tabasco is good for gumbo and red beans & rice, while Crystal or Louisiana Hot Sauce is for jambalaya and pizza. I like the DL Jardine’s “Texas Kicker” Habanero Sauce for meatball subs and sweeter sauced foods. I have never been one for hot sauce on my eggs, however.
I have to say, of all the ambitious hobbies I have tried to pick up, the idea of making my own hot sauce never occurred to me. Now I am seriously considering it.
Yes, all went in. Looking to get some sweetness from the carrots and oranges. Now, the lacto eat those up of course, but I can assure you there is a big change in the flavor profile when adding these. Any trace of bitter is ameliorated, smooths the palate.
Interesting. Eggs are the first thing that come to mind for hot sauce.
Just looking at them is delicious! ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Got six - thanks for the heads up. Look forward to using with NYE Gumbo.