Well, today I decided I would try my hand at making some hot sauce with all the Habanero’s I picked last week. I cut up and prepared the ingredients myself, ran them through a blender, and then simmered it for about 30 minutes in a big pot. After that, I had enough to put into two pint jars and then I water bathed them in our canner for ten minutes. Since it was raining outside, I had to prepare and cook the ingredients inside and it got quite acrid in the kitchen, so I had to open a window to vent out some of the fumes!
The result was a yellowish concoction that had the consistency of applesauce, but quite potent. I have enough Habs left over that I might make a other batch tomorrow with perhaps some fruit in it temper the heat. Here’s a couple pics of my doings. I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out.
After the sauce cooled to room temperature, it is still hot, but not as bad as it was when it came out of the pot. Almost good enough for salsa, but a bit too warm for that.
For those of you who are interested in the recipe, here is how I made it. Caution!! Be sure to wear nitrile or similar gloves while preparing ingredients, or you risk burning your hands. Wearing goggles isn’t a bad idea either, and try to have a way to vent the fumes via a window and/or fan if preparing indoors. I borrowed and modified the recipe from this site, I made twice as much as the recipe called for:
20 Habanero peppers, topped, then sliced and diced, seeds and all
6 cloves of garlic, peeled and diced
1 medium carrot, grated
1 medium onion, peeled and diced
1.5 cups apple cider vinegar
1 cup water
4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon sugar
After prepping ingredients, combine all ingredients, put into blender, run until puréed.
Pour mixture into ceramic pot, bring to boil, then simmer on low heat for 30 minutes.
Prepare half pint jars, pour mixture into jars, add lids, and hand tighten rings onto jars.
Place in canner, with enough water to cover jars by an inch or so.
Bring water to boil, while partially covered, let boil for 10 minutes.
After time is up, remove from canner, allow to cool, and wait for lids to seal.
My recipe gave me about 2.5 liquid cups of sauce. Of course, change according to your tastes. It is pretty warm for me, too hot for my wife. For those not used to hot peppers, this may be a bit too much, so adjust accordingly. I don’t think it’s as hot as some Moruga Scorpion hot sauce we recently bought.
Bob, it looks great! Just that it probably would not be for me because of heartburn city. Of course,just a dab of it on something such as venison would be delicious.
Thanks Sam, it was a lot of work for just 2.5 pints of sauce. The consistency is a bit too thick for what I consider a sauce, more like a very light salsa. Maybe my next batch will have more water and/or vinegar to thin it out. It’s not as spicy now that it’s room temp, but my wife won’t try it again after tasting it yesterday. Said how do I stand the stuff. It would be good to put on meats, I like to put such stuff like this and salsa on burritos.
I still have about 20 Habs left, plus about 15 White and 5 Bubblegum 7-pots, so I need to do something with them. Maybe one more batch of super-hot 7-pot sauce, and then dehydrate the others. After that, I would declare that our garden and canning season to be over.
Speaking of venison, have you been out hunting yet? Bow season started here this month and rifle season starts in about two weeks. I need to get out and mow the pasture and get my blind set up pretty soon. Haven’t seen a lot of deer this year, but I’ve seen them a bit more in my yard at night, they’ve been browsing on my big blackberry plants, and some of my trees.
In our zone, we can take 4 each, one antlered deer max. Since we hunt on our own property, we don’t need a license or tags, but we do have to call in any deer taken on their automated check-in system.
I would think 2.5 pints of that super hot habaneros and jalapenos sauce would go a ways as far as eating. Would you ever eat a whole bowl full of it at one time?
Yup, I have been bow hunting but the deer have not been following the plan. Oh, I have seen them out at 50-60 yards but that is way out of my bow range. Other than that they just bust me with their snorts. But I have decided to join the dark side. Meaning that I have bought a muzzleloader rifle from Wally World. Back last early spring I built what I am going to call a “platform blind stand”. Can’t shoot out of it worth a flip with my bow so that is the reason for me buying the smokepole. Well, at least part of the reason. Just have not shot it yet. New territory for me. A lot to consider.
It amazes me after doing all the reading about how dangerous it is to even load a rifle with black powder (due to there maybe being a spark in the rifle) that the civil war was fought with this stuff. And not only that the soldiers have to be concerned about blowing themselves up from their own powder they also had the enemy shooting at them while they where reloading. Ugh!
Here is my new stand as it looked like back last April :
Oh no, it’s too hot to eat a lot of it at once. I had some fried chicken today, and put it on it, was pretty good with it, actually. I let my wife sample some with a little bit of the sauce and she said it was alright, but still hot, and it had almost a tropical taste to it, like a hot mango sauce. I agreed.
Interesting that you got a muzzleloader, my bro-in-law has one, it’s not as archaic looking as I thought it would be, looked just like any other modern rifle, except with a really big bore! I’ve never shot it, I was curious as to the recoil on one of those things. They use quite large bullets (about 250-300 grains?), and quite a bit of powder, so I imagine it has substantial kick.
Yeah, I am a Civil War buff, and it amazes me how a soldier was supposed to be able to open the powder pack, stuff it down the barrel, take the Minie ball, stuff that down the barrel, then load up the primer, aim and shoot it- and do that twice a minute, all the while in the heat of combat! And Lord help you if you got hit by one, it would shatter bone so bad you’d be lucky to not to lose an arm or leg. Horrible injuries.
I like your blind, that looks more inviting then shuttling up a tree and sitting on an exposed platform for hours. At least in the blind you could take your lunch, kick back in a comfy chair, listen to some tunes while you wait. But that’s not really roughing it is it?
Tennessee has a very liberal deer season. We are allowed to shoot 3 does a day over approximately 15 weeks. Only 2 bucks are allowed over that period. So, if my math is correct that is approximately 333 does and the two bucks which adds up to 335 deer. I would have to be malevolent to kill 335 deer! Seriously though, I just hope to put 4 or 5 of them in the freezer.
Supposedly the reason the TN has such a liberal deer season is that the TWRC commission fears over population of deer. I know that TN has had an outbreak of EHD (epizootic hemorrhagic disease) in recent years.
Did you know that auto insurance companies are a leading proponent of liberal deer seasons?
Back last early spring I built what I am going to call a “platform blind stand”. Can’t shoot out of it worth a flip with my bow so that is the reason for me buying the smokepole. Well, at least part of the reason. Just have not shot it yet. New territory for me. A lot to consider.