Ever since I was a little girl I have been obsessed with hot peppers and spicy foods. I’m sure it’s a trait that I picked up from my mother. Growing up we always had a summer garden and hot peppers were a staple every year. I was one of the only kids I’ve ever known who could bite into a jalapeño straight off the plant and not even flinch (I’m still patting myself on the back for that)!
That love of peppers has followed me into adulthood. I now plant a summer garden of my own every year and, you guessed it, hot chili peppers are the first thing that I put in the dirt. I am constantly pushing the limits to see just how high my ‘heat” threshold goes. My husband has used the word “crazy” more than once in reference to my heat journey.
Now there are all kinds of peppers in this world. Some are sweet, some are spicy, and some are both. Back in 1912, an American pharmacist named Wilbur Scoville created the Scoville Scale. It measures the heat of peppers. Currently the scale ranges from 0 (bell peppers) to 2,000,000 (Trinidad Moruga Scorpion) heat units and the scale keeps going up as people cross breed and grow new peppers every year.
In honor of my lifelong love of peppers, I have been creating different variations of hot sauces for years. Not only do homemade hot sauces taste amazing, but the combination of ingredients you can use is endless.
You can find wonderful glass jars to package your hot sauce for gifts or keep for yourself from Amazon with my affiliate link here 8 oz. jars and 4 oz. jars. Here’s one of the first recipes I ever created…ENJOY! By the way, check out the video of this recipe here.
Homemade Fiery Hot Sauce
Ingredients
- 10 ounces of fresh chili peppers (I used dragon, scotch bonnets, and serrano peppers)
- 1 medium red bell pepper
- 1 teaspoon of Kosher salt
- 1 tsp cumin
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 ½ cups of apple cider vinegar
Directions
Step 1: Gather 10 oz. of chili peppers and 1 medium red bell pepper. Total pepper weight should be 1 lb. Wash the peppers, remove the stems, and cut them in half.
You can basically use any type of chili pepper you would like to make your hot sauce. You can use just one type of pepper, or use a combination of different peppers, which is what I like to do. Also, the color of the peppers you use will determine the color of your sauce.
Step 2: Place the peppers and 1 teaspoon of Kosher salt, 1 teaspoon of cumin, and 4 cloves of garlic into a food processor and pulse to a coarse chop.
Step 3: Transfer the mixture to a 1 quart glass jar and loosely screw the lid (or you can cover the jar with a paper towel with a rubber band around it). Let the jar sit out on the counter for 12 to 24 hours. This starts a light fermentation process.
Step 4: Add 1 ¼ cups of apple cider vinegar to the jar, stir, and replace the covering. Let it sit out on the counter for an additional 1 to 7 days. The longer you let it sit, the more intense the flavors and heat will be.
Step 5: Pour the mixture into a blender and blend until you have achieved your desired texture. If you like a completely smooth sauce, run the sauce through a sieve after you blend it.
Step 6: At this point your hot sauce done! Place the hot sauce in sanitized glass jars for personal use or for gift giving.
You can store your hot sauce in the refrigerator for up to four months. The sauce will naturally settle a bit in the fridge. Just give it a nice shake before use.
This recipe makes approximately 2.5 cups of hot sauce.
ENJOY!!!
Delightful & Delicious 