Recipes from the Garden: Hot Sauce V. 2 The Global Warming

Some of you may remember my first batch of hot sauce called Red Dragon. It was a mild to medium flavored hot sauce made by boiling peppers, vinegar, water and other vegetables like carrots and onions. It was good but lacked some of the kick I have grown accustom to when eating hot sauce.

With my boon on peppers, I decided to try my hand at a new hot sauce recipe. This one was a bit different as it didn't use vinegar (only water) and it relied on time and fermentation to give it that hot sauce flavor. I stumbled across it while browsing the internet and decided to give it a try despite me being a bit wary about fermentation, how it works and what to expect.

I found the recipe at FrugallySustainable.com. You may want to click on the link to check it out yourself as it does a much better job at presenting and explaining the recipe. If you have any questions, there is a great comment section below the article with a few people chiming in to answer any concerns.

This recipe is different than the first in many ways, one of them being that something could go wrong here. If your jar is not filled to the top and the seal is not air tight, mold/scum could potentially seep in. I personally didn't have that problem. I filled the water to the top, screwed the lid on tight and let it sit on my counter out of direct sun for 2 weeks. You may want to slightly burp the lid every 4-5 days so the pressure doesn't build up and do anything bad. You'll see the carbonation from the CO2 rise up when you do this. Just a quick release of the gas should be fine. No need to take the lid off all the way. I only did this twice on mine but I did have some liquid bubble out and escape before I opened the lid. The pressure found a way to force some out.

I know I just made it sound like a dangerous science experiment but its really not. Those are just cautionary things. Essentially it is more of a waiting game by letting it sit for 2 weeks. I blended mine up this past Friday, exactly two weeks after I put it together.

I have named it The Global Warming as the heat spreads across the surface of your mouth with little hopes of reversing it. It is much hotter than the Red Dragon but not in a way that you want to throw yourself in a pool of milk. It is flavorful and creates a warming effect. It is actually very similar to Sambal Oelek made by Huy Fong Foods (aka the Rooster people who make Sriracha). I will definitely be making this hot sauce again. Now if only I had a recipe for those pesky little Ghost peppers....

Anyone out there have any Ghost pepper recipes? Preferably for hot sauce as I can't imagine a dish being made with them having any redeeming qualities and I would prefer not to waste money on the other ingredients.

As always, if anyone has any questions, please let me know! Happy gardening (and cooking!)