Hot Sauce!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BWSmith]

Yup, I am at it again this year. Brewing my own hot sauce. Lots more peppers than last year thanks to my Father-In-Law's Garden. Looks like RevMojo will coming over one day to help out. How is the 8th Mojo? First rule of making Hot Sauce WEAR GLOVES! I think I gave myself a chemical burn last year. This year I decided to go ahead and make up labels and put on those nifty plastic security seals. Also got a new size bottle. I will be bottling in the standard 5oz bottle with a drip cap and in smaller 1.7oz bottles. Next year I have got to plant more peppers. Anyway, of course it is snake themed, here is the lable I have worked up right now.

[LdyDrgn]

How much for a bottle? We wanna try some!

[zero_point_one]

I will be as far away from the house on creation day because the air is enough to burn the top six layers of skin off. However, the last time I talked to my dad he said he had even more peppers to contribute to the hot sauce (second batch) and the only reason he's looking forward to Thanksgiving is to aquire a new bottle of the sauce.

[BWSmith]

Yup, that is why I want to get it done before it gets too cold since I have to open doors and windows and run the attic fan Odd feeling when your face is burning and the rest of you is freezing That was one of the stipulations of me making more sauce, it has to be on a weekend so Jessa can be out of the house. Last year one of the cats learned not to lick the cutting board after i was done

I tried several recipes last year. And oddly enough, my first batch was the best. Glad I wrote down exactly how I did it. It is alot of process. One nice thing is that about 80-90% of the peppers are home grown (either here or by Jessa's dad - he cranked out alot this year and mine are just now starting to ripen). The rest are coming from the farmers market. Next year I amonly planting one type of pepper and planting ALOT! It is the only type that I CANNOT buy. I can buy dried and concentrate over the net, but I prefer fresh whole peppers. About everyone that got a bottle last year used it up pretty fast. Jessa's dad is a pepper nut and he did not open another bottle once he tried a botle from the first batch.

Unfortunately, it takes ALOT of peppers to make a batch of hot sauce (over a pound for only 5 bottles) and home grown plants just dont produce all that much, so I will not have all that many bottles. That is why I am also bottling the smaller bottles. A 1.7 oz sounds like not very much, but it is about 1/3 of a normal bottle, so it is not that bad. Guess I will have redesign labels for them once I get dimensions. I am actually thinking of a different design given the shape of a bottle. **shrug** The sauce has to steep for a few weeks before opening anyway so I have time to play with the label. But what do ya think so far?

[BWSmith]

What is funny is that people don't realize exactly how hot a Tabasco is. They are use to Tabasco Sauce, which is VERY diluted. I think I found a nice mix of hot and flavor, which is how ai like my hot sauce. If I just wanted heat, I would put slice habaneros on everything. The mix of peppers, garlic and spices make a great sauce. It makes Domino's Pizza edible I don't know how to gauge it heat wise. To me (someone who eats alot of spicy foods) I consider it Medium. But i have let people try it that burst into flames and others that said it needed more heat. Of course those are people that can eat a raw habanero without flinching. I just love the flavor. The rest of my shelf of hot sauces has gone bad waiting for me to finish my private stash from last year. Unfortuantely, I ran out pretty quickly so now I am ready. And I am holdin enough back to get me through the year I will see if there is enough left over to sell a few bottles after Christmas (the small bottles are great for little gifts or stockings ). Next summer I should have MUCH more as i am concentrating on one type of pepper and planting the heck out of it.

Also, I use the term "Habanero Pepper" loosely in the ingredients. While technically it is correct, about half of the peppers are actually derived from a wild variety of Habenaro. Not sure if they are hotter or not. Can't find an exact species. Freaky. But just an FYI, almost all peppers turn red when ripe. So a yellow or green habenaro is actually not ripe. Most of my freaky Habs are red. Should be interesting.

[Bry]

That sounds awesome, BW. I remember you talking about this a while back. I know you said you can only make a few bottles, but I'd like one myself. I wouldn't even mind the smaller bottle. I happen to collect hot sauces. I don't collect as much as I used to, because I had to throw out about 40 bottles after the fire at an old apartment. By the way, the label's design kicks #$%^&#$%^&#$%^&.

I read somewhere that the more orange a pepper is in the middle, the hotter it will be. That makes sense, as the Habaneros I've seen are completely orange. Also, have you ever tried Sudden Death or Mega Death sauce? That's pretty much the sauce you want to try (if you can even stand it) if you care more about heat than flavor.

Bry

[LdyDrgn]

I got dibs on one bottle!!! PLEEEEEEEZ?

[bensnacks]

Habanero's possibly a.k.a. 'Scotch Bonnet'??

Not into tabasco but I make my own 'Jerk' seasoning , no..not 'Jerky'
Jamaican Jerk. Ever tried it Brian.??

P.S. Love the label!!

[savannah_babe]

ohh ohh i want a bottle!! pretty pleasseeeee
or even better...some of those chicken wings