making hot sauce

This year's pepper crop was not as bountiful as in 2010, but I still managed to harvest some beautiful serrano and cayenne peppers. Normally, Sarah would be making salsa with these guys, but she is otherwise occupied with growing our baby at the moment. So, I did what I do best when faced with too many peppers and some free time: I made some hot sauce.



"Serrano del sol", "Cheyenne" (cayenne), "Copra" (onion), and "Tzan" (garlic)

After chopping up all of the peppers shown above and the entire onion, I also minced about half of the garlic bulb. I like adding a lot of garlic to hot sauce because I think that it warms it up in a non-spicy way and gives the sauce a little depth.

I then sauteed the peppers, onion, and garlic for a few minutes until things got a little brown.

Next, I added two cups of water and simmered everything for about 20 minutes. As usual, this released some pretty noxious gases. It's best to open every window you can to keep things well ventilated. Also, I have found that covering your mouth with a wet wash cloth can help with filtering the fumes when you have to stir the mix.

After most of the water has boiled off, all you have to do is puree the entire mix until it is smooth. At this point, a cup of vinegar is added. I typically do not strain my hot sauce, although I have seen many recipes where people do this. Finally, I pour the sauce into clean bottles and refigerate. Typically, the sauce will last for many months.

I think that today's batch of hot sauce turned out pretty good. It is hot, but not painfully so. And it has the garlic undertones that I like. I am especially happy with the color. Once it ages a few weeks in the fridge, I'm sure it will taste even better.