Homegrown Hot Sauce

This homegrown hot sauce recipe will show you how to harvest fresh peppers from your garden and turn them into a delicious and versatile fermented hot sauce.

You will need,

About 40 peppers of your choosing, between 4-5 inches

Enough water to cover them

A fermenting vessel with a sealed lid.

An assortment of spices and herbs of your choosing

Salt

Blender

Apple Cider vinegar

Pick your peppers when they reach a level of maturity to your liking. More mature means more spice, but also more flavor. I like to use peppers with a variety of ripeness for a more well-rounded flavor. Freezing peppers to be used later is a good way to achieve this but note that some flavor may be lost in the freezing process.

Wash your peppers to get rid of any bugs or debris. A large, holed colander is good for this. Once you have washed them you should now remove their steps either with your hands or with a knife. I like to leave the seeds in for their spice, but if you wish to make a milder sauce, I suggest removing them.

Once peppers are cut it is now time to add whatever spices you like. I went for an Indian inspired sauce with cinnamon, turmeric, smoked paprika, and ginger. Regardless of what spices you use, you need to add salt and sugar for the fermentation process. Six tablespoons of salt and two of sugar is about right for 40 peppers but adjust to your taste. Finally, cover them in water and give the whole mixture a good mix.

Now this is the part that is foreign to most, but I assure you it is safe, and more importantly, delicious. Fermentation adds a depth of flavor that is unachievable anyway else. This process also makes the end product shelf stable for up to six months if canned properly.

You will want to ferment these peppers for one and half to two weeks. You will know when it is ready when you open the jar of the peppers and bubbles begin to rise in the liquid. Remember to keep out of sunlight and to "burp" the vessel once a day simply by opening it to let the gasses out.

After two weeks, your peppers are done. Now you want to take the peppers out and leave the liquid behind for later use. Take all of the peppers and put them in a blender. Now take your vinegar and fill the blender about 1/3rd of the way up. Mix these on high until as smooth as possible. If needed, add your fermenting liquid in order to loosen up your sauce. Finally, put into mason jars and seal. I froze most of my batch because this does make a lot of hot sauce, but if you do not want to do that then use proper canning methods to seal your mason jars. Lastly, enjoy!