Hot Sauce

When I was a kid, my father and I would go to wing night with my uncle. My uncle would think it was funny to hand me a "hot wing" and see how I'd react. I'm sure at first, I reacted how he thought I would, but eventually as they say "The student has became the master". The spice was nice! Fast forward to current day, hot sauces have become very popular. YouTube shows such as Hot Ones has celebrities going through a gauntlet of craft hot sauces, each increasing in intensity, all while being asked questions by the host Sean Evans. The following steps will start you down a potentially rewarding path of a hot sauce creation of your choosing. Proceed with caution!

•  Hot sauce bottles
•   Strainers
•   Bowls
•   Roasting pan
•   Knife
•   Spatula
•   Measuring spoons
•   Ball jar with lid
•   Blender
•   Food scale
•   Cutting board
•   1 lb of ripe red bell peppers, red cayenne peppers, and red jalapeño peppers. Stick with peppers that are the same color or you'll end up with an unpleasant looking brown sauce.
• 2 cloves of Garlic
• 1 habanero (if you want more heat)
•   2 tbsp of salt
•   White vinegar
• Rubber gloves and eyewear

Before all the fun begins, you MUST clean and santize your equipment and your cooking area. You will need to kill any bacteria that may contaminate your food and cause any illness, There are many ways to clean and sanitize. Using sanitizing wipes, a solution of 1 tablespoon of liquid chlorine bleach per gallon of water, or a kitchen specific surface cleaners such as Domex Multi-Purpose Cleaner.

*Warning* Preparing, roasting, mixing, and bottling will potentially expose you to irritants. Be sure to wear proper eyewear and gloves when handling food and always wash your hands after handling food. Wash all cutting boards, knives, and utensils well after preparing. Lastly, whatever you do, don’t touch your eyes!

•      Begin preparing your peppers and garlic by washing the peppers and removing the stems.

•      Cut your peppers in 4

•     Use a 3:1 ratio of sweet peppers to hot peppers.

•      Prepare your garlic by separating the cloves and removing the husk.

•      Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

•      Arrange your produce on a baking sheet.

•      Roast your produce for 20 minutes until the skin is blistered.

• Weigh the Peppers and garlic with a food scale to determine how much white distilled vinegar to add. The ratio of produce to vinegar is 4 ounces of vinegar to 10 fl ounces of produce. This assures shelf stability and makes it taste great.

• If you want it spicier add some roasted habanero pepper. Don’t add all of it right away. You can always add more but if you overwhelm the batch with spiciness, you will have to start over.

• Blend until smooth.

• Add salt to taste.

Pour everything into a pan for pasteurizing. Bring to a boil then simmer on low for 10 minutes. This will decrease some of the heat in the process. The act of pasteurization kills off any lactose friendly bacteria, so it will not generate its own acidity.

• After the pasteurizing is done let your mixture cool. As it cools it will begin to thicken up.

• Once your mixture is the consistency you desire, carefully pour the mixture in a sanitized bottle.

• Put a lid on it.

• Shrink wrap it to make sure it is completely sealed off.

• Create a unique label to impress your friends. Labels can be made easily on any printer using special label paper. Your local print shop can easily help you with creating great, professional labels.

• Let it remain sealed for 7 to 14 days for best results. If you're the impatient type, go ahead and enjoy when it’s cool enough.