Other Ghost pepper/habanero hot sauces

[Bert2368]

The base recipe I found on the net and started out from was called "Bob's Habanero Hot Sauce - Liquid Fire"


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12 habaneros, de seeded and chopped

One 5.5 oz. can of peaches in heavy syrup (I now prefer to use peaches in natural juice and add more molasses and honey to sweeten)

1/2 Cup dark molasses

1/2 Cup prepared yellow mustard (a cheap, bland, smooth, characterless turmeric containing bright yellow American "hot dog" mustard, such as French's)

1/2 Cup brown sugar (I now reduce this amount, substitute honey and more molasses)

1 Cup white vinegar

2 teaspoons salt (I use less now)

2 Tablespoons paprika (I prefer to add some red ripe non chinensis chillis now, good fresh Hungarian sweet paprika is fine though)

2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

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Put all ingredients in blender or food processor, blend until liquified. Strain

Original recipe suggested one just leave mixture refrigerated overnight before use, I bring it to a simmer and then can it in a hot water bath.



I have modified the recipe somewhat over the years and I usually make at least 4X the above batch, I try to can enough to last me and my family/friends all year.

Modifications:

Use ghost peppers or a mixture of ghost & habaneros.

Use peaches in natural juice instead of heavy syrup, add honey to taste instead of that sugary syrup.

Reduce the brown sugar, use more molasses and some honey instead as above.

Substitute ripe red mild to medium peppers such as serrano, fish or even fully ripe New Mex/Anaheims for the dried paprika. I've not tried to grow the Hungarian paprika peppers yet.

Add fresh garlic

Add some fresh thyme leaves.

Add fresh lime juice, decrease quantity of vinegar if you add a lot.

Add liquid smoke or use some smoked paprika or best of all, smoke some of the fresh hot chilis.

Add some vegetable stock made with carrots, onion and celery trimmings. Or add grated onion.

To help keep the sauce from separating and needing to be shaken before every use, I have used various thickeners.

Arrowroot, xanthan or guar gums have given decent results, I have had problems with starches other than arrowroot clumping and making the sauce lumpy- I had a problem when trying to use corn starch in particular, had to strain such batches before use.

 

[Barashka]

Thanks! I just gathered my crop up and we have no idea what to do with it .. we can at most eat two Habaneros per week .. and we get to deal with this:

(I planted two of each hot pepper home depot had .. didn't read the labels)

Granted ... being able to only eat two Habaneros, not sure I can really handle the "Liquid Fire"

 

[Bert2368]

Thanks! I just gathered my crop up and we have no idea what to do with it .. we can at most eat two Habaneros per week .. and we get to deal with this:

(I planted two of each hot pepper home depot had .. didn't read the labels)

View attachment 90978


Granted ... being able to only eat two Habaneros, not sure I can really handle the "Liquid Fire"

I was in much the same situation about 10 years ago when one of my crew gave me a couple of ripe orange/red "ghost peppers" in early September, which had not yet become a widespread thing or available from nurseries, seed houses & etc.

I tasted the raw peppers, decided they were quite good and cooked my approximation of Jamaican jerked pork with them, carefully saving the seeds. I planted the seeds next Spring. And had a bumper crop, no clue what to do with all that tasty yet painful provender.

I found the "Bob's" hot sauce recipe which I have been playing with ever since, also pickled a good number of de seeded ghost peppers in wine vinegar with some white sugar, sea salt, whole garlic cloves and fresh ginger slices.

I have not looked back. The more of these chilis you eat, the more you CAN eat- It is like a logarithmic curve of heat tollerance.

I made and canned a lot of green tomatillo salsa with ghost and poblanos peppers over the next several years too, the "green ghost" salsa works really well with pork or on quesadillas made from smoky turkey cooked on the grill. I will try to put up a couple more ghost/habanero salsa recipes when I've got a moment.

 

[MrHiggins]

I made my first hot sauces this year, and they've all been surprisingly mild (well, not mild, just way less hot than I thought, given the amount of habaneros I put in). I think de-seeding the peppers makes a huge difference, as does straining out the solids (you can always add a bit of the ground solids back in if you want more heat).

I'm a huge hot sauce fan and now that I've made my own, it's hard to imagine ever going back to store-bought.

 

[Bert2368]

I just re read what I posted.

That should be ONE 15.5 OUNCE can of peaches- not one 5.5 ounce can!

Just made a 2X batch with the first ripe ghost peppers and some habaneros.

2X of OP recipe with an additional 1 cup of vegetable stock, thickened with 1.5 teaspoons of xanthan gum made just under 7 pints of hot sauce. It is quite warm yet tasty. And from previous experience, will age in and get better for a few days. The heat from habanero and ghost peppers takes a while to build, if you keep eating it, after a while you discover it is not so "medium" as you first might have supposed.

I also added 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves and several sprigs of fresh thyme to this 2X batch, don't think I made a mistake... My manager stole the 1/2 pint tester jar from the breakroom table, strong praise from a vegetarian.

 

[Michi]

I just re read what I posted.

That should be ONE 15.5 OUNCE can of peaches- not one 5.5 ounce can!

You should be able to edit your original post.