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heat HigherThisHeat's TooHeated Hot Sauce... First hot sauce

SUPER HOT SAUCE DAY and spicey fingers.... I had a bucket load of scorpions to use up so it was time to try makin a hot sauce. First time ever.
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My goodness. I didn't really know what I was doing. I kind of just made up my own recipe after seeing what others do.
 
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Approx 3/4lb of various scorpions
2 small yellow onions
4 cloves garlic
1 1/4 cup shredded carrots (not shown)
4 roma tomatoes
salt
black pepper
Juice of 2 lemons
1.5 cups vinegar
water
 
 
I first cooked the onion and garlic in a skillet on med low for about 10 minutes, and then added everything except the lemon juice, vinegar, and water.
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simmered sauteed all of that in the pan for about 15 minutes. Added a cup of water, and brought to a boil, then lowered to a simmer for about 45 minutes untill most liquid evaporated.
 
Let cool for about an hour and then put the mixture in a food processor and pureed while adding vinegar, and the juice of 2 lemons and pureed for several minutes untill smooth.
 
Like I said I really had no idea what I was doing so it came out thicker than I wanted. I wasn't sure how to thin it out with out adding too much vinegar. Maybe more water? I dunno what people do.
 
I then added it back to the pan and brought to a boil and simmered for some minutes, then transferred to the jars.
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My way way too hot hot sauce :hell:
 
My hands are f**ked up right now. Even wearing gloves through most of the process. I wasn't wearing them when transferring to the jars, or any process making the sauce and I should have. Scorpions are no joke!!
 
 
I thought given the added ingredients that it would not be that hot, but holy shit...
Too :hot:
 
:fireball: Damn
 
Hotter than I thought :onfire:
 
 
Its ok. It was fun. Also a good reason to :drunk: :drunk:   all day long.
 
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WOW!  3/4 lb scorps is a LOT for that amount of sauce. 
 
That's a pretty concentrated concoction right there.  It could be further [I'm not gong to say diluted..] stretched out by adding at least 2 parts(or more) more ingredients to 1 part original chile sauce. 
 
To get it to normal (ie...mild/medium ) chilehead level, maybe consider 5:1.... 
 
 
 
 
PS~  you can wear gloves all through the process, but what about the washing up???  Cleaning up the dishes will do you in just as much as processing....
 
 
it's the price to be paid- - - - -
 
:)
 
PS to SICCY!!!  Picking peppers is different than Processing peppers!!!!!  
 
 
 
50 lbs of t-scorps...even WITH gloves....the arms were burning for days.....
 
 
'kay,, back on topic~
 
Yeah I definitely see now I should have used way less peppers or way more other ingredients!

I have a feeling this sauce is going to be hanging around for a long long time.

Oh well. Was a learning experience. So now I know. and knowing is half the battle!

I have a question though... After I poured the hot sauce into the sanitized jars I put them in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes and the lids didn't seal until they were nearly cooled, is that what I wanted?

My hands are still on fire this morning!!


Oh and the okra pickles were made, I have pics to be uploaded later!
 
HTH, as long as the lids are down and don't "click" when you push on them, it's a good seal. 
 
 
Yeah I definitely see now I should have used way less peppers or way more other ingredients!
 
You know, there is no reason that you can't go back and do just that. In looking at that pile of peppers, I would dilute it 3:1 with other ingredients and re-can it. What you have there looks beyond nuclear and probably not fun to eat.
 
Oh man... haha Im not sure Im ready to go through that again just yet. Cooking with scorps is no joke.

Ok I have to ask. and I was just going to ppretend like I knew what everyone was speaking about, but how do the ratios work? 3 what to 1 what, how many ?
 
Well you have something like 37 ounces of hot sauce there so if you were to dilute it 3:1 you would need a liquid made up of tomato, oinion, garlic vinegar etc of 111 ounces and mix all of your hot sauce in with that.
 
Yes, 3 parts other stuff:1 part hot sauce, boil sauce, can, HWB like before...with fresh lids...
 
You could also do the same thing with each jar, mixing them up as it's needed for eating.  (1) 8oz jar : 24 oz other stuff.  Personally, I think even at the 3:1 ratio, that's still pretty hot for the chiles used.  Try one jar at the 3:1, then if needed mix another one at 5:1 or more. 
 
And you can also mix up 1 jar sauce with a different "other stuff" ingredients, or using different ratios of the same ingredients. 
 
Thanks! I may still keep one bottle of this as is for the folks that say "OHH I LOVE HOT SAUCE. THE HOTTER THE BETTER" ... yeah?? :hell: Eat this :hotsauce:
 
 
Done for.
 
I think I'm going to be doing an island sauce for this weekend. So more to come
 
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