making hot sauce

[chilehunter]

I have a couple questions about making hot sauces, 1st its just gonna be a hobby for personal use & I have no plans on doing this for a business. & I wont even ask for a recipe for a home made sauce since most here are in the hot sauce biz & hate to tell their secert, but any tips would be nice.

- what should I do with the peppers that I collect that will be for hot sauce, until I've collected enough of them to make a batch.
freeze the peppers whole or wash,destem, cut up & put them in a bowl of vinegar until I have enough, letting the flavor mature/age in vinegar for a couple months.

- I dont want the sauce to go bad over time either, depending on how much I make, most will be left in the fridge but I might also cann some of it for latter use. so whats a good percentage for vinegar/lime/lemon/salt etc.. needed to make sure it doesnt go bad ?
& how long could I expect this to last ? (EX. 1 year or more ?)

- this will be a habanero type hot sauce, so any tips on what goes good with them besides - carrots,garlic,lime,mango's
do these items/flavors go good with habaneros? like pomograntite juice (sp?), honey.
would adding herbs to it work ? & which ones or which ones to avoid ?

- how long do you cook or boil it all before putting them into jars ?

[huvason]

I have a couple questions about making hot sauces, 1st its just gonna be a hobby for personal use & I have no plans on doing this for a business. & I wont even ask for a recipe for a home made sauce since most here are in the hot sauce biz & hate to tell their secert, but any tips would be nice.

- what should I do with the peppers that I collect that will be for hot sauce, until I've collected enough of them to make a batch.
freeze the peppers whole or wash,destem, cut up & put them in a bowl of vinegar until I have enough, letting the flavor mature/age in vinegar for a couple months.

- I dont want the sauce to go bad over time either, depending on how much I make, most will be left in the fridge but I might also cann some of it for latter use. so whats a good percentage for vinegar/lime/lemon/salt etc.. needed to make sure it doesnt go bad ?
& how long could I expect this to last ? (EX. 1 year or more ?)

- this will be a habanero type hot sauce, so any tips on what goes good with them besides - carrots,garlic,lime,mango's
do these items/flavors go good with habaneros? like pomograntite juice (sp?), honey.
would adding herbs to it work ? & which ones or which ones to avoid ?

- how long do you cook or boil it all before putting them into jars ?


1. I freeze mine. Either destemmed or not, depending on how much time I had before throwing them in the freezer.

2. You cant really go by percentage. You need to check the PH. It must be uner 4.2, preferrably under 4.0. I posted a link on here to a site that dicusses this. If you cant find it let me know. If you can find pool\spa test strips that fgo that low, you can use them.

3. That's the magic question. Experiment with stuff you like.

4. Bring to about 185-190 and cook at 185-190 for 15 minutes. Pack it HOT. DONOT bring it to a boil.

Hope this helps.....

[chilehunter]

do you blend all the ingredients (veggies)to a fine mush & then put that in the cooking pot w/vinegar/lime/etc.. & cook.
or blend it all into a fine mesh w/the vinegar/etc.. & then put that into the cooking pot ?

& I suppose the normal Haz-Mat attire would be wise while cooking :fire: :fireball: :lol:

& I suppose the soil PH tester isnt the same as a food PH tester ?
or does it work the same way/will it work. only reason I asked is because I have a soil PH tester, & if I didnt need to buy another PH tester, I prefer not too.
the one I have goes from 3.5 - 9 & it uses a metal rod for testing. would this work or are these types not accurate enough for food use ? & of course it would be cleaned before useing with food.

[DEFCON Creator]

I suppose the normal Haz-Mat attire would be wise while cooking

Gloves and eye protection at least.

[huvason]

do you blend all the ingredients (veggies)to a fine mush & then put that in the cooking pot w/vinegar/lime/etc.. & cook.
or blend it all into a fine mesh w/the vinegar/etc.. & then put that into the cooking pot ?

& I suppose the normal Haz-Mat attire would be wise while cooking :fire: :fireball: :lol:

& I suppose the soil PH tester isnt the same as a food PH tester ?
or does it work the same way/will it work. only reason I asked is because I have a soil PH tester, & if I didnt need to buy another PH tester, I prefer not too.
the one I have goes from 3.5 - 9 & it uses a metal rod for testing. would this work or are these types not accurate enough for food use ? & of course it would be cleaned before useing with food.

I blend all then cook.

Follow Creators advise.

Not sure on the soil vs food PH tester, sorry

[chuk hell]

I wouldn't worry too much about testing pH if you're just making it for home use. Say you make a blenderfull...use about 6-8 oz. of lime/lemon juice or vinegar and you should be fine.

Yeah, wear gloves when working with habs.

I like to use fresh ingredients if at all possible.

See my post called Salsa 101 for some more ideas

here:

http://www.thehotpepper.com/showthread.php?t=360