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In your zeal to grow the hottest pepper on the block, how many varieties of chiles did you plant this year? If you’re harvesting five alarm peppers by the basketful, with no idea of how you can possibly use so many of these blazing beauties, you need to learn to make hot sauce! Our homemade habanero hot sauce turned out so well it’s been splashed (gingerly) onto everything from tortilla chips to scrambled eggs.
Last summer was "The Year of the Habanero" at our house. I grew out a dozen different varieties of Capsicum chinense, some of which grew over 6 feet tall against our sunny, warm, south-facing foundation wall. We harvested bushels of bright, blisteringly hot peppers. I gave a lot away, dried some, froze some, and prepared a lot for later hot sauce production.
To some, hot sauce can never be too hot. For me, food should have some flavor other than pain. I wanted to reduce the heat of these peppers just a little in order to maximize the fruity flavor and aroma of the habaneros in my hot sauce. Removing the seeds and inner membranes of the peppers will take away some of the heat. The capsaicin that makes peppers hot to taste can also make them too hot to handle. Take appropriate precautions.
When you're seeding mild peppers such as jalopeños, it's a good idea to wear gloves and to be sure to wash your hands afterwards, especially before touching your eyes. With ultra hot peppers such as habaneros, seeding may require additional protective measures. I use a double set of latex gloves or heavy duty gloves to protect the skin of my hands from serious burning pain. I also keep remedies such as saline eyewash, milk, hydrogen peroxide, and baking soda close at hand, just in case.
After I've seeded them, I mince the hot peppers in a food processor. Habaneros can give off some pretty caustic fumes, so I set up my food processor on the (cold) stove top with the vented fan running on "high." I add a measured amount of white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar and put the minced peppers into a glass jar with a plastic lid. The peppers are then stored in the refrigerator until I'm ready to make hot sauce. I make sure to label the jars so I don't have to rely on my memory: "3 cups ‘Red Savina' plus ½ cup cider vinegar, August 2007."
My favorite hot sauce recipe is a tomato based sauce from The Joy of Pickling, by Linda Ziedrich (click the link for my Garden Bookworm review). Since I'm using habaneros in this variation, I actually reduced the total amount of chiles to keep the sauce from being overly hot. If desired, you could increase the amount of minced habanero to 2 cups for truly volcanic heat. The Caribbean's famous "jerk" seasoning mixture uses allspice and mace, so those spices were added to the teaball of whole spices that simmered with the pot of sauce. We thought the flavor needed a little mellowing at the end, and a splash of rum seemed appropriate to our Caribbean theme.
You'll find your own favorite variations as you experiment. Be sure to keep the proportions of the ingredients pretty much the same, especially if you plan to put up the sauce in jars, as that's important for food safety. Because heat processing can change flavor balances and heat levels, we generally opt for refrigerator storage of our hot sauces.
Now you know what to do with peppers so hot you can't add more than one or two to an entire pot of five alarm chili. Your homemade habanero hot sauce will be fabulous with Caribbean style curries and jerked meat. But if you enjoy it like we do, you won't stop there. You'll put it–a careful drop at a time!–on everything from French fries to steamed veggies. That gallon jar of hot sauce isn't going to last as long as I'd thought...
'Dancing Dragon' Caribbean Style Hot Sauce
Adapted from Linda Ziedrich's "Tomato Pepper Sauce" recipe in Joy of Pickling, 1998. ISBN # 1-55832-133-0
3 ½ cups fresh tomato purée (or 4 ½ pounds chopped tomatoes) 1 cup seeded, minced habanero peppers (may increase to up to 2 cups hot peppers) 2 teaspoons chopped fresh garlic 2 teaspoons chopped fresh ginger root
6 whole allspice 6 whole peppercorns 1 whole clove chip from a whole nutmeg piece of blade mace
3 ½ cups cider vinegar 2 teaspoons pickling salt
2 teaspoons fresh minced thyme leaves (or ¾ tsp dried thyme) 3/4 teaspoons Penzey's cake spice (or ¼ tsp. cinnamon, plus a pinch each of ground star anise,nutmeg, allspice, ginger, and cloves) Shot or two of rum
Put the tomatoes, peppers, garlic, and 1 ½ cups of the vinegar into a nonreactive saucepan. Put the whole spices (allspice, peppercorns, clove, and bit of nutmeg) into a teaball, or tie them up in a piece of cheesecloth, and add them to the pot. Boil the mixture, stirring occasionally, until it is reduced by half.
Take the pot off the heat and remove the spice ball. Purée the mixture. You can use a blender or a food mill. I like to use my little immersion "stick blender" for this, running it around in the pot until the contents look smooth. Be careful, because splashing sauce may be hot not only from the stove but also hot from the capsicum in the peppers.
Put the purée and the spice ball back into the pot. Add the salt and the remaining 2 cups of vinegar. Bring the sauce back to a boil and cook it down, stirring often, until it's as thick as you'd like. Add the thyme, the cake spice, and the rum, tasting as you go so you can adjust the flavors to your liking.
The finished hot sauce can be processed in a boiling water bath (leave ¼ inch headspace and process 15 minutes for pints or half pints) or stored in sterile glass bottles in the refrigerator. The recipe can be doubled or tripled if you have a big pot. I keep a big jar or jug at the back of the fridge and use it to refill smaller bottles for everyday use.
Makes about 2 pints.
Can't take the heat? Don't get out of the kitchen! Check out the milder recipes in last week's article, "Some Like it Hot! Making Hot Sauce from Homegrown Chile Peppers."
Photos and recipe variation by Jill M. Nicolaus.
About Jill M. Nicolaus
Better known as "Critter" on DG, Jill gardens in Frederick, MD. My irises are bloomed out, but the daylilies are just getting started! Our front porch robins are busy fetching worms for their second crop of babies. I love summer!
(Images in my articles are from my photos, unless otherwise credited.)
Posted by Bookerc1 (from Mackinaw, IL) on September 08, 2008 at 05:48 PM:
the cook, Todd, was making an Indian dish with some very hot peppers. He wore gloves, but it soaked through, and after he took them off he wiped his upper lip with his finger, and got the hot pepper juice on his lip. It got all swollen and red, and he had tears running down his face. I kept telling him to give himself a milk mustache, or put some sour cream on it, and for the longest time, he wouldn't, thinking I was pulling a prank on him. There was a window between the kitchen and the eating area, and he thought I just wanted to make him look silly! I finally convinced him I was serious, and it did give him a lot of relief. I also brought him some aloe from a plant in the dining area, and that helped, too. I felt so bad for him--he was just miserable! I've treated hot peppers with extreme respect ever since!
Can't wait to try your recipe with all the habaneros DH grew. He loves hot sauce!
Angie
...
Posted by critterologist (from Frederick, MD) on September 08, 2008 at 05:59 PM:
I've done the "sour cream mustache" thing! *ouch*
Have fun with your habs, but be careful!
...
Subject: recipe
Posted by flowerjen (from central, NJ) on September 08, 2008 at 10:59 AM:
Sounds great, but do you have a recipe that doesn't include the canning process??? I've never canned in my life, don't have the supplies and don't have enough peppers. Any ideas?
...
Posted by critterologist (from Frederick, MD) on September 08, 2008 at 11:29 AM:
Jen, I don't can this hot sauce. I keep it in the fridge. If you want to make a smaller amount, reduce all quantities in the recipe by half. I don't think it would be worthwhile to make much less than that.
If you've just got a handful of hot peppers, make "pique" -- a simple vinegar based hot sauce. There are instructions in the previous hot sauce article, "Some Like It Hot."
...
Posted by flowerjen (from central, NJ) on September 08, 2008 at 09:59 PM:
Thanks!
...
Subject: I like this also as I have lots
Posted by LavinaMae (from Grantsboro, NC) on September 04, 2008 at 01:18 PM:
Hot peppers.
Hubby loves hot sauce and I love Saulsa so now I am gonna fix this.
Lavina
...
Posted by critterologist (from Frederick, MD) on September 04, 2008 at 01:32 PM:
We've made milder versions that people have eaten "straight up" like salsa, by dipping chips into it.
I hope you have fun with yours!
...
Posted by LavinaMae (from Grantsboro, NC) on September 04, 2008 at 01:43 PM:
I may add some lime juice to it.
Lavina
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Posted by critterologist (from Frederick, MD) on September 04, 2008 at 01:56 PM:
I put lime juice in the tex-mex style one I'm working on now... it's a little sharp because the tomatoes I used aren't very sweet. I could just add some sugar, but I think I'm actually going to add a little apple juice instead (cooked it down a little more than necessary, so thinning it a bit is no problem).
...
Subject: I like this!
Posted by 4paws (from On the road, United States) on September 04, 2008 at 12:47 PM:
Excellent! I LOVE the chili photos - the colors and shapes are so energizing, about like the heat and the magic of capsaicin! What a harvest you proudly display!
Your sauce recipe looks great, especially the additions of rum and ginger. YUM! I recently discovered that ginger could be a vegetable-I cooked a pot of black beans with boneless pork ribs and seasoned it with big slices of ginger and garlic, intending to pull the ginger out, not eat it. I forgot and got a mouthful - OMD! It was amazing!
Thanks for the lesson, Critter! :-) I missed the other pepper article - have to check it out! I'll be forwarding this one to non-DG friends with a large crop of habaneros coming on.
...
Posted by critterologist (from Frederick, MD) on September 04, 2008 at 01:15 PM:
I admit that wasn't this year's harvest -- but I've got peppers ripening now! :-)
I'm glad you enjoyed the article and the photos. I had fun with this one!
Thanks!
...
Posted by 4paws (from On the road, United States) on September 04, 2008 at 02:09 PM:
It's current enough! :-) Photos are timeless. My chilies are just starting to ripen, too. I have a red Chickenheart hanging pretty right now. I've yet to taste one.
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Posted by critterologist (from Frederick, MD) on September 04, 2008 at 02:56 PM:
"Chickenheart" is a great name for a chile!
...
Posted by 4paws (from On the road, United States) on September 04, 2008 at 03:55 PM:
Yep, so far I've been about tasting it, saying it's just too pretty to pick yet. lol
...
Subject: Hot, hot, hotter!
Posted by p1mkw (from Danville, IN) on September 04, 2008 at 10:34 AM:
Thanks so much, Critter, for your recent articles with the recipes. I'm looking forward to next year and plan to grow some of the hotter peppers. I just received seeds for the datil pepper, which according to some are even hotter than habaneros. I plan to get in on the HPS co-op as well so I should be making good use of these recipes. Thanks again!
...
Posted by critterologist (from Frederick, MD) on September 04, 2008 at 11:08 AM:
You're welcome! I hope you have fun with the hot sauce recipes. Don't be afraid to experiment... taste and see what you think it needs to "finish" the flavor. :-)
...
Posted by KyWoods (from Melbourne, KY) on September 04, 2008 at 12:41 PM:
Make sure you wear thick gloves!
...
Posted by critterologist (from Frederick, MD) on September 04, 2008 at 01:17 PM:
No kidding! As I said in the article, if I'm wearing latex gloves, I put on 2 pairs. I like those blue "nitrile" gloves better -- nothing gets through (so far). If you're wearing a single set of gloves, stop the moment you feel any discomfort -- wash (put straight dish soap on, or dish soap mixed with baking soda to help neutralize it, or use a bleach solution), then put on a new set of gloves.
...
Posted by p1mkw (from Danville, IN) on September 04, 2008 at 02:06 PM:
Oh yes, I always wear gloves when handling hot peppers. Even the mildly hot ones can cause severe pain when trying to change contact lens (don't ask how I know). And I think the suggestion about turning on the vent fan above the stove to handle the fumes is a great idea. I encountered some pretty strong fumes from jalapenos, so I can only imagine what it would be like with the habaneros and other 'super hot' peppers. Right now I have only the basic latex gloves, so I think I'll invest in some of the blue nitrile as critter suggested. You're just full of great information, critter. Thanks again.
Mary K.
...
Posted by critterologist (from Frederick, MD) on September 04, 2008 at 02:24 PM:
contact lenses and hot peppers... *shudder* Yes, do get some good gloves! :-) Sometimes they're in the paint department. Home Depot keeps moving them around on me.
It seemed odd to be including all these safety warnings in a food article, LOL... but I have a lot of respect for the "hot" in hot peppers!
...
Posted by KyWoods (from Melbourne, KY) on September 04, 2008 at 04:07 PM:
Yes, but they're oooo so tasty! Very useful for clearing the sinuses, too.
...
Subject: Running for the fire extinguisher!!
Posted by KyWoods (from Melbourne, KY) on September 04, 2008 at 12:30 AM:
Today my Dad told us about a man he works with whose wife grew these and didn't know they were hot!!
She sliced them up and put them in salads, like they were sweet peppers....without gloves, too. Poor thing spent the next hour or so with her hands soaking in ice water. Can you imagine?? And they grew a lot of them! Fortunately, they gave them to some Mexican friends, who of course, knew what they were. Whew!
...
Posted by critterologist (from Frederick, MD) on September 04, 2008 at 07:44 AM:
I can imagine, all too well. I got into trouble that way slicing up a peck of jalopenos, only it took me a night to recover... from then on, it was gloves for me! And I discovered the hard way that if you're processing a bunch of habs, the capsaicin will eat through a single layer of latex. Now, I double glove or wear those blue "nitrile" gloves. :-)
Ice water helps, but only while your hands are submerged. Solarcaine (the stuff the sell to put on sunburn, a topical numbing agent) worked a little better as I recall.
...
Posted by pejiduta8 (from Louisville, KY) on September 04, 2008 at 09:22 AM:
Oh no! Baptism by fire!
My husband loves peppers. He eats the hot green Thai peppers raw, dipped in a little salt.
...
Posted by critterologist (from Frederick, MD) on September 04, 2008 at 10:15 AM:
yikes!
:-)
...
Posted by Bubba_MoCity (from Missouri City, TX) on September 04, 2008 at 10:19 AM:
At our restaurant, I discovered (and later confirmed with some scientific journal) that a bleach solution will "kill" the burn. The acid is neutralized by the base.
Grew some habanero 38 years ago - thought they were dwarf bell peppers. A neighboor's son asked if they were hot. I told him that I didn't know, so he picked a green one and bit off a little - his eyes got as big as saucers as he ran home. When he returned a half hour later, told me he consumed half a loaf of bread and over a quart of milk to finally be able to have some feeling in his mouth. We pickled and gave away gift jars with a mix of green, yellow and orange. Sure were pretty - and plenty HOT.
...
Posted by critterologist (from Frederick, MD) on September 04, 2008 at 10:33 AM:
Bubba, that makes sense! Bleach doesn't always seem to get all of it.. best treatment is prevention, with gloves... but it's good to bleach down your cutting board, etc afterwards!
Last summer was "The Year of the Habanero" at our house. I grew out a dozen different varieties of 
I gave a lot away, dried some, froze some, and prepared a lot for later hot sauce production.
With ultra hot peppers such as habaneros, seeding may require additional protective measures. I use a double set of latex gloves or heavy duty gloves to protect the skin of my hands from serious burning pain. I also keep remedies such as saline eyewash, milk, hydrogen peroxide, and baking soda close at hand, just in case.
I add a measured amount of white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar and put the minced peppers into a glass jar with a plastic lid. The peppers are then stored in the refrigerator until I'm ready to make hot sauce. I make sure to label the jars so I don't have to rely on my memory: "3 cups ‘Red Savina' plus ½ cup cider vinegar, August 2007." 
You'll find your own favorite variations as you experiment. Be sure to keep the proportions of the ingredients pretty much the same, especially if you plan to put up the sauce in jars, as that's important for food safety. Because heat processing can change flavor balances and heat levels, we generally opt for refrigerator storage of our hot sauces.
