Hot Sauce

We are growing several varieties of hot peppers in our garden and they have just started to ripen this past week. John decided we should try to make hot sauce and he did a bit of research on the subject. The method is basically to steep the peppers and a few other ingredients in a liquid for a few days, then to boil the mixture, blend the mixture, and boil again to reduce a bit.

John diced and combined about seven hot peppers, two sweet peppers, one large chive, two small tomatoes, one large clove of garlic, a handful of mint, some salt, 4 oz. of malt vinegar, 4 oz. of tequila, 4 oz. of white vinegar, the juice of one lime, and a tablespoon of honey. He let this steep for 2 days in the refridgerator.

We then gently boiled all of this for about 15 minutes and proceeded to liquify the mixture in a blender.

We transferred these contents back to the pot and reduced the liquid for another 15 minutes. We bottled our hot sauce in order to allow it to age, though it was delicious right from the stove and could be used immediately if desired.

If you are able to, please consider a donation to the American Red Cross to help aid in the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts for a part of the world that truly knows their hot sauce.