Caribbean Scotch Bonnet Hot Sauce

Posted bythisisdanielleboyergmailcomPosted inHot Sauce Recipes, RecipesTags:, , , ,
Not Your Average New Englander's Caribbean Scotch Bonnet
  • Hundreds of hot peppers
    The final haul of peppers for the season. We had picked all these in the rain before our the first freeze in late October so we didn’t lose everything.
  • Helios Habanero
    Helios Habanero – One of our favorite and best yielding peppers.
  • Fermenting Peppers
    Labeled and dated peppers ready to ferment.
  • Fermentation Station
    We kept our fermentation station in plain sight so we could monitor our ferments.
  • Hot Sauce Bottling Supplies
    Sanitized bottling supplies.
  • Hot sauce dishes
    Wash your dishes with COLD WATER to avoid aerosolizing capsaicin into the air.
  • Hot Pepper Brine
    Save the separated hot pepper brine in the fridge to use for cooking.
  • Dehydrated pepper mash
    Dehydrate the pepper mash for around 5 hours at 140 degrees to make spice blends.
  • Not Your Average New Englander's Hot Sauces
    Bottled and labeled – Not Your Average New Englander’s Hot Sauces!

Fermentation Ingredients

  • Filtered water
  • Kosher or sea salt
  • 3 cups scotch bonnet peppers chopped
  • 1 small onion chopped
  • 1 carrot thinly sliced
  • 2-3 cloves garlic
  • 1 teaspoon fresh ginger

Hot Sauce Ingredients

  • 1 cup mango
  • 1 cup pineapple
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon lime juice
  • ~1/8 teaspoon xanthan gum

Fermentation Procedure

Supplies: quart sized mason jar, fermentation kit or fermentation weight and airlock lids

  1. Roughly chop peppers, onions, carrots, garlic and ginger. Pack into a quart size mason jar. Tamp mixture down and allow for 1-2 inches of headspace. Place fermentation weight on top of pepper mix.
  2. Mix 1 1/4 teaspoon salt per 1 cup water (3 grams of salt per 100g of water) to create a 3% brine.
  3. Pour brine over peppers so they are fully submerged.
  4. Cover with an airlock lid and store out of direct sunlight for at least a week.
  5. Stop the fermentation by putting the jar in the fridge once the peppers taste to your liking.

Finishing/Bottling Procedure

Supplies: Woozy bottles, funnel, blender, Star San, heat gun or hair dryer, rubber apron, gloves

  1. Spray all equipment (bottles, utensils, bowls, blender, caps, etc.) with Star San to sanitize. Leave on for at least 1 minute. Do not rinse. Pour any excess out.
  2. Transfer fermented pepper mixture and hot sauce ingredients into blender. (For a thicker sauce, strain the brine from the fermented peppers). Save the separated hot pepper brine in the fridge to use for later cooking.
  3. Blend until smooth or your liking. If you prefer a thinner sauce, you can use a food mill or strainer to separate the mash and any seeds. Save the pepper mash to use in spice blends by dehydrating for around 5 hours at 140 degrees
  4. Check that your pH is below 4.0 using pH test strips or a digital pH meter to ensure it’s acidic enough to prevent creating an environment where bacteria can grow. You can add vinegar of your choice or lime juice to reduce the pH.
  5. Skip this step to create a shelf stable hot sauce. Pour the sauce into sterilized bottles through a funnel. Cap bottles and refrigerate for up to 1 year.
  6. To create a shelf stable hot sauce, you’ll need to pasteurize it. Add the blended sauce to a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
  7. Pour the heated sauce into sterilized bottles through a funnel. Cap bottle and flip upside down for a minimum of 3 minutes to allow the sauce to come in contact with the inside of the cap to sterilize it.
  8. Place shrink bands on neck of jar and use a heat gun or hair dryer to shrink in place.
  9. Create a name for your hot sauce and add a label!
  10. Share or enjoy for yourself!

Notes

  • Taste! Be sure to taste throughout the process and alter the ingredients as you find fitting.
  • Use any combination of peppers that you enjoy! Adding bell peppers will tame the heat.
  • Keep your fermentation jars somewhere you can see them every day. We cleared a shelf off in the kitchen so we could monitor the activity and prevent mold growth. Otherwise, out of site, out of mind.
  • You may have to “burp” the jars. Remove the lid to let out some of the gases. If you don’t it’ll bubble over and you’ll have a sticky mess. This airlock fermentation lid kit vents the air without the mess.
  • Our ferments lasted between 1-2 months. The longer you let it go, the cloudier it will become and the more intense the flavors will be.
  • We aimed for a pH of 3.5 or below for all of our sauces.
  • 1 quart jar filled approximately 4 5 oz woozy bottles or 6 3 oz woozy bottles.
  • Save the separated hot pepper brine in the fridge to use for cooking.
  • Keep the pepper mash to dehydrate for around 5 hours at 140 degrees to make spice blends.
  • Check out more Hot Sauce Recipes for alternative ways to finish your hot sauce.

Safety Tips

  • Wear gloves at all times when handling hot peppers.
  • Wash everything that comes in to contact with hot peppers with cold water.
  • When sending sauces to friends and family, opt for creating a shelf stable hot sauce and stop the fermentation otherwise the sauce may keep bubbling and break the bottle.

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