Re: [gardeners] Hot stuff - read with care
George Shirley (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Wed, 26 Jul 2000 18:28:59 -0500
Right, a Louisiana hot sauce, sorta like Tabasco sauce. You start with ripe
chiles, chop them fine and put in a crock or jar, put about 3 tablespoons of
pickling salt on top and allow to ferment. It gets so hot down here, even with
the AC running that I put them in the fridge. When I do I put 1/3 cup 5 percent
white vinegar on top to slow or stop any mold. check it at least every other day
to ensure no mold is growing. It's an educated guess as to when it's ready to
finish off. I look for the liquid to be as high as the chopped chiles or to
cover them. I then run it through the food mill to separate the skins and seeds
and then mix the pulp and juice well with about 30 percent by volume vinegar. As
in 1 gallon of pulp and juice you figure 30 percent of that and add as vinegar.
Mix well and allow to mellow for a week or two, you can taste it to see where
you are. Sometimes I add garlic powder to the liquid sometimes I crush up 4 or 5
heads of garlic and put in with the chopped chiles. An exact science it ain't.
Those that have tasted my hot sauce usually like it.
Speaking of chiles, we were in a new Albertson's supermarket here today and they
had Red Savina habaneros for sale at $3.99 a lb. Can't imagine anyone eating
those as they are the hottest chiles in the world.
George
Jane Burdekin wrote:
>
> George,
> What exactly are you making? Is it a tabasco like sauce? Sounds great, do
> you have a more detailed recipe or is this all of it? How do you know when
> they are ready to process. Sounds like something I would like to make..
>
> Jane
> zone 5 (cloudy today Colorado)
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: George Shirley [mailto:gshirley@lightwire.net]
> Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2000 3:30 PM
> To: Gardeners List
> Subject: [gardeners] Hot stuff - read with care
>
> Just got through running about a gallon of fermented hot chiles through the
> food
> mill. Got a nice slurry of liquid and pulp, no seeds or skins. Added about
> 30%
> by volume of white vinegar to it and have sitting aside to mellow for a week
> prior to bottling. While I was at it I ran about 6 quarts of frozen chiles
> through the food processor and salted the chopped chiles down in the 1.5
> gallon
> crock (ex-cookie jar). Nothing bothered me until I started washing up,
> coughing,
> sneezing, etc began. Forgot to put on my air-purifying respirator. Don't
> have to
> worry about clogged sinuses anymore.
>
> The chiles that were run through the food mill had only been fermenting for
> a
> little over a month. Usually I let them ferment for a year but this batch
> was
> ready to put up and then some. I've been washing and drying the fresh, ripe,
> chiles and then putting them in a bag in the freezer until I get enough to
> process at once. Evidently the freezing breaks down the cell walls well
> enough
> that the fermentation process is speeded up. I like it better this way as I
> don't lose a batch to mold anymore. Chop it, salt it, and store the crock in
> the
> fridge. Works good for me as I don't have access to a salt mine as does
> Tabasco.
> Oh well, time to start freezing chiles again for another batch.
>
> George