Homegrown Creations

[Goaldeje]

Hey Boone, talk to me about making your own hot sauce. That is something I have always wanted to do. How labor intensive is it?

 

[Lanky Livingston]

Hey Boone, talk to me about making your own hot sauce. That is something I have always wanted to do. How labor intensive is it?

Hot sauces are something I'd love to make myself as well.

I have a friend who makes a lot of his own salsas, which is relatively easy. Not sure how comparable the processes are though. With salsas, he usually smokes some or all of the veggies he will use, then tosses them in a food processor with various seasonings.

 

[Ax]

Well, first of all, I'm pretty much the only other person IN this thread, so you're hardly late...

No, you're not.

My first try at homemade Habanero sauce didn't turn out as good as my neighbors. I'm still gonna eat it all. It's not bad. It's just, a hair too much can cause spontaneous combustion. I since found out that my neighbor only used half the peppers called for. Makes it easier to use more. Wife won't touch it. She can barely handle jalapenos.

I did see a recipe online for a Jalapeno Beer. I haven't yet dipped into that field yet, but thought of you when I saw it. Ever done one of them yet?

 

[Boone]

I will probably try a Jalapeno beer next summer. They can be very good, but I'm not sure I'd want to brew 5 gallons of it

As far as homemade hot sauce, it's not very complicated. You chop or process the peppers and some fresh garlic cloves, put them in a jar with a couple teaspoons of salt, stir it all up and cover with a cheesecloth (if the liquid from the peppers doesn't cover the mix, add a little water to cover). Let it ferment for 2-4 weeks at room temperature (add a little water to keep the mix covered if necessary). After 2-4 weeks, strain the mix through some cheesecloth, add vinegar to taste, and you're all set. That's basically the process Tabasco uses, except they ferment/age their pepper mix for several years.

 

[Boone]

Got done with my trinidad scorpion - ghost pepper salt today. It is deliciously nuclear

 

[Nobody]

Your anus is gonna murder you in your sleep John

I love hot food. LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE it. It just doesn't love me. I have eaten some horrifically hot stuff that when it went through me, I swear to you I was using ice, preparation H, and everything I could think of to stop the pain. For anyone who hasn't had the misfortune of experiencing that at least once - it's not recommended, it makes you realize you're not the tough guy you thought you were.

 

[Boone]

I don't generally experience that...errr....side effect Doesn't sound like much fun though...

 

[Nobody]

I have only experienced it once, and it was from eating a puree of Scotch Bonnet Peppers. Great taste, wicked horrible heat.

 

[Boone]

Making some Kimchi tonight. I'll keep it out at room temperature for 5 days or so while it ferments, then move it to the fridge for a week or two.

 

[Ax]

I've made two batches of habanero hot sauce. Both were recipes online. Figured I'd find one I liked, then tweak it to my taste.

Can't remember the first one, cause I wasn't too impressed. It was full of tomato, onion, garlic, and carrots. along with various spices, and vinegar. I ate it all, because I don't like to waste food. Besides, I grew them peppers meself.

The second, was actually one that I had tasted first. My neighbor made a batch and gave me a little jar. I like it good too.
Bob's Habanero Hot Sauce - Liquid Fire Recipe - Allrecipes.com

He said he followed the recipe to the letter, except for using half the called for mustard. I even halved it again with my batch.

This will be my starting point. And for Goaldie, the great thing is, if you have a blender, you can go to the store, purchase the items needed, and in less than an hour, prep included, you'll be done. Though he recommends letting it sit in the fridge for a day before consuming.

Be warned, it's some hot stuff. Even only using 8 habaneros, instead of 12.
It's a little sweet. But not terribly. Will work on that with the next batch.

Boone, the Kimchi looks great!

 

[Lanky Livingston]

Holy cow, John! Those salts are AMAZING! You seriously could bottle those up and make a killing at the farmer's market. That ghost-pepper salt is amazing also, and has one helluva kick! That one is my favorite, even though I'm dying a little bit right now, lol! The jalapeno lime is going to be fantastic on chicken, and I tried the tobasco salt third (after the ghost pepper salt) so my tongue was a little numb. It was delicious too! (From what I could tell)

Seriously, these are amazing!

 

[Boone]

Thanks - I thought for my first attempt they came out really well... Starting with homegrown peppers I raised from seed probably makes a difference. The ghost pepper/Trinidad scorpion salt has the most intense smell and yeah it really has some heat...

 

[Lanky Livingston]

It was great! I exaggerated a bit; the heat isn't so powerful as to make it inedible, but its enough to let you know you're definitely eating something spicy as hell!

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

 

[Boone]

I mentioned in the Summer Garden thread that I was growing a ton of 'superhot' peppers. Harvesting the past week or so - red, yellow, and chocolate scorpions, ghost peppers, several kinds of morugas - just some incredibly hot peppers. I experimented with some hot salts last summer, but I'm taking it up several notches this year. I'll do the same green Jalapeno-Lime salt I did last time, but am also putting together the following mixes:

Mango/Apricot/Scorpion Salt - drying fruit now, and will then grind it and mix with salt and scorpion powder
Tomato/Basil/Yellow Moruga Salt - going to mixed dried crushed homegrown tomatoes, basil, and the salt and moruga powder
Lemon/Garlic/Thyme/Ghost Salt - peeled and drying a bag of lemons. Will pulverize and add to the other ingredients
Smoked Apple/Honey/Ghost Salt - this will be my most elaborate one. I'm going to slice up some Fuji and Granny Smith apples, smoke them with apple wood on my smoker until they are well-cooked, then toss with some of my honey and dry in the dehydrator. When it's all dry, will pulverize and mix with Ghost pepper powder and salt.

Going to go a little lighter on the superhot powder this year - I want these to be edible even for folks that don't like extremely spicy foods.

 

[Boone]

I mentioned in the Summer Garden thread that I was growing a ton of 'superhot' peppers. Harvesting the past week or so - red, yellow, and chocolate scorpions, ghost peppers, several kinds of morugas - just some incredibly hot peppers. I experimented with some hot salts last summer, but I'm taking it up several notches this year. I'll do the same green Jalapeno-Lime salt I did last time, but am also putting together the following mixes:

Mango/Apricot/Scorpion Salt - drying fruit now, and will then grind it and mix with salt and scorpion powder
Tomato/Basil/Yellow Moruga Salt - going to mixed dried crushed homegrown tomatoes, basil, and the salt and moruga powder
Lemon/Garlic/Thyme/Ghost Salt - peeled and drying a bag of lemons. Will pulverize and add to the other ingredients
Smoked Apple/Honey/Ghost Salt - this will be my most elaborate one. I'm going to slice up some Fuji and Granny Smith apples, smoke them with apple wood on my smoker until they are well-cooked, then toss with some of my honey and dry in the dehydrator. When it's all dry, will pulverize and mix with Ghost pepper powder and salt.

Going to go a little lighter on the superhot powder this year - I want these to be edible even for folks that don't like extremely spicy foods.

Review of the finished results:
Mango/Apricot/Scorpion: Will have you saying 'No Mas!'. Very hot! Sweetness of the fruit comes through and it's tasty, but damn!
Lemon/Thyme/Garlic/Ghost: Didn't go crazy with the Ghost peppers and this one is amazing. It is so lemony and the other flavors blend perfectly. Going to be great on fish or other seafood. Genius!
Smoked Apple/Honey/Ghost: Epic fail. Don't know how it would've tasted. I smoked the apples and then tossed them with honey. It is impossible to dry honey - 3 days in the dehydrator got me something close to a taffy-like, leathery substance, but when I tried to pulverize the apples, it turned into a big sticky mess. Tossed this one. If I try this again, I'll use dried brown sugar.
Tomato/Basil/Yellow Moruga: Awesome. Tomatoes were dried out of my garden, ditto the basil and obviously the peppers. This tastes like a great pizza that jumps out of the oven and kicks your ass! Really nice

I will definitely bring some samples to the tailgate for the foodies among you.

 

[Ax]

They all sound great. Even the Apple/Honey/Cluster**** is a great story.

I'm not nearly as ambitious as you. I just still only do my stolen recipe, habanero hot sauce. Which I am completely addicted to. Have yet to try the Ghost peppers. But I have an inkling one will find it's way into my garden next season.

Let us know when the online store is up and running. No reason not make penny or two for all your efforts.

 

[Boone]

I'm going to have to try your hot sauce recipe

Took a crack at growing hops this year. First harvest. I really don't have room for them, but that's never stopped me before.

 

[Boone]

Home alone this weekend so decided to make some jerky. Doing 3 different types.

First one is the 'homegrown' tie-in, as I did a standard teriyaki marinade with soy, ginger, rice vinegar, brown sugar, etc...but added an entire dried crushed trinidad scorpion pepper to the mix. Soaking for a day and then drying. I suspect these will be damn hot!

For version #2 I used some habanero BBQ sauce (a guy I trained recently traded me some of his brother's commercial sauce for some of my hot salts).

Version #3 is me combining some things I love. I soaked the beef in several jars of kimchee for 24 hours. I love the taste of kimchee and i think it's going to be very good.

I shall report back!

 

[Win4us]

LOL, this thread is reminding me of the scene in 'Bridesmaids'.

LOOK AWAY!!!!

 

[Boone]

I am trying to figure out what that post means Win. I must be obtuse. Wait - what did you say - are you calling me obtuse?