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Pepper Extract

I was thinking about trying to make an extract out of some of my peppers this year if I run out of other ideas to do with them. I used to have a bottle of Pure Cap that I would put a drop in a shot of vodka at parties that was pretty popular so thought it might be fun to make my own. What's the process for making a pepper extract like that? Any tips without giving up your secrets would be great!
 
POTAWIE said:
Dangerous stuff but the methods are just a THP search away
Isn't pure cap only in crystal form? Oh there must be a sauce with that name too

Thanks Potawie! I looked all over for a search option on here because I figured this discussion has probably already occurred, but I couldn't find it. Well, I just found it, so I'll dig around. Much appreciated!

Pure Cap is a sauce with that name. I went into a hot sauce store looking for The Source after seeing it featured on a Food Network show, and after I saw it was something like 90 bucks for a bottle I just looked for the hottest sauce I could find that wasn't too expensive. I found Pure Cap and the packaging had me sold: http://www.hotsauceworld.com/purecap.html
 
From the thread I found, it sounds like I might want to do this out in the middle of the desert where I can't blow anything or anyone else up! Found some good ideas though. Thanks folks!
 
Pure Crystal Cap will cost you dearly!!! Making pepper extract is tricky and can be dangerous and sometimes even explosive....Like QuadShotz said pick up a bottle of Defcon Zero. It may not be "pure capsacin" but once you get over say 5-10 million SHU it just burns like hell......Please if you do try to make this, BE CAREFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and DO NOT USE RUBBING ALCOHOL or isopropyl alcohol or debatured alcohol or wood alcohol to produce something you want to eat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Very dangerous!!!
 
Let's talk straight. you are *not* going to make your own pure cap... trying to get there *will* hurt. stay away and just enjoy your bought extract.
 
Got to agree with the Omri man, messing around with this stuff without the right tools and knowledge is dangerous and foolish. Leave that stuff to the pros and go get some Defcon Zero. You won't want anything hotter after that.
 
The only method I know of that will allow you to achieve pure capsacin is Supercritical High Pressure Fluid Extraction. Where the "cap" is extracted using chemicals under high pressure (around 1,200 psi). There really is no way of running this type of system at home. Here is a pic of the system used by a few Labs....

supercriticalextractor.jpg


And as for testing the purity of the cap you have to use a reputable lab and have a High Performance Liquid Chromatography test done (which is not cheap!!)

There are a few people that have successfully produced a very good pepper extract useing their own methods (methods that are kept secret and gaurded) out there. One of the best I have tasted is DEFCON Zero! Zero has got to be (imo) one of the best out there mainly because you do not have the "chemical" flavor like you get with Oleoresin Capsacin.
 
Dyce51 said:
There are a few people that have successfully produced a very good pepper extract useing their own methods (methods that are kept secret and gaurded) out there. One of the best I have tasted is DEFCON Zero! Zero has got to be (imo) one of the best out there mainly because you do not have the "chemical" flavor like you get with Oleoresin Capsacin.

Thanks Dyce. A little bit of personal pain goes into every bottle. :mouthonfire:
 
One more time... My goal isn't to make "pure cap". Pure Cap was just an extract type sauce that I got at a store that I was referencing. I'm just looking for another method to play around with my peppers this year... something "homegrown" that I can have my friends try when they try to say they can take any heat. I'm not going to go through any processes that might cause me to blow my house up of lose my vision, or a couple limbs.

I believe there was a method on one of the threads I found that was just drowning the peppers in alcohol and extracting capsaicin that way, just not as pure if you cook it off or anything. That sounds plenty hot to me. Not looking to start a full chemistry experiment here. :)
 
LUCKYDOG said:
how about a hot sauce and go from there ;)

Been there, done that. I've still got some hot sauce from last year. This year I'm not going to use much tomato because I felt my sauces last year were a little too sweet. Hopefully I'll have enough peppers this year to experiment with all sorts of recipes.
 
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