Hi everyone! I'm not new to peppers but am new to sauce making. I grow alot of peppers but am the only one who eats them so they always get dried in my smoker or dehydrator and I use them as flakes or powders depending on the pepper. I was wondering if it would make a good sauce if I was to use the dried peppers. Any ideas on how to start? Thanks ahead of time. I've looked around the topics on this forum but I'm very smart phone and computer illiterate and the process is painfully slow!
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sauce newbie asks, sauces from peppers dried in a food dehydrator?
- Thread starter Grow yer' Own
- Start date
google is a good way to start, sauce is a very broad term. there's so many options going from dried. you could do a sauce using dried whole peppers like this: http://thehotpepper.com/topic/51396-mexican-peanut-salsa/?p=1072495
or you could do a curry sauce, they incorporate lots of dried ground spices. Or you could rehydrate whole dehydrated peppers....lots of routes you could take
or you could do a curry sauce, they incorporate lots of dried ground spices. Or you could rehydrate whole dehydrated peppers....lots of routes you could take
Google? I think he asked here because it's a hot sauce forum. 
Absolutely you can make sauce from dried peppers, every single chipolte sauce is made from dried peppers because all chipoltes are dried.
You will get a better result from dried peppers, and cooking them (after they rehydrate in whatever liquid you use they will act as fresh), than powder. Powder works too but in smaller amounts or your sauce can be granular.
The thicker ones you can rehydrate first if you don't like long cooks, or you can rehydrate in the pot. Brittle peppers can go straight in.
But absolutely you can make some great sauces with dried peppers. I like to deseed and with the more leathery peppers cut into squares, and with the more brittle peppers, crush them on a plate, remove seeds, and put into pot.
There was an interesting test here with fresh vs, dried and I think buddy? made sauces with the same pepper fresh vs. dried.
Absolutely you can make sauce from dried peppers, every single chipolte sauce is made from dried peppers because all chipoltes are dried.
You will get a better result from dried peppers, and cooking them (after they rehydrate in whatever liquid you use they will act as fresh), than powder. Powder works too but in smaller amounts or your sauce can be granular.
The thicker ones you can rehydrate first if you don't like long cooks, or you can rehydrate in the pot. Brittle peppers can go straight in.
But absolutely you can make some great sauces with dried peppers. I like to deseed and with the more leathery peppers cut into squares, and with the more brittle peppers, crush them on a plate, remove seeds, and put into pot.
There was an interesting test here with fresh vs, dried and I think buddy? made sauces with the same pepper fresh vs. dried.
Thanks for the info! That's kinda how my peppers are dried and smoked! The leathery ones are deseeded, cut into strips and dried in the dehydrator and the thin more flakey ones are smoke dried whole on my smoker. I've got some ghosts, fatalies, chocolate ghosts, and some 7 pot rust just to name a few. I'm thinking some sort of pineapple with the ghosts, maybe something citrus-ee with the yellow fatalies, and how would chocolate ghosts go with savory? I'll proly clear the house out this weekend with the cooking! :-D
I've found it helpful to rehydrate the peppers before using them in cooked sauces. Alternately you can add dried peppers to your sauce base and then cook, which will allow the dried peppers to take up some of the liquid and thicken the sauce. Experiment and write down the recipes you use (a notebook close to the stove can be handy).
Here I am 2 weeks later and no sauce! The missus won't let me cook it up indoors! "Can't say I blame her" I ordered a hot plate to do it on the porch. Once it arrives I'm starting up! I still haven't figured out how to add pictures to my posts so bear with me till I do. I did make a sauce I won't have to cook. I put about a quart of smoke dried basket of fire chilies
In a jar with about a quart of garlic cloves and covered with white vinegar. Its been sitting these 2 weeks. I'm thinking another 2 then blend and eat! What do you guys and gals think? With all that vinegar it should be shelf stable right? I hope so it was some of the last of my garlic, I'll have to start buying it soon!
In a jar with about a quart of garlic cloves and covered with white vinegar. Its been sitting these 2 weeks. I'm thinking another 2 then blend and eat! What do you guys and gals think? With all that vinegar it should be shelf stable right? I hope so it was some of the last of my garlic, I'll have to start buying it soon!
salsalady
Business Member
What you have there is pretty much pickled peppers. That would blender up and would be fine for a sauce. Since you have about 2 quarts of stuff, I'd suggest-
blend up half of it as is, see how you like it.
take the other half and add-
1 large red bell pepper
1 large onion
2-3 large carrots
2 large apples
maybe some sugar
Tbsp or so salt
process as outlined in Making Hot Sauce 101-
(chop, cook, blender, cook, bottle/jar)
This won't be as hot as the mix with straight peppers, but it will also cut the vinegar quite a bit. If you want it hotter, rehydrate some more dried chiles if you have them, or even add some store-bought cayenne powder.
There's a thread started by Josh in the Announcements/Support section about Posting Pics. Best to use an off-site picture hosting like Flickr or Photobucket.
Looking forward to see what you come up with!
Might need to add some water or juice to the second one if it's too thick.
blend up half of it as is, see how you like it.
take the other half and add-
1 large red bell pepper
1 large onion
2-3 large carrots
2 large apples
maybe some sugar
Tbsp or so salt
process as outlined in Making Hot Sauce 101-
(chop, cook, blender, cook, bottle/jar)
This won't be as hot as the mix with straight peppers, but it will also cut the vinegar quite a bit. If you want it hotter, rehydrate some more dried chiles if you have them, or even add some store-bought cayenne powder.
There's a thread started by Josh in the Announcements/Support section about Posting Pics. Best to use an off-site picture hosting like Flickr or Photobucket.
Looking forward to see what you come up with!
Might need to add some water or juice to the second one if it's too thick.
Thanks for the tip! Now that you have mentioned pickled peppers I have about a pint and a half of those peppers that didn't ripen before the frost would have gotten them so I picked them and put them in jars a have about a pint and a half, with nothing but white vinegar and a small handful of table salt. They are whole so not many have soaked in vinegar and are still as pungent as when taken right off the plant about 80,000 scovilles. Ha ha. Do you think I could make those into something? Cause even on sandwiches they're a little strong, not as much heat as it is unripe and flowery. I'll check out that thread about pics but my phone won't let me download anymore apps so I'll have to try to use the little lady's laptop. Thanks again! I can't wait to start blending!
OK so I forgot fishing season started this weekend. So I blended up the pepper and garlic mix as is and my friends loved it! All that came home from camp was 2 half pints! It tasted like a smokey garlicky Tabasco sort of sauce, kinda the texture of a seedy siracha... well when I was at the grocery I was amazed to see they had saranos and jalapeños! So I got 4 lbs japs and 1 lb saranos and commenced to chopping and cleaning. I work third shift so I ran out of time and had to go to bed before cooking so I'm doing it first thing in the morning. Its leek season here so I'm going to grab some wild leeks on the way home grom work from my secret spot and throw them in too. I've got pics as soon as I figure out how to get em posted they'll be here! Thanks everyone for your advice!
OK my sauce is pretty good! It looks like baby poo lol but it has a kinda earthy, savory flavor with a nice amount of heat. I used
1 quart green saranos
1 quart green jalapeños
1 pint garlic
1 large red bell pepper
1 large apple
3 carrots
8 oz. Guva nectar
1 TBS of Jim Duffy's Carolina Reaper mash
I blended, simmered an hr, blended, simmered 20 min, added the guava necter and canned. I got 7 half pints and 1 full pint. I wrote it all down and want to tweek it a bit. I'm going to try and get some pics on here. Thank you everyone for your advice! I kinda threw it all together from your recipes and tips and what I had on hand and at the grocery. Can't wait to make another!
1 quart green saranos
1 quart green jalapeños
1 pint garlic
1 large red bell pepper
1 large apple
3 carrots
8 oz. Guva nectar
1 TBS of Jim Duffy's Carolina Reaper mash
I blended, simmered an hr, blended, simmered 20 min, added the guava necter and canned. I got 7 half pints and 1 full pint. I wrote it all down and want to tweek it a bit. I'm going to try and get some pics on here. Thank you everyone for your advice! I kinda threw it all together from your recipes and tips and what I had on hand and at the grocery. Can't wait to make another!
Well I just got home from work and dipped into my sauce and now that its cold I think I might have messed it up! Its about the concistency of tomato paste, a pint was waaaayyyy to much garlic, and I definitely should have run it through a food mill or sieve. Even tho I cooked it for an hour the first cook because the peppers where green and I wanted to cook that taste out, it still tastes very green. Like chomping on an unripe banana pepper right off the plant! Is it possible for me to open them up, recook, and then add sweetners or more bulk to help with the garlic, and then recan? Or is that not possible? I've never thought to recan something before, and I don't have a pressure canner/cooker so that route is out. If all else fails I can use it as an addition to BBQ glazes and sauces. Oh well back to the drawing board!
Yes I did use about a half a cup, of distilled white vinegar. But I added it during the first blend so I'm sure I cooked it all out :-P. I BBQ'd some chicken for lunch and mixed with a little BBQ sauce it was actually not to bad. You just need to tame down that garlic flavor. It literally tastes like the peppers and onions and garlic I blend up to add to my spaghetti sauce I make in the fall.
salsalady
Business Member
FYI- you can't "cook out" acidity from vinegars, citrus juices, etc...
It's not like brandy that gets flambe'd.. (need the tilde thingy on there but you know what I mean-)
Once the juice/vinegar is in the mix, it's in there.... and the flavor of said acid also is in there. You can mask or counter the bite of vinegar. Sugars( regular sugars, honey, fruits, fruit juices, carrots, anything with natural sugars) will balance out the acidic bite of vinegars, but the acidity will still be in the sauce.
It's not like brandy that gets flambe'd..
(need the tilde thingy on there but you know what I mean-)Once the juice/vinegar is in the mix, it's in there.... and the flavor of said acid also is in there. You can mask or counter the bite of vinegar. Sugars( regular sugars, honey, fruits, fruit juices, carrots, anything with natural sugars) will balance out the acidic bite of vinegars, but the acidity will still be in the sauce.
Yes, I guess I worded that wrong. What I meant was I cooked all the moisture added from the vinegar out of the sauce lol! Yea you can't cook the acid or flavor out... the vinegar taste isn't the problem, its the garlic. A pint was way to much for that amount. The unripened green taste from the peppers doesn't help either. Its not that good as a stand alone sauce but with BBQ sauce mixed in its great on chicken. I'm sure it would make a great wing sauce if I mixed a little butter with it at time of use. Thanks again for your advice S.L.! Its a lot more work then just making powders but I'm having fun so as long as I'm having fun I'll keep trying. Once I get a winner I'll have to get it out there for some constructive criticism ;-) I've been eyeing up some half gallon mason jars and am wanting to try a ferment but that will have to wait till I get a good sieve. My old hand crank one from my gram crapped out and my gf bought me an electric one but its very wasteful. Thanks again!