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Ideas for lemon drop hot sauce

S

ShowMeDaSauce

My lemon drop plants are finally producing enough ripe peppers to start thinking about a recipe. I want this to be a IN YOUR FACE lemon drop pepper flavor with minimal additions. Not so much the additions themselves but the ratio of peppers to additional ingredients.
 
Shallots and or garlic sounds good.
 
Toasted coriander seed or some other toasted spices sound good.
 
A little lemon juice...maybe
 
A tiny bit of frozen pineapple juice concentrate for the sweetness?
 
Vinegar for sure but i kinda want to try cane vinegar this time. I normally use rice wine or fruit wine vinegar. Ive been really happy with Chardonnay or Champagne vinegar.
 
Fermented or not?
 
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I made this one a couple of years ago. Nice yellow color and I added yellow bhuts to kick up the heat.

Good luck and I hope it helps you.
 
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tctenten said:
I made this one a couple of years ago. Nice yellow color and I added yellow bhuts to kick up the heat.
Good luck and I hope it helps you.
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please correct me if i'm wrong, but shelf stable meaning that its ok on the shelf, until you open it...then it has to get stuck in the fridge?
 
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Malarky said:
please correct me if i'm wrong, but shelf stable meaning that its ok on the shelf, until you open it...then it has to get stuck in the fridge?
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Yes. When I made these I did not have the glass woozys so I just kept it in the fridge.

I did not check the PH on these, but I am pretty sure with those ratios it would have been below 4.
 
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tctenten said:
Yes. When I made these I did not have the glass woozys so I just kept it in the fridge.

I did not check the PH on these, but I am pretty sure with those ratios it would have been below 4.
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thanks!
where did your pineapple go in the process?
 
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Some things i have on hand also.
 
I grow lemon grass and mine is about ready, Not the ornamental variety.
 
Pressure canner and induction cookware.
 
HUGE assortment of vinegar. Some are quite expensive and very old.
 
Fresh lemon thyme...this makes a great flavored vinegar btw.
 
Very large assortment of whole spices.
 
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My basic ratio for sauces is about 1lb peppers, 1/2 a large onion and a couple cloves of garlic to go with 1-2 cups vinegar.  Throw em all in the pot and cook down, blend well w stick blender, put it through a food mill, taste and balance with salt/sweet/maybe a lil more vinegar then stick blend again and bring up to heat for bottling.  Pineapple, mango, orange juice would all go well for lending sweetness and not changing the color to much.  :)
 
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Did a small test mash and let it cool over night. Blending it up today and possibly adding some pineapple juice concentrate and lemon juice..
 
1 small shallot
2 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp coriander seed
1/4 tsp cumin seed
6 black peppercorns (removed before blending)
50/50 water and cane vinegar. (just enough to cover the peppers while cooking)
3 lemon drops
Roughly 1/2 lb of peppers the market called lemon drops but are not
1/2 of a small orange bell pepper
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
 
 
Plants are producing over 4 ripe per day now. This morning i got 8 and there are more than that on the plants that are half yellow. Wont be long now before i can make one with all lemon drops.
 
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Added 14 lemon drops and 1 spoonful of frozen pineapple juice concentrate. Needed a tiny bit more water too which i used.....drum roll please........
 
Lemon Grass from the garden in some boiling water. Its quite lemony without a drop of lemon juice in it. Cooked it all down, blended and strained.
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BTW anyone save the stuff in the strainer? I did this before with one of my red sauces and the flakes are super tasty. I saved these too because they smelled fantastic.
 
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ShowMeDaSauce said:
BTW anyone save the stuff in the strainer? I did this before with one of my red sauces and the flakes are super tasty. I saved these too because they smelled fantastic.
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I always save and dehydrate the tailings from my hot sauces for use in powder blends.  It completes the cycle (zero waste) and is a great way to extend that flavor into other dishes.  
 
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I dried the tailings from the strainer. VERY interesting aroma. Some pineapple glazed pork or chicken dusted with it should be really good.
 
I tasted my sauce today on some orange chicken carry out from the nearest local Chinese place Two large spoonfuls over the chicken which is not spicy to start....YUMMY.
 
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ShowMeDaSauce said:
I dried the tailings from the strainer. VERY interesting aroma. Some pineapple glazed pork or chicken dusted with it should be really good.
 
I tasted my sauce today on some orange chicken carry out from the nearest local Chinese place Two large spoonfuls over the chicken which is not spicy to start....YUMMY.
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I always save and dry the tailings , my wife's favourite part of my pepper hobby.
 
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The first tailings i saved were from a fermented sauce. I sun dried them and put them in the freezer. They were mild enough you could eat them "as is". Loved the color, flavor and aroma. The lemon drop tailings turned out really nice but i oven dried them (170F) due to rain the last 2 days. I haven't tasted them yet. In a few more days i will have some from a fermented hab sauce with carrot. Not sure how well that is going to work since it had a far amount of carrots to peppers.
 
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MidIowaHot said:
 
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Wow, glad I found this forum.  I am new to hot sauce making and I was planning to do the exact thing with a spate of lemon Drops I have.  Just picked these this week, and have many more just coming ripe.  These are on top of about 2 lbs I gave to a friend who makes sauce (along with a bunch of Cayenne, Carolina Reapers, and Habeneros).
 
I also want to preserve that yellow color and citrusy flavor.  I'll post recipe and pics when done (If it tastes good), planning to use a Peach/Mango juice as a base, with some garlic and onion. Was thinking maybe some lemon zest in the cook.  I'm planning to strain through a food sieve.  My buddy made me some sauce from the peppers I gave him.  I told him I wanted three drops to spice a bowl of soup.  He came through; I'm surprised it hasn't melted the cap.
 
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