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Adding cauliflower to increase viscosity?

I have a light colored medium heat sauce that is a bit on the thin side. Instead of adding thickeners would a bit of cauliflower improve the body without altering flavor too drastically and still maintain the pale color?
 
You are going to impart that cabbage taste with it, you can try carrot or parsnip.

If you have arrow root it makes a great thickener.
 
Hmm. Never thought of the potential for a cabbage taste. I already intended to use a tiny bit of parsnip though.

Also it was going to be a fermented sauce, so I'm not sure if that makes a difference.

It will be a garlic and jays peach ghost scorpion sauce. I want it to maintain that light peach color as much as possible. That's why my ingredients have to be white. (Otherwise I could just add a little bell pepper to tame the heat a bit) Also I want this to be a medium level heat which is why I want to add a few other things to it to fill up the body of the sauce before I add a bit of vinegar to finish it off.
 
Why no thickeners?  I use Xanthum Gum as do a lot of retail producers of hot sauce (Sriracha, for one).  It is a natural product derived from corn and is gluten free.  I pop the lid while the blender is going and add until desired thickness of the sauce.  Comes out with the viscosity of Cholula or Tapatio, etc.  Only takes a teaspoon or so of XG to thicken a blender full.  Gives the sauce a smooth good mouthfeel to it.
 
edited to add:  As for fermented.  That process is done before the final product which is where you do the thickening part, unless you go with the fillers you are suggesting like parsnip, etc.
 
Mostly because I've never used it before. I may experiment with it at some point. I've only got a small stock of jays peach peppers, so if I mess it up, I'm done till next season.
 
Jeffcontonio said:
Mostly because I've never used it before. I may experiment with it at some point. I've only got a small stock of jays peach peppers, so if I mess it up, I'm done till next season.
 
:lol:
 
Dude cauliflower would have the potential to mess it up more than any thickener. These are designed to thicken only and impart 0 flavor. The only thing you have to be careful with is amount, and that is easy. Just add a very little at a time. Like McDonald's coke spoon size. ;)
 
chiltepin said:
Why no thickeners?  I use Xanthum Gum as do a lot of retail producers of hot sauce (Sriracha, for one).  It is a natural product derived from corn and is gluten free.  I pop the lid while the blender is going and add until desired thickness of the sauce.  Comes out with the viscosity of Cholula or Tapatio, etc.  Only takes a teaspoon or so of XG to thicken a blender full.  Gives the sauce a smooth good mouthfeel to it.
 
edited to add:  As for fermented.  That process is done before the final product which is where you do the thickening part, unless you go with the fillers you are suggesting like parsnip, etc.
 
Stole the words right from my mouth. Xanthan gum is the way to go. Just don't overdo it. I mean really, really don't overdo it. .5-1%. More than that, and you can end up with a slimy, gloppy mess very quickly. The only reason to aoid using it would be allergen concerns (corn, wheat, soy, etc).
Jeffcontonio said:
Mostly because I've never used it before. I may experiment with it at some point. I've only got a small stock of jays peach peppers, so if I mess it up, I'm done till next season.
 
Why? I heard there's some guy who sells fresh pods all year round, especially in the winter, and that Jay's Peach is one of his favorite varieties.
 
Apple is another natural thickener, although it will add a bit of sweetness. If you wanted to deal with an additional step, the apple skins couls be added to the sauce, cooked, then run through a food mill to get the chunky skins out of the sauce... And not so much sweetness as opposed to adding full apples.
 
If you choose to add Cauliflower....grate it and place into large open non stick skillet.
 
Use med heat and gently toss and turn to dry it out.....it will become kinda flaky as the moisture evaporates.
 
Just a thought, never incorporated the idea in a sauce.
 
salsalady said:
Apple is another natural thickener, although it will add a bit of sweetness. If you wanted to deal with an additional step, the apple skins couls be added to the sauce, cooked, then run through a food mill to get the chunky skins out of the sauce... And not so much sweetness as opposed to adding full apples.
Apple peel is a subtly different flavour to apple itself and bears a strong resemblance to flavours found within many bacatum (I think it was bacatum) varieties. Since the Ghost and Scorpion are both rather fruity peppers, I reckon their offspring would indeed go well with it.

As for cauliflower, I've both had and quite liked chilli pikilli with it in before. I'm certainly interested but could easily see it being at odds with the Scorpion so I don't know how it would go with Jay's.
 
chiltepin said:
I use Xanthum Gum as do a lot of retail producers of hot sauce (Sriracha, for one). It is a natural product derived from corn and is gluten free.
Xanthan Gum is a slime produced by the bacteria Xanthomonas campestris that has been dried out for culinary use. Xanthomonas eats corn syrup, but it doesn't have to be corn syrup; in the wild, Xanthomonas mostly likes crucifers like cabbage (much to the annoyance of cabbage farmers).
 
...And lettuce....

Xanthan manufacturers are also using whey, a waste by-product of cheese.


There are a lot of thickener options available. Just have to find the one that fits.
 
The Hot Pepper said:
 
:lol:
 
Dude cauliflower would have the potential to mess it up more than any thickener. These are designed to thicken only and impart 0 flavor. The only thing you have to be careful with is amount, and that is easy. Just add a very little at a time. Like McDonald's coke spoon size. ;)
Lol. Never can get a spoon at a mcdonalds in the ghetto parts of town, why is that do ya think ;)
 
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