My first test hot sauce!!

Nice JJ. I don't care for tomato in hot sauce. I use carrot. You are on the right track though. Other ingredients like brown sugar, lime juice or ginger can add alot of flavor and complexity. Check out some of the recipe's in sauce making 101.
Welcome to the forum too!

Cheers, TB.

Thanks TB! I will check that out! I dont think I have ever had a carrot based hot sauce. I will have to try that when I get good at making sauces. I tried this rough sauce I made and it was pretty bland but had some flavor and a nice kick.
I had it with a chicken salad sandwich. It went pretty well with that!

it looks good & the ingredients are a classic & work.
though I'm not much of a fan of hot sauces with tomatoes, though it doesnt matter what I like, it only matters what you like when making hot sauces (unless you're gonna sell to others)

when you say bland ? bland in what way ?
theres so many different types of ingredients that work great with hot sauces. I tend to favor hot sauces on the fruity/asian style
you could try different vinegars. wine being sweeter, next apple cider, dont use the basic cheap distilled vinegar!!!!

the choices for ingredients is endless, what do you like ?
you should take a look at the "sauce making 101" forum to get some ideas as to what people use for ingredients, not saying anything is wrong with your list, theres plenty of sauces out there that are good with that list. just maybe tweek it some ?

also you can look at ingredient lists of brand name hot sauces on some sites to get ideas.

Not a big fan of tomatoes in hot sauce. They tend to make more of a salsa flavor for me.

I second TB's suggestion of carrots. Carrots really seem to help bring out the sweetness and flavor especially of chinense varieties and superhots. If i'm doing a fruity sauce I usually go with some hab types, berries citrus or pineapple, carrots, vinegar, turbinado sugar, lime juice & maybe a bit of spice

For savory style sauces its various peppers, some onion, carrots, salt, vinegar, lime juice, garlic etc.

No such thing as a wrong or right way to make a sauce, just make sure you keep the pH low with lots of lime juice or vinegar if you plan on keeping it around for ahwile.


One tip: Write down what ingredients you use and in what proportions. Nothing sucks worse than playing around in the kitchen and making an awesome sauce but being unable to re-create it.

Looks good for first attempt though, good luck and keep us posted with how your sauce-making adventures turn out.


Check out my gojii berry ginger habanero sauce I made the other day, I'm quite proud of how this one turned out
http://www.thehotpepper.com/showthread.php?t=9685

I agree... I like tomatoes in my salsa and barbecue. I do like a little tomatillo in my green sauce and green tomatoes work as well.

Sometimes simple is perfect. I try making a lot of different sauces, but when i get a nice batch of fresh peppers i'll almost always make a nice batch of this. Peppers, onions, white wine vinegar, lime juice and little salt and sugar. Depending on the pepper sometimes ill go with carrots or garlic as well. You can really taste the natural flavors and characteristics of the pepper and it goes great on everything.