ShowMeDaSauce

One of my favorites because it is so simple and crazy cheap.

Ingredients:

AGED RED CAYENNE PEPPERS, DISTILLED VINEGAR, SALT

According to NuMex the Orange is the hottest of the 3. About 3 times hotter than a Early Jalapeno...So are they a nice dark green before they ripen and taste like a green jalapeno? I haven't really checked around but they do look just like a jalapeno in shape but all the pics ive seen are of ripe pods.

Love Crystals with some stuff like cold fried chicken. Since it was mentioned about using another commercial sauce for a base i did this today.

1/2 cup Crystals

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup cider vinegar

2 tbs aji panca powder...probably could have used 3

1/2 tsp granulated garlic

1 mostly dried CARDI Scorpion pod cut up in small pieces.

Cooked down till slightly reduced. Might have lost a 1/4 cup.

First off the heat increase from that single Scorpion pod is huge and since its pretty much slowly air dried the chinense flavor is really toned down. I think you would have to tell someone for them to even know it has any chinense in it.

This still tastes very much like Crystals. You know that good solid "tang" you get from a fermented cayenne mash and white vinegar. The goal was not to end here. I have a 12oz bottle but i didnt want to cook it all. After it cools i will mix it into the rest of the bottle and blend it up.

Damn tasty so far for the extremely low cost to make. A 12oz bottle is only around $1.50.

Lemon/Orange/Pumpkin Spice jalapenos are supposed to be really hot. Never tried them but they claim Orange Spice jalas are much hotter. Im just trying to get away from jala hybrids. Ive grown Mucho Nacho and Chichimeca for a few years. Overall im pretty happy with them but would like something a little hotter when ripe for my sauces. So far not a single Zapotec is even remotely mild for a jalapeno.

ATM i got Mucho Nacho and some Zaps growing side by side for an accurate comparison. Sofar with greeners its no contest for heat but i do still favor the Mucho Nacho flavor. I bet that changes when i get some ripe Zaps and that is the main reason i even grow so many jalapenos.

Ok so I add calcium nitrate on the first signs of BER. Have you tried cottonseed meal?

BER should not be treated reactively when possible. Be proactive instead of reactive. Just keep a good source of slow release calcium available all the time and the occasional supplemental. Its a little more work in pots vs soil. Calcium nitrate is a salt so use in moderation. A 4lb bag is cheap and plenty for several seasons if just used as a source of calcium. That CalMag powder i posted is only around $8.50 for a 750 gram bag. You use very very little per gallon of water.

Never tried cotton seed meal. It looks good too but it can lower pH. I can get alfalfa meal cheap..... $20ish per 50 pounds cheap. 5 pounds or so is enough to cover 100sqft or a cubic yard of potting mix for a couple months.

Chichimeca is also very very good and plants get really big

Ive had the very rare Mucho Nacho or Early that was freakishly hot but every single Zapotec ive had is hotter on average. I would say vs a Mucho Nacho on average they are about twice as hot. Still undecided on flavor but green i like Mucho Nacho better. Ripe might be a whole other story. Im still waiting on a ripe Zapotec.

Another nice load of Dreadies and for me they are out producing TFMs. I got 3 Dreadies and 4 TFMs. I had 1 Dreadie labeled wrong. Turns out its a TFM.

TFMs and Dreadies today.

Them CARDIs were the biggest PITA to harvest seeds. They kept sticking to all the oil. Best flavor from a super ive tried yet. Sofar they have all been screaming hot. The first one was not just a fluke.

Got a nice pull of ripe JPGS and they are all really nice looking pods. I still got plenty more to go. Love the high yield and larger pods. Got enough Scotch Brains the other day for a ferment with some bonnets. 100% satisfied with the seedlings

Had to get my seeds today from the nicest pods.

Naglah Brown, yeah its hot but it aint like them freak Scorpions. Flavor is pretty interesting too. Almost anuum like, far less floral/perfumy/fruity...almost too neutral. More like a spice/tobacco/earthy than a fruit.

CCN Reapers, Oh yeah very very hot and oily. Also nice flavor and a very long lasting burn.

CCN/PepperLover Dragons Breath, Very very hot, bitter and very oily. Burn equal to the Reapers and very similar how it burns.

CARDI Scorpions from Juanitos still look like the oil kings. I cut open six more today and they were all dripping wet inside. Puddles of oil all over made getting seeds out tedious. Burn seems at least equal to the Reapers but better flavor.

You can get a 900watt Nutribullet cheap. Well under $100 and its great for small batches. The 1200watt model is right around $90-100. Ive used my 900watt a bunch for hot sauce. That Nutribullet Rx is a 1700watt and will be just fine.

Probably 90% of my vinegar based sauces are around 50/50 vinegar/water. Adjust ratio for kind of vinegar and finish with fresh lime or lemon juice AFTER its cooled and aged a few days in the fridge. I highly suggest all final adjustments are done after it sets in the fridge a few days. A sauce can taste ok the first day and really excellent after 5 so just be patient.

Cook down, cool, blend well, toss in the fridge and finish off.

In many parts of the world very little is done to isolate peppers for harvest. Aji Dulce are virtually heatless and there are numerous varieties of them. Some look very much like a habanero, some look almost like a bonnet. Its a crap shoot. Try the habanada hybrid or NuMex Suave. Seeds are common.

Aji=pepper

Dulce=sweet

I got 1 ripe jala for the original post topic. Figure i need 3. Its the only thing im waiting on now. Ive hardly picked any jalapenos just in case.

On a side note my aji panca pods are massive now. At least twice the size as last year. They are just taking forever to pod up good like last year. 5 of the plants this year are much larger and i got 9 of them suckers.