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tutorial Making some puree today...will post pics of the process....it's easy....

Dried v fresh.....totally different. Both can be good, and used differently....
 
That's actually my concern. Probably going to taste great, but the fresh pepper is going to taste a lot different than the dried version.
I don't disagree at all, so it'll be an adventure. If I had a list of all the misadventures I've had cooking stuff up, it would make War and Peace look like a pamphlet! :)
 
I wouldn't get caught up too much in the "preservation" and "puree" terms. This is basically a thick hot sauce. It has vinegar and basically tastes like a thick, simple hot sauce, not preserved peppers. I have had many jars of this, sent to me by the OP back in the day. I used it as hot sauce. And it's great! But don't use it to replace a single pepper as an ingredient.
 
I wouldn't get caught up too much in the "preservation" and "puree" terms. This is basically a thick hot sauce. It has vinegar and basically tastes like a thick, simple hot sauce, not preserved peppers. I have had many jars of this, sent to me by the OP back in the day. I used it as hot sauce. And it's great! But don't use it to replace a single pepper as an ingredient.
Thanks, THP. The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that it would result in something different. Not necessarily bad, but not the sauce that I know and love.... :) Good thing I have a few months before I have enough peppers to even make some of this puree.....I can come up with more ways to use it! :)

R
 
AJ!!!! Amigo!!!! Wow, I am sooo happy to hear from you!!!

Check your messages.....in a few minutes....lol...

This recipe has been linked quite a few times to new members. It always gets rave reviews.
SL
 
this recipe came from one of the Aussies
YOU were the first
 
Might have been inspired by an Aussie, but AJ set the bar and the pictorial sealed it.
 
I feel honored to have had so many people using this recipe and it's derivatives over the years...I apologize to all for being absent for so long....trust me...I will be around quite often from now on....I have put over 16K gaming hours on Skyrim SE, Fallout 4, and RDR2 (username popvirus2) over the past 5 years....obesessed, yes, quite...

I have spent the last 3 hours reading/re-reading this thread and am thankful SL has carried on answering questions in my absence...and thankful for THP for making this thread a sticky...thank you Dan...

However, there are reasons I cannot grow peppers and that is the past 4.5 years I take care of my 91 year old mother 50% of the time in Pensacola and simply can not tend to a garden in Texas if I am not there plus the fact I am almost 73 years old now and don't have the stamina I once had....

I still have a jar of TS puree in my refrigerator that was made 10 years ago and taste just like it did the day it was canned...

I hope I can find some kind soul to let me buy some peppers this year so I can make a couple of fresh batches...if anyone is going to have an access of any plain old 7 pot peppers or ButchT scorpions (does anyone still grow these), I will gladly pay market price or even over market price for about 5-10 pounds...

I was just reviewing some of my videos on youtube and tears actually came to my eyes thinking about how beautiful my back yard used to be with all the pepper plants everywhere you looked...wish I could grow like that again, but I am afraid that won't ever happen...

I have probably 100 jars on the shelf in my computer room that are old, old, old (most from when I started this thread) and when I get home the middle of July, I am going to open a few of them to see if any are still good....probably won't be...I can see separation in the jars (looks like water on about the top half inch)...

Anyway, just suffice it to say thank you all for the kind words over the past years...

very respectfully,

AJ
 
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I have some jars too! Because you sent me like 10 back then lol. One of them, the contents shrank inside to where it looked like one of those old school air fresheners inside the plastic that shrinks. It had the jar shape but smaller, and I just shook it into place lol. When you open yours I'll see what I have and open as well. :cheers:

I bet you could buy some 7-pots and ButchTs from @Bold Badger Sauces and @Harry_Dangler when the time comes! Watch this section or place a Wanted ad around harvest time:
 
AJ, i have some jars also that old. Just shake 'em up. All good....

Boss, i made note of those growers, might be in the market in the fall.....thanks for posting.
 
As far as variations to this method go: Im thinking I want to add some small quantity of orange juice, but otherwise use about the same original recipe. It didnt look like theres been any mention/discussion on a quick perusal of the 19 pages of posts. Im curious if there would be any reason to absolutely not do it that I may not be thinking of?
 
AJ's Puree is a super simple way to process/preserve fresh chiles.

Any alterations, additions, variations, etc are just taking it to the next level.
 
The gold are AJ's recipe with 300g Caribbean red habaneros. Next time I think I will either not let it reduce as long, will add more vinegar, or will get wide mouth bottles, because it was very thick and not easy to put in the 5oz bottles. The yield was 2.5 of the 5oz bottles.

The camo is the original recipe but with 220g habaneros, 165ml vinegar, 60ml orange juice. This I didnt let reduce as much (maybe 15%-20%?), and the consistency is still thick but is more to my preference so was much easier to fill. This also yielded 2.5 of the 5oz bottles. The pH was like 4.2

I put the leftover half bottles into a single bottle to make a hybrid.
 

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The gold are AJ's recipe with 300g Caribbean red habaneros. Next time I think I will either not let it reduce as long, will add more vinegar, or will get wide mouth bottles, because it was very thick and not easy to put in the 5oz bottles.
Well the recipe is for Puree sooooo 😂
 
These jars work good for the puree. They can be used in a quick bwb to ensure proper sealing. I have some that are many years old, still fine.

 
I recently found a “Latin Market” in the next town over this week, so I stopped in to see if (on the off chance) they carried fresh manzano peppers. Lucky me, as it turns out, they did. I grabbed all of the “decent” (aka not mushy, lol) ones that they had. Walked out with 4lbs of them at $6/lb. Some of these, I’m going to de-seed, smoke, dehydrate and grind into powder. The rest of them, however, are (probably) going to go into a batch of A.J.’s purée, which brings me to my question…

I’m fairly well versed in (home) hot sauce making; enough to know that the salt content doesn’t “scale up”, like other ingredients, without ruining the product. For example, if this is the original recipe…

100 grams fresh peppers
60 ml 5% White Distilled Vinegar
1 tsp agave nectar
1/4 tsp sea salt


…and I wanted to use, say, 800g of peppers (these manzanos weigh approximately 100g each), there’s no way in Hell I’m going to use 2 full teaspoons of salt in that batch, or 3 teaspoons in a 1200g batch. That seems like an absolutely absurd amount of salt to use, and would probably be the only thing you’d taste.

So, for anyone with experience in making “larger batch” hot sauces, scaling up recipes, etc., do you think cutting the salt in half would be the way to go? Hell, as I’m typing this, I’m thinking that even THAT seems like an excessive amount of salt. 1.5 teaspoons of salt for 12 peppers that are roughly the size of a tennis ball?

I do understand that salt acts as a preservative as well as adding flavor (and heat, if you wanna go there! :rofl: :seeya: ), but I don’t want to ruin the flavor of these delicious pods.

@salsalady @SmokenFire? Anybody else?

Any input/advice is appreciated. Thanks! 🍻
 
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For this recipe, if you bwb, you probably dont need any salt. 2 teaspoons in about 3 cups of sauce is a lot. I would start with 3/4 teaspoon. But that won't up the heat very much. :whistle:😉

Again, you dont need it....or the agave for that matter...just the vinegar and BWB. I feel like the amount of salt in the puree is negligible for food preservation.

Since the puree is mostly to preserve the peppers to be used in foods, sauces, etc, later (as opposed to glopping on food as a hot sauce...[although i am sure some people do that])...salt and agave can be added at the time of usage.

Nice score on the manzanos! What color? Post pics!!
 
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