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Carolina Reaper Sauce?

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Boans

Hey you all!  You've been a great help on the growing side and now I am about ready to make some sauce.
 
I've promised some hot sauce to my friends and for novelty sake I'd like to keep it as hot as possible.
 
I've heard that if you cook the sauce it will reduce the heat and then I've also heard not to ferment it if you aren't cooking it after.
 
So if that's the case is there a simple recipe that just includes the peppers, garlic (can't leave that out), vinegar, salt or other seasonings with no cooking or fermenting?
 
It's my first go at this and given I only have 5 late blooming plants I probably won't get more than 20 or so peppers (and the Reapers are little guys).
 
 
 
 
 
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No cooking or fermenting is salsa 
 
Cooking will not reduce the heat of your sauce..if anything, it will release the Capsaisin and make it a flame sauce.
 
I brine sausages in vinegar and reapers...its heated before marinating. that sh*t will set you onfire!!
 
 
 
 
 
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Masher said:
No cooking or fermenting is salsa
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Not necessarily.
 
Masher said:
Cooking will not reduce the heat of your sauce.
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If you've ever made hot sauce you know about the coughing fits and burning eyes from cap in the air, so yes cap is lost during the process.
 
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The Hot Pepper said:
Not necessarily.
 

If you've ever made hot sauce you know about the coughing fits and burning eyes from cap in the air, so yes cap is lost during the process.
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Never even thought about the possibility of making a sauce without cooking...interesting idea, I guess it would make sense.
 
 
Agree on the loss of Cap from heating, but does the loss of the Cap from heating equate to lower heat experienced in the finished sauce or just overall amount of Cap reduced in the finished product?
 
Does heating actually lower the Scoville in the pepper after Cap release?
I can eat a raw pepper and get a heck of a burn, but heat the same pepper and it kills me and seems to intensify the burn? 
 
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The Hot Pepper said:
Not necessarily.
 

If you've ever made hot sauce you know about the coughing fits and burning eyes from cap in the air, so yes cap is lost during the process.
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so in theory a fermented sauce not cooked will be hotter than if I cooked it and bottled it correct. I just bottled some fermented sauce a few days ago that sat for a year without cooking it so I could benefit from the good bacteria.
 
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Devil's advocate here~~~  ;) 
 
Some capsaicin may be lost in the cooking fumes....BUT...moisture is also lost, thereby reducing the overall mass and concentrating the remaining capsaicin! 
 
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I already knew that SL...  that's why I said cap was lost not heat, I was careful with my words. ;)
 
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From my limited experience I noticed that a thicker sauce doesnt napalm the house while cooking it. I also noticed that my very very thick sauce didnt seem to lose heat. Days later after canning the sauce could be held upside down without moving. At this point I hate to call it a sauce hehe, but I did learn how capsaicin travels through the air relative to the moisture content of the sauce. The same thing was noticed while cleaning up and washing in the sink. The capsaicin was gassing out the house.
 
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not sure where i got the recipe, but
 
2 parts white/cider vinegar and or lemon juice (any ratio you please)
3 parts chopped peppers
.15 parts canning salt
.25 parts garlic (optional)
 
all by volume
 
blend all ingredients and transfer to glass bottles (I like to reuse soy sauce bottles) or canning jars and pressure cook@10psi for 15 mins. 
 
if using bottles with plastic caps leave the caps loose.  then tighten the caps as soon as its safe to open the pressure cooker.  not sure why. 
 
i refridgerate after opening, but it isnt needed unless the ph is over like 4.5 and is shouldnt be if you follow the above recipe.  actually you could probably get away with just a hot water bath instead of pressure canning. 
 
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In Jeff's recipe just above, the sauce is 40% vinegar and probably has a pH of about 2.5.  Just speaking off the cuff here, that ratio of sauce probably doesn't even need to be canned but processing is a good safety step.  Using plastic caps in a pressure cooker....not sure about that.... 
 
Check out Making Hot Sauce 101 for more info about reusing jars, lids, and processing. 
 
Have Fun! 
 
SL
 
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There may indeed be recipes out there that do not cook the peppers or other ingredients before making the hot sauce, but I'm not interested in any of them.  Cooking/roasting ingredients prior to their use in a sauce is awesome imo; it brings out characteristics not found in fresh ingredients.  Pretty much a basic step in most of my sauces.  fermenting is different.
 
Basic as possible cooked recipe would be something like 1lb peppers, 1 cup vinegar, 1 cup water, garlic/onion/carrot/fruit to taste.  Be sure to measure pH prior to bottling/storage and adjust as necessary.  I recommend that you cook all ingredients and then put them through a food mill to help remove skin/seeds and also to add body to the sauce.
 
 
 
 
 
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