First Hot Sauce Attempt

[crazy8]

Well I finally did it. I decided to have my first attempt be a simple Louisiana type sauce. Last year I had a bunch of left over cayennes and I ended up chopping and heating them up and then straining them to get the juice from the peppers. I ended up canning the solid pepper "stuff" and the liquid separate from each other. well I was told I should bring them back together. Well to make a long story short here is what I did. I heated up the pepper solid and the liquid together. I added two cloves of garlic and a little salt and vinegar. after it was heated up and bubbling I pored it into the blender and let it rip. I let it go for a while and then added a VERY VERY small amount of xanthan gum keeping an eye on the thickness.

Well I put it back in the cans I had just to store in the fridge. My friend and I later tested it for heat and taste. I am always after taste first, heat second. We realized that onion was missed and both agreed it needed it. But as it stands right now even though its missing some stuff to enhance the taste, it is good enough to use and keep you coming back for more. The thickness is also pretty nice. Not really a liquid but just thick enough to put it on some nuggets or something and it will hold to it. I wish i took more pics but here is what I got.

NOTE: If I were to add onion is it ok or even necessary for me to re heat the sauce? Can I or is it ok to use onion powder?

 

[r3p3t3]

looks good. what else did you put in it to get that color? also, what's the purpose of the xantham gum?

 

[crazy8]

Well like I said, the ingredients are cayenne, 2 cloves of garlic, salt, vinegar, and the xanthan gum. Thats it. I dont know if them being canned for a year would have made any difference or not. As for the Xanthan gum it is an additive that can be used in A LOT of different foods. The main reason for it is for stabilizing suspensions much like gelatin does. In layman's terms in this case its what helped me get the thickness I was looking for and will keep it from separating as it sits.

 

[salsalady]

crazy8, for the onion, I'd say go ahead and add the fresh onion, reheat and blender it again. Powder would work without re-heating it, but it won't have the same flavor as the fresh onion. It's OK re re-heat a product more than once if the proper re-heat and cooling procedures are maintained...which in this case with such a small amount of product, it will heat up and cool down quickly.



And a little more on xanthan....I'd like to clarify that when you said "additive", it is not an artificial or chemical food additive. Xanthan, guar, agar agar, carrageenan (which is made from seaweed) and many others are all natural thickeners, derived from various natural sources. They are used in thousands of products from salad dressings, to bread, to ice cream. They thicken and stabilize products. Xanthan is used in wheat-free bread to give it elasticity to replace the gluten that would normally be in the wheat.

Just wanted to clarify that for r3p~

And crazy8, the sauce looks really nice!

 

[crazy8]

Thank you for all of that Salsalady. My friend and I were also discussing my options. We figured this time just add powder but for sure when I make it again use fresh, which I would do because you cant beat fresh. The only thing is, we figured heating I wouldn't I want to heat it up because then some of the moisture would evaporate and make it even thicker. Maybe if I heat it up, just add a "titch" of vinegar and add the onions in and blend it?

 

[Downriver]

Hey Crazy,

Sauce looks great! Congrats!

If you were going to re-heat and were worried about thickening, you can always add more vinegar (white wine maybe?) and/or a small amount of 100% fruit juice (maybe apple in this case). Try to avoid adding water as it can cause separation issues. If you're worried about it being too "vinegary", you can use lemon and/or lime juice. And, by the way, an alternative to Xanthan is fresh carrot. For a small batch like this, as little as an inch or two of a normal-sized carrot is all you'd need.

By the way, storing in the fridge is a good idea. If you want to make a shelf-stable product, you need to check pH levels and use sterilized containers.

Just a few more thoughts for you to toss around.

Good luck on your next batch!

 

[crazy8]

Thanks for the info. Yeah I am already looking forward to my next batch. I have a ton of cayennes growing right now and all sorts of onions to work with which at the moment have a lot of bite I guess so I may wait just a little. I will have to remember the carrot idea. I also grabbed some home made honey from a coworker and thought about adding that but not sure if I should do that with a cayenne recipe or wait and do it with maybe my habs or something.