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Honey Hot Sauce

crazy8

crazy8

I have always wanted to make a hot sauce with honey. I even got home mad honey from a coworker but I am kind of wondering a few things. First if its that sweet then wouldn't that shorten the shelf life since it might not be acidic enough? I am assuming that if I use honey that I would probably not use vinegar then? If I dont use vinegar then what do I use to make sure I can keep it on the shelf for a while? I have often thought maybe of also using whiskey with this recipe, would that help at all for it not going bad on the shelf? Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

Oh yeah if we were to only use 1/4 cup of honey should I cut back the soy sauce to 1/8 cup then? I only ask because it seems like most recipes I have been looking at have a 2:1 ratio.
 
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So I think this is the recipe I am going to start with, then if needed tweak it.

15 Habaneros (mix of Red Savinas and Orange Habs)
1/4 Cup Honey (add more if needed)
1/2 Cup Worcestershire Sauce
2 Cloves of Garlic
1 Small Can of Pineapple with juice
1+ tsp of Ginger
1+ tbsp Lime Juice
2 tbsp Sweet Onion (Walla Walla if possible)
Salt to taste

I dont think I am going to use the Worcestershire sauce when I put this together. But add it if I feel it could use it. I only have one shot at this since I am using all and my only Red Savinas and Orange Habaneros. Im really hoping this will have all the flavors, sweetness, and consistency I am looking for. If it fails I will have to wait until next season and I dont want to do that...lol
 
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Every time I look at this recipe I am always finding things that I don't know if I should have in it. For instance now I am wondering if I should mix pineapple and lime. I thought pineapple would be good with the Habanero but thought I should do lime for more acidity. But I know now that I may not need acids since I have the honey and that alone may keep the sauce good for a long period of time much like an acid would. Taste wise I don't know if I should mix pineapple/lime with honey or even if I should mix pineapple with lime. So here are a few questions I am hoping you hot sauce pros could help me with.

1) Is it OK to mix Pineapple with Lime and if so, should I?
2) Do I need ANY acids since I have Honey and will the Honey help with long shelf life as I heard?
3) If I do need an acid with the Honey what do you feel would best compliment the sauce considering I am going for something a little sweet?

Any help and suggestions to this recipe would be greatly appreciated. I may be making this hot sauce this weekend and would hate to see all my AMAZING looking peppers got to waste.
 
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That's a lot of worchestershire sauce! Leave it out and if you want to, add it by the teaspoon later if it's needed. I think it would take over the flavor in a hurry.

yes to pineapple and yes to lime

I wouldn't rely on the honey as a preservative and the pineapple is acidic also.

I think everything looks good except the Wrchstrshr.

jmho~
 
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I was thinking it looked good to but just wanted to be sure. Like I said Id hate to see my hard work and these amazing looking pods go to waste because I made a horrible recipe. Thanks once again for you knowledgeable and appreciated input Salsalady. :D
 
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salsalady said:
You can add the honey at the beginning and cook it with the rest of the stuff, unless you are concerned about keeping all the good stuff that's in "raw" (unpasteurized) honey. But if you will be canning the sauce, then that's not an issue anyway. Adding it early gives the flavors time to blend and gives you to chance to adjust the taste.


I just keep looking at your recipe and thinking that's going to be REEEAAALLLY sweet!

It's just a suggestion...but...perhaps use the pineapple with it's juice, cut the honey back to 1/4 cup to start with, and add more from there. You can always add more as you taste test it while cooking it but you can't take it out once it's in.

It will have acid with the pineapple and lemon juice. And if you plan on canning it, then pH isn't as critical as if you would just be putting it in the jar and straight onto the shelf.


And the process is correct: dice, cook, blender, adjust taste if necessary, and then either back into the pan to reheat (if it were going into woozy jars) or into the canning jars.
Click to expand...

I was just looking through all of this because I will be making my sauce this Thursday. Funny thing is I caught something this time around that I didn't catch last time. I WILL be making this and putting it DIRECTLY into glass woozie's and not canning it. SO if this changes anything as far as the recipe or anything else goes, any information would be much appreciated.
 
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Well today I made my two sauce, "Buffalo Wing Sauce" and "Hab 'N' Honey". Here is what I started with...
IMG00541-20100916-1830.jpg


Now I never made a sauce and I was thinking "Man if all goes well I will get 6-5oz woozie bottles of each. Well here is what I ended up with.

IMG00542-20100916-2217.jpg


You can imagine I was just a little sad about the yield but no all was lost. I made the Buffalo Wing Sauce first and even as simple as it is (cayenne, vinegar and garlic) Im thinking "Im not sure I have a lot of hope for this one." Which I will find out in a couple weeks when I add butter to it and add it to some wings.

Here is a close up of the more full bottles. I will be keeping the 1/2 bottles to myself and I have another pair that someone has shared some interest in and the last pair im not so sure what I will do. I do however have a good feeling about the "Hab 'N' Honey" sauce. It smelled AMAZING when it was cooking...the honey, pineapple, lime juice....everything it was wonderful. Anyway here is that pic.

IMG00543-20100916-2217.jpg
 
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well, amigo, it's a start! and everyone starts somewhere!




If you believe in the product, keep going.
 
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Sauces look great Crazy. I really like the "bits" visible in the wing sauce. Please report back on the taste.
 
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DownRiver said:
Sauces look great Crazy. I really like the "bits" visible in the wing sauce. Please report back on the taste.
Click to expand...

I will be waiting a week or two before I try either of them. Im really excited to try the Hab 'N' Honey so I may do that one first when its time. I think I may try both of these with wings so ill just reheat the sauce and add some butter to it and see how that goes. Ill be honest, i dont have a lot of hope for the Buffalo Wing Sauce but we will find out. I also do know about the Xanthan Gum, I bought some not to long ago and tried it in a sauce attempt. We had a weird kind of consistency or texture thing going on after we put it in the fridge, not saying it was because of the xanthan gum but it was weird and I decided to stay away from it this time for now. Both sauces do seem to be thick enough though. I think I could use a new blender to get rid of some of the chuncks though, so its more "fluid" like.
 
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Nice pics and boy...do they look great in the bottle with your label attached.
Your recipe for the honey hab sounds interesting....I might have to give it a try myself using some habs that dried a few weeks back.
But I've never bottled woozies...I'll need to read up on it before I do so. Any Suggestions?
I look forward to reading about your taste test in a few weeks.
 
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Well this is also my first time but I still did a hot water bath for the bottles the same way you would with jars. This way not only are they clean but they are also warm so when you pour the sauce into it your pouring warm/hot sauce into a warm bottle and dont risk cracking with a cold bottle. Also make sure you have a funnel and make sure that it fits in the bottle. I didnt take a bottle with me when I went to get a funnel and I saw the funnel which is really nice and I thought "Oh that will fit the bottle for sure." I was wrong...lol But it is the perfect size to fit sitting on top ft the bottle and I can make the funnel opening smaller to fit. ;) Thats about all I have for now.
 
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Did you print the labels yourself?...or get them done locally or on-line?

I've got a great program to create my custom labels(Print Shop 21)...but I've never been satisfied with the finished label(inkjet) because the color runs after its been if the fridge.I've looked at water resistant ones at Office depot and Staples, but thought I would ask around before making the purchase.
I'm not doing any large scale production by any means ...but I do like a nice appearance even if my sauce(or what ever I've canned)is only going to friends and family.
 
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I printed and designed the labels myself. I use Photoshop CS4. The best case is to either get inkjet smudge proof or go a little extra and have them done with laser jet.
 
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Well this weekend I have tried my two sauces. The two kids and I went to Cub and picked up some chicken Nuggets and I wanted to try one of the "Frank's" sauces so I grabbed a bottle of Frank's Wing sauce. I added about 1tbsp of butter in a Monkey dish and then melted it and filled the rest of the dish with one of my sauces. Mixed it will with a fork and it was ready. When the kids tried it they both said "I can't tell the difference between the Franks and yours as far as flavor goes". So I must have hit the nail on the head. The Hab 'N' Honey was a little different. I think there might need to be a change/correction just not sure what. The sauces is good no doubt, but something needs tweaking or possibly even taken out. The Hab 'N' Honey has some good heat with a nice sweetness to it. I had a good sweat going by the time I was done eating all my nuggets. So it looks like im on the right path to two good sauce recipes. Thank you all for your help with the sauces along with the label stuff. Its all greatly appreciated.
 
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