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Hot Sauce Making for Kids (help please)

F

FraterNS

Hi,
 
My kids (8, 10, 15) have recently gotten where they are trying/interested in hot sauces so I decided that this year we would grow our own peppers and I'd help them make their own Hot Sauce, including bottling and labeling some and giving to friends as gifts. I'm no stranger to cooking, basic canning, etc. so didn't really dig into the details of hot sauces til recently here at end of harvest and now realize I have more questions than answers. If it were just me, I'd experiment and taste/adjust/taste/adjust, etc.
 
I've read the stickys, as well as browsing the posts here but still am a little overwhelmed with what I've gotten myself into. Due to time and space restraints I've decided against fermenting this go around and the general plan that I've come up is that we are going to rough chop/blend/cook down all the peppers together to make a base "mash". Then give the kids choices of basic ingredients to personalize/make their own recipe. To make things simple, yet give them choices I'm setting up categories of ingredients, Garlic, Onion, Sauce for Depth, Fruit for bright/sweet, Sugar for depth/sweet, citrus/vinegar for bright/sharp/bite (and Ph).
 
 For instance, I will let them choose from a yet unspecified minimum to maximum amount of garlic, then choose between Red Onion, Vidalia Onion, Or Shallots, Then choose between Worcester, Soy, or Fish Sauce, then choose between Brown Sugar, Molasses, or Honey, then a choice of fruit, then a choice of citrus + vinegar, etc. and then I'll salt and blend each ones choice in a separate pot with their share of the starter mash and season to taste as it cooks down.
 
Here's the problem. What we have is a large amount of home grown peppers that they had picked out the transplants back in the spring. Yellow Habanero, Jalapeno, "Caribbean Red Hot" which I think is just another Habanero, "Super Chili", and a bunch of little peppers donated by a friend.
 
I was originally going to let each child simply pick out the type and amount of peppers they wanted, but ran into the problem of I didn't take into consideration that a sauce made out of just those peppers was probably going to be way too hot for them. I was wanting to aim for a medium/hot heat level like a good custom medium to hot buffalo wing sauce. Then when I started read about weights and measures of the different peppers as far as how much each would make (thin wall vs thick wall, etc) and trying to figure out how much of what "not hot" filler to add to get close to the heat level I was looking for (Red Bell peppers, apples, other fruit whatever) and then on top of that figure out how many woozy bottles I would need to bottle what ever gets made, and that all of it would vary according to which peppers they chose, I just got lost.
 
The best idea I've been able to come up with so far is to just go ahead and make a second large batch of "mash" out of a bunch of Red Bell Peppers and Apples (I read they work as filler without changing taste too much) and then after I incorporate each childs choices of personalized ingredients in to their own pot, I'll add this to taste until I get it where we want it. This just leaves me with even more uncertainty of what the volume is going to be at the end and what I'll need for bottling.
 
Does anyone has any suggestions, ideas, tips or other info to help me make this a success for the kids I'd greatly appreciate it. How do I figure out how much "non hot" stuff at the begining to add to get the heat profile close to what I'm looking for and how do I get a halfway decent estimate of how many bottles am I going to end up needing. I want to involve them as much in the choices and process as possible, without making this a herculean effort on my part. And please, if you see flaws in my ideas or think I should do it a completely different way, let me know, I've got no ego attached to this. I just want to end up with the kids (and me) enjoying the process, learning a thing or two, being proud of their creation and having several bottles (probably 5oz) of their creation to share with friends.
 
Thank you in advance. 
 
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Welcome to THP.
 
Here is a basic recipe of ingredients.  Hopefully it will address some of your questions.  The peppers used are interchangeable to get the desired heat level you like.  You can also use different fruits. 
 
9 oz Lemon Drop peppers
1 oz Yellow Bhuts
1/4 oz fresh ginger
1 onion
1 tbspn olive oil
2 cups water
2 cups pineapple
1 cup combination of juice from 2 lemons and the rest vinegar
 
 
Also I make some sauces for my nieces and they are around the same age.  If you can find them, red cherry peppers are a nice tasting in a sauce and a tolerable heat level. 
 
This probably makes 4 5 oz woozies.
 
Good luck.
 
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Greetings!  :welcome: to THP!
 
It's great to see you looking to do something with the kids.  I've done this with my son when he was 10-11 years old. 
 
I've found that about 1 ounce of peppers in the Habanero range per gallon of other ingredients will make a mild-medium sauce.  This would be maybe a 3 out of 10 heat.  I'd start out with that and add more if they want it hotter. 
 
1 gallon of sauce will fill (24) 5 ounce woozy bottles.  You may want to use 10 oz bottles (12 per gallon) just to make things go faster.
 
One way to approach the project is to cook by color.  If you have yellow habaneros, think yellow bell peppers, mango/pineapple, onion, garlic, sugar (if you want a sweet sauce), fruit juice for bulk, apples have some natural thickening capabilities. 
 
Orange habs- orange bells, carrots, onion, garlic...
 
Red chiles- use some red bell peppers, some canned fire-roasted tomatoes, onion, garlic, bit of tamari/soy...
 
green jalapeno- tomatillo, onion, etc (tons of recipes for jalapeno-tomatillo sauces on the WWW)
 
 
I would let each child choose the chiles they want to use first and build the other ingredients in their sauce around the chile.   I'd grind up the chiles in a food processor and put them each in a separate bowl.  Cook/blend up the rest of the ingredients, then add the peppers a bit at a time to get the heat level wanted.  It won't take much.  And also be aware that the heat will build in the sauce after a bit.  If you taste it immediately after adding the chiles, it may not be that hot, but after it simmers for 20-30 minutes, the heat will be a lot more. 
 
Sounds like you are experienced in the kitchen, should be able to wing the amounts to get a nice tasting sauce.  Just a couple words of caution, don't get too heavy on the garlic and onion in a fruity sauce.  Just a little bit will do it.  A bit of salt helps also.  Avoid using oil unless your doing somethign like roasting veggies or garlic.
 
You mentioned reading the stickies, so I'm assuming you've read Making Hot Sauce 101, and Chile Pepper Weighs and Measures has some hints for ingredients that will help thicken the sauce.
 
 
Have Fun!  and Post Pics!  we luv pics~
 
salsalady
 
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Thank you both so much. Already things are getting clearer and I'm realizing and reevaluating things. Between just these two replies you made me realize the shear volume of "not hot" I would be looking at if I did all the peppers at once.
Also, the direct information on volumes per heat gives me a better grasp on how I can control/predict the volume for the bottles, and yes, with that info I may be moving to 10-12oz bottles.
 
Salsalady, I have already enjoyed so many of your posts on this forum, but your reply really helped with the whole concept and that maybe I was looking at it backwards. If I start with every thing but the peppers (and taking note of your flavor/color combinations) it makes it so much easier to control the heat by adding the peppers at the end. Thank you.
 
You asked for pics. So.. :)
 
Here's what currently in my freezer in a rather large percentage of my tupperware. If anything looks odd it's probably because I just pulled it from the freezer and sorted.
 

 
Please anyone else, feel free to suggest anything. I'll take all the input I can get.
 
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Very Nice!  That's amount of peppers will make a LOT of sauce. 
 
Since you mentioned gifts (maybe Christmas???) a couple other ideas are-
dehydrate and powder some and make some seasoning salt.   Thread #1, Thread #2
Just make some dried and ground pepper powder
make a small batch of AJ's chile puree, put in small jars
 
:)
 
edit- if you copy the
 
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Oooo. Thank you for the idea on the seasoning salt and the puree. I need to think about that.
 
I've updated the image, thank you. :)
 
and I reread the Weights and Measures post and it finally snapped clear what I had been misunderstanding.
 
So very roughly, using your suggested 1oz of Habanero level pepper per gallon of other produce for the heat profile I'm aiming for, I need to come up with approx 16cups of other per gallon, I assume that includes liquids such as vinegar etc. and I'll be aiming for after cooked down/reduced quantity correct? 
 
I can guestimate/taste as we are making this but is there any rule of thumb for proportions to start at?  For instance (just made up numbers) 8 parts other veg (bell peppers,carrots, etc.), 1 part onions/garlic (if used), 6 parts citrus/vinegar, 1 part sugar (if used), etc..?
 
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for 1 gallon of red hot sauce-
1 1/2-2 cups vinegar
1 can (24oz) fire roasted tomato
3 cups red bell pepper
1/3 cup garlic
1 cup onion
1-3 cups water
1-2 tsp salt
 
-or-
 
2 quarts fruit including apple for thickening
2 cups vinegar and or citrus juice (maybe a rice or white wine viegar, softer flavor than white vinegar) { try 1/2 cup vinegar, 1/2 cup lemon juice and 3 cups pineapple juice}
1 cup onion/shallot
1/4c garlic
1 1/2 quarts fruit juice (adjust if using pineapple juice above)
dash of salt
sugar/agave/honey to taste
These are what I would start with, these aren't tested recipes, just something to go by.
I just remembered this!  I did a class last winter with some local friends.  Here's the post with pictures and recipes, leat levels, and approximate quantities-
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/53377-making-hot-sauce-class/?hl=%2Bhot+%2Bsauce+%2Bclass
 
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FraterNS said:
Fantastic! Thank you so much. What had been an idea that I was very pumped about had slowly been turning sour as I was stressing over the details, this has turned it back around and I'm excited again.
Click to expand...
 
You've been given some great info FraterNS - but then again that's THP for ya. ;)  
 
I'd add only that after your cook down/food mill/blend up real well is all finished and you're coming back to temp for bottling you have one last chance to taste and balance the sauces before you bottle.  Take a couple tablespoons out and taste the sauce - you'll have this time now to add a bit of salt or maybe honey or perhaps some lime juice - little tweaks that will round out your sauce before you bottle.  This final step is invaluable for me to correct balance in the finished product.  
 
Best of luck, and please do post back with pics on your progress/final results.  And make sure you and the kids wear gloves!  
 
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+++ to wearing gloves!!!!  Good call, SnF~
 
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Thank you everyone. I'm starting purchasing items I need. I've already got a decent food mill, I have the larger funnels for mason jars but looks like I need one that;ll work for the bottles, the bottles themselves, gloves were already on my list. I want them involved in all stages but still going back and forth between letting them cut the peppers, even with gloves I'm expecting a wiping of the eye or mouth, but sometimes that's how you learn :). I'll be sure to try and capture everything on camera and come back with updates. It may be a couple of weeks before were ready to do this.
 
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