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Why the onions, garlic, carrots and fruit juice?

Turbota

Turbota

I see so many recipes for hot pepper sauce that contain onions, garlic, carrots, coconut juice, mango juice, pineapple juice, etc ... you would think we are making some kind of vegetable soup.
 
I am not talking about the non-fermented fresh style "Salsa" that you might find at a Mexican restaurant served with warm tortilla chips ... What I am talking about is your average homemade fermented "Hot Pepper Sauce" that is supposed to be something like store bought "Tabasco" sauce (except better)
 
If you read the labels on the various hot sauces available in the grocery store such as Tabasco, Texas Pete, Crystal, Frank's, etc ... they all pretty much just contain red peppers, vinegar and salt.
 
There are no onions, no carrots, and no other ingredients that you would find in vegetable soup or what you might find in some exotic South-Seas fruit juice drink your wife might order while at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville in Key West while on vacation (of course, topped with the compulsory paper umbrella).
 
 
I am just wondering if all this extra 'stuff' is really necessary in homemade hot sauce (ie: Tabasco)?
 
Ron,
 
 
 
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Really? I guess there should only be one style of car too, and that's it. Everyone drive a 4-door sedan.
 
Louisiana style hot sauce is just one style my friend. What a boring life it would be if that was all that was available. Though I do like pepper sauces the best (I usually don't like to add flavors to already cooked meals, I like to add the flavors while cooking, and then hot sauce for pepper flavor and heat), but these can also be used as cooking sauces or for complementary flavors. Pineapple complements pork. Mango complements chicken. Herbs add savoriness. You have your pepper sauces, your sweet sauces, your savory sauces, and your sweet & savory sauces. Each one has a use. If you had two grilled pork chops in front of you, don't you think an apple fatalii hot sauce would be killer?
 
Depth. Flavor. Balance.
 
A lot of ingredients are used to add depth, and to balance other flavors.
 
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i guess it could be described this way
 
they and accent,depth,color,sweetness,fruity flavors,thickness,helps regulate heat,some like fruit juice add needed acid to keep PH low and in the safe zone also added nutrition
 
i know that some just like a good old fashion all pepper sauce i know i do and they have there place, but not all the time, its nice to kick things up a bit too
and that's why we add such ingredients
 
if you ever get a chance to try a mango Habanero or scotch bonnet sauce you would prolly change your mind, there truly wonderful combination
 
hope this helps
 
thanks your friend Joe
 
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Folks ... I am by no means condemning mango flavored hot sauce, or any of the other variations of any of it.
 
I just assumed that all these different flavors would be what one might see in fresh (non-fermented)  "Salsa" that is made mostly of crushed tomatoes, hot peppers, and then some other ingredients for flavoring such as onions, cilantro, Mexican oregano and maybe mango, etc.
 
I am not here to make waves ... I just had the idea that hot sauce was basically, peppers, vinegar and salt (ala Louisiana style bottle hot sauce).
 
If mango juice or something else gives it a nice taste, I am all for that.
 
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Believe it or not, not everyone likes the taste of vinegar and/or the fermented flavor.  Not all those sauces that have "veggie soup" in them taste heavy on onion or mango or whatever.  Many of them have a very pepper-forward flavor, no strong acid bite from the vinegar (I think Tabasco is 80% vinegar? :crazy: ) and they also don't have the fermented flavor.  They a balanced chile pepper hot sauce.
 
"Salsa" is generally considered to be fresh chunky style sauces.  Technically, any salsa you get in a jar on a store shelf has been cooked/canned, but most people consider it "salsa" because of the chunky texture.  Could be black bean based, fruit based, or the typical pico de gallo served in Mexican restaurants, or any number of other flavors.
 
"Hot sauces" encompasses the whole genre of bottled sauces.  Generally smoother in texture, it can be fermented (like Tabasco) or non-fermented.  All have been cooked/processed. Can be any combination of ingredients and have any flavor profile (sweet, vinegar, fermented, savory, fruity, smoky, pepper specific, just to name a few...). 
 
Some sauces, depending on their ingredients (like some Asian-style or Asian influenced sauces) might be open to interpretation as to whether it's a sauce or a glaze or whatever.  But generally, "hot sauce" covers all things made with chiles, cooked and in a bottle.    
 
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Turbota said:
Folks ... I am by no means condemning mango flavored hot sauce, or any of the other variations of any of it.
 
I just assumed that all these different flavors would be what one might see in fresh (non-fermented)  "Salsa" that is made mostly of crushed tomatoes, hot peppers, and then some other ingredients for flavoring such as onions, cilantro, Mexican oregano and maybe mango, etc.
 
I am not here to make waves ... I just had the idea that hot sauce was basically, peppers, vinegar and salt (ala Louisiana style bottle hot sauce).
 
If mango juice or something else gives it a nice taste, I am all for that.
Click to expand...
 
I don't think you're making waves I just don't really get the question. You mention fresh salsa as an example of having flavors, but then you should understand why hot sauce can have flavors. You use it as an example as if they should only be in one. If you like mango salsa, you'll probably like mango hot sauce. Right? There's Coca-Cola, Fanta, and Sprite. Some people only drink cola. But people like other flavors too. So still not really getting the question.
 
And some people like to use natural stabilizers (and thickeners) instead of chemicals, so they add neutral or mild flavors with fruits or vegetables that work. Carrots being one.
 
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Good point about the carrots Boss, also sweet potato and pumpkin work well for stabilizing a sauce. If you look at some of the sauces I've posted you'll see that I've used all kinds of ingredient in them. In the latest one I made I used Mango, Blood Orange, Kiwi and Coconut Water. Different ingredients add to the depth of character and complexity of a sauce. The method of preparing the sauce also adds to it, fermentation for example. The sauce I made with the fruits was a fermented sauce and for all the sweetness that was in there, it's not a sweet sauce.
 
When I design a new sauce the first thing I do is get a good idea of the flavor profile I want it to have and then start thinking about what ingredients would help to match that profile then when I have a good idea for ingredients I think through the process by which I want to make it and how that will affect the final flavor profile. 
 
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Yup. And if only Louisiana style existed, this site, and The Hot Pepper Awards would not even exist! Sauces have come a long way, but it is nothing new.
 
Turbota, have you just started discovering these sauces exist? That's cool. Give some a try, and you'l have your answer. ;)
 
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Those extra ingredients give the extra flavor that goes beyond pepper and vinegar. If I was selling sauce for money more than flavor, it would be pepper and vinegar, its cheaper and does not require any extra love. If I was making sauce for flavor, something that lets folks know that I care for them, I would include every one of the ingredients you are curious about. My wife bought a couple bottles of Tobasco recently because they were really cheap. It tastes like vinegar...no love. She paid 55 cents per bottle and it was NOT worth it. Give me the homemade concoctions anyday.
 
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Nothing like a fresh batch of salsa that needs to be eaten before it spoils.
 
Really depends on what you plan on using it for.
 
I love a nice tabasco style on my eggs, but slap a tortilla under it and it demands some chunky salsa.
Fatali with some lemon, lime and cracked pepper for white flesh fish?
Choco hab with some brown sugar, apple juice, and a touch of herbs for pork? (I throw a bit of curry powder and ginger in the mix---chops taste like spicy bacon)
 
The possibilities are endless.
 
To your point, nothing is really "required" to be added, except something a bit acidic to keep the nasties out for storage, and I can see your point---I do the same with powders.
Nothing there but maybe some smoke and salt, but I add the other items while cooking to get the desired flavors.
 
There's yer next million dollar idea---"Bare Nekkid Sauce"---sell it by pepper variety---"Bare Nekkid (list pepper here), nothing but peppers and vinegar".
 
I want 10%. :party:
 
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" Chile Puree"  already out there, not sure you'll get your "10%".  :lol:
 
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If you look at the ingredients on a bottle of Tabasco, Crystal, Texas Pete, Frank's or many of the other brands of bottled hot sauce, about the only ingredients in them is red peppers, vinegar and salt. 
 
There must be a reason that these companies don't add vegetables like carrots, onions and garlic to there fermented sauce.
 
I'm not saying adding this stuff is wrong, I just wonder if all these extra ingredients really make for a better tasting homemade fermented hot sauce.
 
 
I can see adding chopped onions, bell pepper and cilantro to fresh salsa you would get with hot corn tortilla chips in a Mexican restaurant, but a bottle of hot pepper sauce is a little different from Mexican salsa such as Pace.
 
Opinions?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Tabasco................is an actual chili..........with its own unique flavor. Anything else added to slide the flavor would be called "Tabasco Style".
I make a condiment which is popular on  restaurant tables in Hawaii called "Hawaiian Water" it's comprised mainly of Hawaiian Birds-Eye chili's, crushed Garlic and Ginger, Salt and Rice or Coconut Vinegar....The liquid is used just like a Tabasco shaker. No Cane Sugar or other sweetners in inhibit the flavor.
 
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fast reply ... thanks
 
Instead of the onions, garlic and carrots, I was thinking of just adding some chopped fresh cherries (pitted) to the red pepper mash for a little extra flavor and a touch of sweetness.
 
Again, I am not condemning people for adding carrots an such to there hot sauce ... I was just wondering if all those extra ingredients were really necessary (because almost every recipe I see here on the forum does in fact list onions and carrots).  
 
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Of course they are not necessary. Nothing is, create your own recipe. Experiment.
 
You keep asking the same question.
 
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