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Yucateco green habanero sauce...but better

So far I've made fermented cayenne sauce, better than Frank's, and fermented tobasco, better than Tobasco.
 
I like Yucateco but it's mass produced and has additives, so I assume I can make it better.
I like the heat level and the habanero flavor, and the thick texture.
 
The fake color is gross.
 
There's no vinegar in the ingredients.  Instead they use acetic acid.
And of course "spices."
 
How would you guys make a natural version of this?  Just straight fermented green habs?
What else would you add?
 
Acetic acid is vinegar without the water. So when you buy white vinegar and it says 5%, that's 5% acetic acid and 95% water. Some companies use the acetic because they introduce it into other liquids in their sauce, if they don't want the water content. You may have a pineapple juice base so you can add the acetic acid to that (5/95) and it becomes pineapple vinegar, essentially... or you may add it to the sauce directly to adjust pH without the water.
 
mitchNC said:
The fake color is gross.
...
How would you guys make a natural version of this?  Just straight fermented green habs?
 
If the color is fake, do you think they actually use green habs? Seems to me they wouldn't need to color it if they did. I don't know that I've ever eaten one green, but I'd try it first to see what if anything the flavor difference is and whether it's closer to what you want from your sauce than ripe ones.
 
[edit: On actually looking it up, the ingredient listing I'm seeing doesn't have coloring on it, and explicitly lists green habaneros. Soooo never mind!]
 
I remember when El Yucateco was put through the ringer for lead in their sauce. They have since corrected that...

2013: "We are aware of this study having been released in July of last year and assure you we were concerned as well.

We responded immediately to alert our customers that we were investigating and hired an independent lab to test all our sauces and manufacturing facility. No measurable amounts of lead were detected in our sauces or ingredients used to make our sauces.

The safety of our customers and employees is our number one concern and we stand by the quality of our products.

If you would like to see a copy of the report or any of the information we published on our Facebook page or in press releases, please let me know and I'll be more the happy to send them.

Again, thank you for reaching out with your concern. We appreciate your continued support of our brand. /generic response"
 
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Focus on the flavor not the color. Haven't had it in a long time but think you can come close with green habs (yellow scotch bonnets for flavor and color boost), vinegar, garlic powder, onion powder, salt.
 
I'm not concerned about the dye.  :)
I was just wondering if they actually use green habs or ripe habs and dye it green.
 
I was confused because they say "Natural color" and then list dye in the ingredients.
 
I had tons of habaneros this year but never thought to use green ones.
 
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