If you love commercial hot sauces (Encona, Sriracha etc.) you might consider making your own. I've started doing this, it's dead easy and absolutely delicious.
My first batch was made with Jalapeño peppers and garlic. You roughly chop the ingredients, cover them in brine and leave them to ferment. After a few weeks you drain off the brine, blitz the solids, then add some/all of the brine back in to give the consistency you're after.
I'm down to my last half bottle.
Commercial sauces are fermented - it helps develop an amazing, complex flavour (Americans call it 'funky' - even if you don't particularly like sauerkraut, which is also fermented, you'll probably recognise the distinctive pong).
The brine is primarily there to deter the wrong sorts of bacteria from taking hold. Fortunately the probiotic bacteria we want, lactic acid bacteria (LAB), does well in brine, but harmful types do not.
LAB is present on and in the peppers, so you don't need to add anything - keep the chopped chillis in brine at room temperature and the LAB will do its work.
I've just started another batch, so I'll update this thread as it progresses. This time I've used scotch bonnet peppers, garlic, tomato, tinned peaches and tinned pineapple (the fruits complement the fruity flavours of the scotch bonnets, allegedly).
It takes about ten minute to prepare. I just remove the major part of the seeds (scotch bonnet peppers are fearsomely hot - you can leave the seeds in with milder varieties, or if you're Tarzan when it comes to chilli), roughly chop the flesh along with the chopped garlic, peach, tomato, pineapple and tomato. Pack it into a kilner jar, cover with brine and away it goes.
I use a sauer stone - a puck-sized disc of glass - to keep the veg fully immersed, that stops the wrong bacteria getting a hold. Leave the lid ajar so the CO2 from fermentation can gas off and it's all systems go!
My first batch was made with Jalapeño peppers and garlic. You roughly chop the ingredients, cover them in brine and leave them to ferment. After a few weeks you drain off the brine, blitz the solids, then add some/all of the brine back in to give the consistency you're after.
I'm down to my last half bottle.
Commercial sauces are fermented - it helps develop an amazing, complex flavour (Americans call it 'funky' - even if you don't particularly like sauerkraut, which is also fermented, you'll probably recognise the distinctive pong).
The brine is primarily there to deter the wrong sorts of bacteria from taking hold. Fortunately the probiotic bacteria we want, lactic acid bacteria (LAB), does well in brine, but harmful types do not.
LAB is present on and in the peppers, so you don't need to add anything - keep the chopped chillis in brine at room temperature and the LAB will do its work.
I've just started another batch, so I'll update this thread as it progresses. This time I've used scotch bonnet peppers, garlic, tomato, tinned peaches and tinned pineapple (the fruits complement the fruity flavours of the scotch bonnets, allegedly).
It takes about ten minute to prepare. I just remove the major part of the seeds (scotch bonnet peppers are fearsomely hot - you can leave the seeds in with milder varieties, or if you're Tarzan when it comes to chilli), roughly chop the flesh along with the chopped garlic, peach, tomato, pineapple and tomato. Pack it into a kilner jar, cover with brine and away it goes.
I use a sauer stone - a puck-sized disc of glass - to keep the veg fully immersed, that stops the wrong bacteria getting a hold. Leave the lid ajar so the CO2 from fermentation can gas off and it's all systems go!
). 
