A few years back a friend of ours gave us a habanero pepper that her mother had grown in her garden. We both liked spicy food so we were excited to experiment with it. Not sure how hot it was, I mistakenly put the whole pepper in a pasta sauce. My wife and I experienced a combination of terror and excitement as our faces flushed, our scalps tingled, and our mouths caught on fire.
Our love of habaneros was born and we started growing them ourselves that next spring.
When you grow peppers, you need to have a plan for the abundance that will be coming your way in late July and early August. And since you can only cook with a small amount, you’ll want to make a sauce that will keep for a while. This is how Kitchen Czar Hot Sauce was born.
I looked up recipes for hot sauce on the internet and experimented for a couple of years before I settled on this basic recipe (which changes slightly each year depending on which peppers we decide to grow).
Kitchen Czar Chipotle Habanero Hot Sauce
You’ll want:
A combination of fresh hot peppers including Serrano, Jalapeno, Habanero, Scorpion, and Ghost Peppers depending on how hot you like your sauce.
Dried Chipotle Peppers (we get ours from Barbara at Windrose Farms at the Santa Monica Farmers Market)
Apple Cider Vinegar
Organic White Vinegar
-After harvesting your peppers and washing them off, you’ll want to remove the stems (either by snapping them off or using a small knife) and place them in a blender or Vitamix.
-Cover the peppers with Apple Cider Vinegar and blend on high until it resembles a slightly runny paste.
-Pour the mixture into mason jars and leave the lid off for 2-3 hours. This will begin the fermentation process. Cover the jars and leave them out, making sure the take the lids off once or twice a day for an hour or two.
-After several days, you’re ready to dilute the mixture and bottle it.
-Fill up half of your blender with the pepper mixture and the other half with the organic white vinegar and blend.
-Using a metal strainer, strain out the remaining solids and drain the liquid into a bowl or large measuring cup. Using a small funnel, pour the liquid into a hot sauce bottle (these can be found cheaply online with lids and pour spouts).
Enjoy on your eggs, tacos, or any other place you want to add a little kick to your life.
