Making your own hot sauce lets you control the heat and the flavor.
Hot sauce is an enormous global industry. The industry leader is the Tabasco company. Tabasco sauce is a Louisiana legend and many of its loyal consumers aren't aware its distinctive flavor comes from pepper mash fermentation. Tabasco ages its sauces for two to three years in oak barrels allowing the fermentation process to draw flavor from the casks, which is similar to how scotch is aged. Fermenting your own pepper mash at home can be accomplished in as little as a week.
Instructions
1. Put on rubber gloves. Cut the stems from the chilies, leaving the green, leafy tops intact. Trim any bad spots off the peppers.
2. Combine all ingredients in the food processor until a smooth paste is formed.
3. Transfer the paste to the Mason Jars. Cover the jars.
4. Let the jars sit at room temperature for one week.
5. Put on rubber gloves. Place the sieve over the mixing bowl. Open the Mason Jars and empty the fermented mash into the sieve.
6. Press the mash into the sides of the sieve using a wooden spoon. The sauce will collect in the bowl. When most of the liquid has been collected, discard mash or store refrigerated in an airtight container.
7. Pour the liquid from the bowl into a Mason Jar or storage bottle. Refrigerated sauce will keep for up to one year.
Tags: , Mason Jars, pepper mash, , sauce will