Making Hot Sauce

Pepper plants produce prolificly. Try saying that five times fast.

But seriously, a few hot pepper plants will produce lots of peppers–usually far more than a family can reasonably consume fresh.

One great way to put all those extra peppers to use is to dry them and make crushed pepper flakes. But as I already have enough of those to last me for years, yesterday I made hot sauce, another good way to preserve hot peppers.

There are plenty of creative ways to make hot sauces, but a basic simple recipe for cayenne hot sauce is very easy.

First wash the peppers and remove the stems. (Note: when handling hot peppers, especially lots of them, take care not to touch your eyes. You’ll want to very thoroughly wash your hands when finished. Some choose to wear gloves while processing them. I don’t, but I am careful not to keep my hands away from my eyes until they’re thoroughly cleaned.)

Then put the peppers into a blender, add salt and vinegar and blend them until they’re liquefied.

Then put the soupy pepper broth into a pot. Bring it to a boil then turn down the heat and let it simmer for about twenty minutes.

Finally, pour it through a strainer to strain out the pulp.

The final product

That’s it. You now have homemade hot sauce.

This batch should last me a good long time.

A link to a basic recipe and instructions is HERE.

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