The first one looks pretty much like pickled peppers...........blended. I wouldn't hesitate to can that one.

The second one would be right on the edge for me (I am not an expert). With the lime juice AND vinegar, it might be enough, but without knowing it was from a tested source, I'm not sure I'd take the chance. You could always freeze it.

Deanna

I think the first recipe would be ok to can, I was just paranoid about it! Now, I've got to hunt down more Habaneros.......

Thanks for your input!

Jessie

The pickled pepper recipe at the NCHFP has 5 cups vinegar to 1 cup water. The ratio in this jalapeno recipe is far from that.

Here's a tomato-based hot sauce from the NCHFP. You can see the difference in acidity.

Easy Hot Sauce

If jelly is not your canned food of choice, try an easy hot sauce recipe to spice things up. Easy Hot Sauce is great for stirring into vegetables or cheese dips and spicing up soups and chili.

You'll need:

8 cups (64 ounces) canned, diced tomatoes, undrained
1½ cups seeded, chopped Serrano peppers
4 cups distilled white vinegar (5 percent)
2 teaspoons canning salt
2 tablespoons whole mixed pickling spices (optional)

This recipe yields four half-pint jars. Wear gloves when handling, cutting and seeding hot peppers or wash hands thoroughly with soap and water before touching your face or eyes.

Start by washing half-pint canning jars; keep hot until they are filled. Prepare lids according to the manufacturer's directions.

Next place mixed pickling spices in a spice bag and tie ends firmly. Mix all ingredients in a Dutch oven or large saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Simmer for 20 minutes or until tomatoes are soft.

Press mixture through a food mill. Return the liquid to the pot, heat to boiling and boil for 15 minutes.

Fill hot sauce into clean, hot half-pint jars, leaving ¼-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if needed. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened clean paper towel; apply two-piece metal canning lids.

Process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes (15 minutes if 1,000-6,000 ft altitude; 20 minutes if over 6,000 ft). Allow hot sauce to cool, undisturbed, for 12 to 24 hours and check seals. You can remove screw bands after the food has cooled if the lids are sealed.

Carol

Aha! This may be a recipe I've been looking for - an easy hot sauce. Carol, any reason it couldn't be done with habaneros instead of serranos? And, in something like this would you recommend actually using hte store bought canned tomatoes rather than home canned so that I know the amount (tomato versus juice) is correct?

Ann

I think home-canned tomatoes would be fine for this, but I might be inclined to use store-bought anyway. Why? Because my home-canned tomatoes are precious, LOL, and I can pick up a can or two of the commercial tomatoes quite cheaply. I wouldn't think there's much advantage in using home-canned, unless you're drowning in excess. Any delicacy of flavor is going to be lost between the vinegar and the peppers.

IIRC, this can be a "blow your head off" kind of sauce, depending upon the pepper variety.

Using habs instead of serranos is totally fine. It'll just have a different sort of fruitness. Let us know how it turns out. You may have an interesting new creation here.

Carol

Here is the hot sauce recipe that I use...It is from Rick Bayless and it is fabulous...

My husband has it with every meal...He says it not only tastes good, but he believes that it has medicinal qualities and has immensely helped his aches and pains...
Habanero Hot Sauce
Recipe from Season 5 of Mexico--One Plate at a Time

Makes about 2 cups
Ingredients

5 cloves garlic, unpeeled
½ cup peeled, roughly chopped carrot (youÂll need 1 medium carrot)
½ cup roughly chopped white onion (youÂll need about half of a small onion)
12 medium (about 5 ounces) orange habanero chiles, stemmed
1 cup apple cider vinegar
About 2 teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon sugar
Directions

Roast the garlic in a skillet over medium heat, turning regularly until soft and blackened in spots, 10 to 15 minutes. Cool and peel
In a small saucepan, combine the carrot, onion and habanero chiles with the vinegar and 1 cup water. Partially cover and simmer over medium-low heat until the carrots are thoroughly tender, about 10 minutes. Pour into a blender jar, add the roasted garlic, salt and sugar. Blend until smooth. Thin with a little additional water if you think your hot sauce is too thick. Taste and season with additional salt if you think necessary. Pour into jars or bottles and store in the refrigerator until youÂre ready to add some dazzle to a dish.

Carol, I'm thinking I will make this and spend the winter perfecting a recipe for Habanero Buffalo Wings. I can just imagine them simmered in this sauce, then served with a side of mango puree and blue cheese. I think. I'm going to try it anyway.

I've had to start wearing gloves to remove and put in my contact lenses. Even though I wear gloves when working with hot peppers, the habs somehow still leave enough oil around the kitchen that my fingers get it. I almost cried my eyes out the other day :(

ruthieg - this sounds great! It would be a good use of frozen habs since I'd probably make a smaller recipe (since it's not a canning recipe). Thanks!

Ann

Okay, thought I'd update this. I made the hot sauce posted by Carol above, using habaneros. It is HOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOT! I love hot food and this is hot. But the flavor is wonderful. I can definitely see using it as a base for chicken wings. I am now going to make the same with serranos and one with red chiles. Then I can make wings of all different hotness levels.

We have a Jimmy Buffett theme bar in town that serves hot foods on a scale from 1-15, with 1 being no heat at all and 15 "knock your socks off" hot. If a customer eats an entire plate of level 15 wings (about a dozen wings) by his or herself, they get their photo on the wall. I would say that this hot sauce is as hot or possibly a bit hotter than their 15 sauce.

Not as hot as the sauce they gave us one time when we complained that the 15s weren't hot enough (long story that involved male softball players with bruised egos ).

This is very good stuff. I just don't know what I will do with 8 4 oz jars though...

Ann

And (in case anyone is interested in this) now last night I made the sauce using all serranos. I thought it would be a little hot, but it isn't at all. You really could almost drink the stuff. It might make a great bloody mary mix. And a good diluent for the habanero hot sauce. One more sauce to go (probably tomorrow night) and then I'm all set to play with these over the winter.

Ann

I may be talking to myself here but just in case someone is interested in making these hot sauces, here is the last installment.

I made the third batch last night using "Red Chili Peppers". I know the hot pepper aficionados would want a more specific description but this was seed from Tomato Growers Supply Co. and that is all it is called. It is a beautiful little red pepper, hotter than serranos, but not as hot as habaneros.

So, as expected, the sauce from this one came out in between the serrano and habanero in heat levels. It's hot enough that you notice (and many would probably consider it too hot), but for my tastes it is quite bearable.

So, I now have three hot sauces of differing heat levels and differing underlying flavors. That is one of the funnest parts, the difference in taste of the three types of peppers. I still plan to spend the winter working on hot wing recipes.

This has been a fun project.

Ann

Ann,

It may seem like you've been talking to yourself, but I for one have been silently (for a change) listening.

There is nothing I would like more than to be able to safely make and can a great wing sauce.

Hot regards,
JohnT

Ah good! Well, that's why I kept posting - I figured there might be a few people "listening".

I used the recipe posted above by Carol excpet I used only 1 tablespoon pickling spices, I processed for 15 minutes (because that's what the recipe in BBB calls for), and I simmered longer than it says to get a bit thicker sauce. Because I put it through the food mill and discarded the "solids", it is a pretty thin sauce.

It definitely tastes like hot wing makings. And Bloody Marys.

It'll be a fun winter.

Ann

I made a batch of pepper sauce using the recipe provided by the original poster, but used 3/4 cup of vinegar, and no water at all. I processed for as long as suggested for the "easy pepper sauce" recipe, and I am waiting to see if the seals work (this is a first shot for me)

But, before I pop one open in a month or two down the line, do you think that the modified recipe is acidic enough? Or if I would be able to test it later, but before eating?