While you can make tabasco based sauces that come close in taste, it's hard to replicate Texas Pete and similar sauces (Tabasco, Louisiana Hot, Franks, etc.) because they are based on fermented peppers.

The pepers are ground up, and the pulp allowed to ferment and held in barrels for several years. Then that pulp is used as the basis of the sauce.

Most of the fermenting, nowadays, is done in Mexico.

Take a look.....

Here is a link that might be useful: recipes

Thanks so much for that link. Just reading the information is an education.

Carol

Don't be bashful, John. Despite some setbacks (all part of the game), you are on your way to becoming our resident expert on fermented chile sauce. Yes, I know you haven't finished your work yet. However, you've created what is essentially an interesting, beautifully illustrated blog of your on-going experimentation which is hidden inside a thread without the word chile in its title. I linked it below.

Jim

Here is a link that might be useful: Chile Fermentation

Reeldoc, do you mean a smooth red sauce, or the little jar of vinegar with green peppers sitting in it? Here's a link to a picture of the latter.

If this is what you want to make, I think you can make it like pickled peppers. Just boil the vinegar, adding as much salt as you think the jarred stuff has (taste it just as the salt dissolves when it's not too hot yet). Pour it over the peppers and process in BWB normal time for pickles. Be sure to slit the peppers so the brine gets inside...I would prod the filled jars with a spatula before capping to make sure there's enough brine to fill all the peppers and still cover the top a bit.

I've only seen this product in the deep south. It worries me some to see it sitting on the table in a restaurant since the vinegar often gets used up below the level of the peppers. Do you use the peppers too? My friend Shelley puts the vinegar part on collard greens.

Melissa

Here is a link that might be useful: texas pete pepper sauce

A similar condiment to the peppered vinegar consists of filling the jars with Sherry instead of vinegar. A rather delightful variation on that theme.

And don't forget sherry vinegar. RisaG (if you are a chile-head you know who this is) recently posted elsewhere about a simple recipe using sherry vinegar, chiles, sugar & tamari soy sauce.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sherry Vinegar

Yep, looking for the same thing as Pepper Sauce, vinegar based. Don't want to ferment. It appears that I top the peppers, slit them down the side, and process as melva indicates. I'd really like to avoid salt if possible.

After I open the first jar and use it up, can I then continue to add vinegar like I do to the Texas Pete Pepper Sauce that I buy? It stays in the refer until used.

Reeldoc, if you feel safe adding vinegar to the Texas Pete jar, your product should be about equally as safe for that. It wouldn't be safe to keep adding indefinitely, but I would think the vinegar would stop tasting hot before you got in any danger. If you let the bottle get empty, maybe refill once before throwing it away, but if you add a little at a time, you may be safer (b/c you keep the peppers covered) and then you could set a throw-out date that you write on the lid (3 months? use your judgment). Keep an eye out for mold, but other than that pickles in the fridge are pretty safe, especially since the peppers themselves have been processed originally. I don't know that the USDA would approve, but you are in control of your own food safety. I add rum to my bottle of vanilla which contains a vanilla bean and I figure eventually it will stop tasting like vanilla.

Melissa

If I have the Texas Pete peppers in an empty bottle, can I just add more vinegar and have the same thing?

Deleted due to duplication. Sorry.

This post was edited by halbert01 on Mon, Nov 18, 13 at 16:06

For those of you who are interested, I have been using Texas Pete green pepper sauce for years. I got tired of buying new bottles of the stuff (I use a LOT of it!) so I started "rejuvenating" the bottles as follows. Drop in about 1/4 tsp. salt and fill the bottle to within about an inch of the top with white vinegar. Set it in the microwave WITHOUT either the squirter insert or the top attached. Microwave for about 20 seconds. Be sure to keep an eye on the bottle through the glass ion the door. Twenty seconds will likely not bring it to a boil. Let it stand for a minute or so and microwave for another 20 seconds. Keep a sharp eye on the bottle and stop the boiling before it can boil over. Let stand for a minute or so and repeat the heating-to-boiling one more time. After two boiling cycles, let it stand for a few minutes. Replace the squirter insert and the cap and refrigerate.

This should give you a bottle of the sauce as good as the original. I have "rejuvenated" bottles for up to four extra bottles worth without harm. The peppers will start to get a little "yellowish" in color as you use up the oil contained within the pepper's flesh. Keeping it under refrigeration is advisable even if you don't do the "rejuvenation" thingy.