Preserving Chili Peppers

[RidgebackRanch]

I should have waited until today to pick them. It's been cool and wet all day with more rain coming. I just didn't have enough faith in the forecast yesterday, we have missed out on a lot of rain in the last couple of weeks by just a mile or so.

There will be more to pick next month though.

 

[Smiles Jr.]

RR would you please tell us how you make your hot sauce? I have always wanted to try but just never have. What kind ingredients do you use? Do you reduce it on the stove to the thickness you want? We love this kind of stuff.

My son is going to bring over some Habinaros, Cayanne, and some Jalapenos, too. Are these good for hot sauce? He lives about 130 miles from us and I expect him sometime next week.

 

[RidgebackRanch]

Hi Smiles, When I make hot sauce I use hot peppers, whatever is ready to pick that day. Usually Habanero, Jalapeno, Fresno, and sometime Poblano and Anaheim.

I will roast them on a charcoal grill with chunks of water soaked wood to "smoke" them. When roasting them, they are in a pan with some water and I keep adding to the water as it cooks down. This can take as long as an hour.

You can also prepare onions and other items to flavor the sauce this way.

Then stems are pulled off the peppers and everything goes through a food mill to remove seeds and skin. The mixture is then put on the stove and I add vinegar, salt, sugar and other seasonings.

Cook it down to a fairly thick consistency and put in 1/2 to 1 pints jars and seal. A 10 minute water bath is next.

I don't have any specific recipe just a process. This mostly gets done on weekends and sauce is made from whats ready to use and my imagination.

Try something different and you might be surprised how well things can turn out. I know I was.

 

[Smiles Jr.]

Thanks

 

[vfem]

I broil mine, or I just dehydrate them. When I dehydrate I save flakes in tins for recipes, or I grind them into a powder.

Just some options!

 

[Smiles Jr.]

. . . I will roast them on a charcoal grill with chunks of water soaked wood to "smoke" them. When roasting them, they are in a pan with some water and I keep adding to the water as it cooks down. This can take as long as an hour . . .

I have heard that when you add a wood fire flavor it means "Chipotle" or actually "Chipotle means smoke flavored.

 

[RidgebackRanch]

A Chipotle is a smoked Jalapeno. What passes for Chipotle in the restaurant and processed food world is just spicy with no smoke flavor. I'm a bit of a stickler on that being an ex chef.

On the other hand an Ancho pepper is a Poblano that is left to ripen to a reddish color and then dried. It can be a little confusing. We do take our chilies pretty seriously in this neck of the woods. Thankfully foodies all over the country are using ingredients like these that may be new to people that don't live anywhere near the Southwest.

It used to be that the dish of "Green Chili" was unheard of outside of the Southwest, thankfully that is changing.

It's all good just experiment and have fun preserving something that you grew yourself. It's a win win.

 

[RidgebackRanch]

Hey Smiles, refer to the thread "Pepper Sauce" above this one for my process.