Home Made Chilli Sauce?

[cosmicfolklore]

You hit the nail on the head there with " It isn’t very hot, but damn if the taste just doesn't explode". I think some chilli sauce manufacturers vie with each other to make the hottest paint stripper they can and don't care a fig about the actual taste.

Your banana chilli sauce certainly sounds interesting. How do you ferment your chillies? Also, do you smoke yours also?

I just added these 2 to my Amazon basket....

View attachment 237244View attachment 237245
...they also do a 'El Yucateco Salsa Picante De Caribbean Chile Habanero Hot Sauce 120ml £6:55' which I might try.

Regards,

Jay.

Edit: I just bought all 3.

I don’t smoke my banana peppers, but I do add onion and garlic.
Everything grown carries the bacteria to ferment that thing when it dies. So, it is considered a “wild ferment.” Bacteria and yeast on the peppers is started by adding water, a bit of sugar and just a tad but of salt, you can add more salt later to taste. The sugar merely gives the yeast some food to get started.

There is a Youtuber and web guy who shows you how to make real fermented pickles and such. I just can’t remember their name. But, it is easy. Just let the carbon dioxide out of the jars everyday. I use a winemaker’s bubbler to let the air escape, because I also own a winemaking biz. It’s just easier for me since I have the supplies laying about. Do a Google search for fermented pickle recipes. There are probably millions.

This was how pickles were made originally. Then corporations at the turn if the century started using vinegar to speed up the process, make them cheaper, and keep their products consistent. Then grandmas started using vinegar because corporations had been doing it. But, if you’ll taste the original verses the vinegar pickles, you will never go back.

 

[renfield]

Great thread. My peppers have been super productive this year so I’ll be fermenting some cayennes and serranos.

In the past I’ve fermented pickles, kraut and kimchi but never thought to do peppers. I usually just dry the surplus.

So true about fermented food. Can’t beat the complexity.

 

[Akoni808]

I looked at Hoy Fung Sriracha Sauce on Amazon (£24 for 2x482g bottles) and it looked (contents, bottle and label) remarkably like Flying Goose Sriracha Sauce which despite looking good is according to the ingredients list packed full of E numbers though sells for a mere £11:20 for 2x730ml bottles.

View attachment 237231

I shall now delve into looking up fermentation of chilli peppers....I may be gone a while

Regards,

Jay.

While arguably not as tasty, the Tabasco Sriracha is a much cleaner product.

 

[mawnansmiff]

Great thread. My peppers have been super productive this year so I’ll be fermenting some cayennes and serranos.

In the past I’ve fermented pickles, kraut and kimchi but never thought to do peppers. I usually just dry the surplus.

So true about fermented food. Can’t beat the complexity.

I envy you having the climate to be able to grow a variety of peppers successfully.

When I lived on the farm I experimented growing sweet chilli peppers in one of the polytunnels. They grew but were quite small compared to supermarket sweet peppers, however they were tasty as hell, the best sweet peppers we had ever come across!

I put this down to them being very thin regards to the flesh whereas shop bought sweet peppers were very thick and pretty void of flavour. Too much nitrogen fertilizer by the growers I suppose. Mine were grown on farm manure & well rotted seaweed only.

However my attempts to grow hot chillies (I forget the variety) in the greenhouse were not so good. The peppers though tasty were really quite tiny and there weren't too many of them on the half dozen or so plants I had so I never tried growing them again.

Regards,

Jay.

 

[shanez]

To me, Tabasco (and most sauces) is application specific, meaning it works on some foods and not others.

I don't care much for Tabasco however I think it absolutely perfect and lovely on oysters but that's about the only application I can think of for it.

My favorite general purpose sauce without crazy heat is Valentina. Excellent on fries (chips), chips (crisps), potatoes in general, tuna salad of all types, fried fish, etc. The exception to the fried fish is catfish. I prefer catfish with something like Louisiana, Trappey's Red Devel, or Franks.

 

[macaroni]

learn lots here but makes me hungry

 

[renfield]

I put this down to them being very thin regards to the flesh whereas shop bought sweet peppers were very thick and pretty void of flavour. Too much nitrogen fertilizer by the growers I suppose. Mine were grown on farm manure & well rotted seaweed only.

I think you’ve nailed it. Using the right fertilizer makes an enormous difference. Most of the store bought fertilizers are more like junk food than a good meal.

 

[OzPiper]

Growing up in Malaysia, Hainanese Chicken rice is a favourite hawker dish of mine
And a fresh home-made chilli sauce is de rigeur
The reputation of the stall rises and falls with their chilli recipe

And how skillfully the chicken is cooked, of course - just poached to the right "doneness" so the meat is very succulent.
And served cold with a layer of "jelly" under the skin

Chilli sauce:
Fresh red chillis pounded in a mortar (blenders used more often now, but not traditional) with fresh root ginger and garlic.
Pinch of salt and sugar, squeeze of lime (kalamansi) and loosened with some water
The proportions of the ingredients are THE secret, of course
The variations are myriad.

Malaysian and Singaporean members should be very familiar with this

 

[CoffeeAndBourbon]

Growing up in Malaysia, Hainanese Chicken rice is a favourite hawker dish of mine
And a fresh home-made chilli sauce is de rigeur
The reputation of the stall rises and falls with their chilli recipe

And how skillfully the chicken is cooked, of course - just poached to the right "doneness" so the meat is very succulent.
And served cold with a layer of "jelly" under the skin

Chilli sauce:
Fresh red chillis pounded in a mortar (blenders used more often now, but not traditional) with fresh root ginger and garlic.
Pinch of salt and sugar, squeeze of lime (kalamansi) and loosened with some water
The proportions of the ingredients are THE secret, of course
The variations are myriad.

Malaysian and Singaporean members should be very familiar with this

no garlic??

 

[mawnansmiff]

El Yucateco chile Habanero (black label reserve). It is fermented in old whiskey barrels and aged to a deep black. It isn’t very hot, but damn if the taste just doesn't explode. Very good sauce.

My El Yucateco sauces just arrived (got the green one & 2 black label for some reason) and I tried the green first. Definitely fruity with a noticeable sourness to it which I quite like. On my hot scale-ometer I'd give it 4/10.

The 'negro' sauce is very smoky, the taste reminding me of new leather, and wow is it hot! Easily a 9/10 on my hot scale.

"It isn't very hot" he says! Michael, you're a fibber. I'm still sweating and it's been 5 minutes since I sampled it

Nice that these are the real deal coming from Mexico and they're miles different from any hot chilli sauce I've ever tried. All I have to do now is work out how to dispense it properly.

Thanks (I think) for the pointer Michael.

Regards,

Jay.

 

[David D. Davidson]

I’ll have to try out the black sauce! I’ve only ever tried the green, but I find it delicious. It’s definitely my go-to on eggs or with burritos/fajitas.

You’ve sold me on the black sauce, that sounds unlike anything I’ve tried! Thanks for sharing

 

[mingc]

Growing up in Malaysia, Hainanese Chicken rice is a favourite hawker dish of mine
And a fresh home-made chilli sauce is de rigeur
The reputation of the stall rises and falls with their chilli recipe

And how skillfully the chicken is cooked, of course - just poached to the right "doneness" so the meat is very succulent.
And served cold with a layer of "jelly" under the skin

Chilli sauce:
Fresh red chillis pounded in a mortar (blenders used more often now, but not traditional) with fresh root ginger and garlic.
Pinch of salt and sugar, squeeze of lime (kalamansi) and loosened with some water
The proportions of the ingredients are THE secret, of course
The variations are myriad.

Malaysian and Singaporean members should be very familiar with this

Indeed. Every vendor's sauce is slightly different and they won't sell you just the sauce! I cannot find the right fresh red peppers here in the States.

no garlic??

Yes, garlic. However, ginger is what differentiates the Malaysian/Singapore sauces from the other sauces in the US market. The only commercial sauce that I can find here in the States that has ginger is a Yeo's brand sauce imported from Singapore and it is not as good as I like.

 

[OzPiper]

no garlic??

Oh yes.
Garlic is part of the mix, but to paraphrase @JimInks, it‘s condimental.
Ginger has the lead role

 

[renfield]

Because of this thread I started the fermentation on a few pounds of garden peppers this afternoon. Serranos and cayennes. Part will go to hot sauce, part as pickles.

I love the fermentation process. I’ve made beer, wine, mead, sake, kimchi, sourdoughs, sauerkraut, pickles and probably something else I’m forgetting. Especially with wild ferments it’s only controllable to a point.

Enablers.

 

[CoffeeAndBourbon]

Because of this thread I started the fermentation on a few pounds of garden peppers this afternoon. Serranos and cayennes. Part will go to hot sauce, part as pickles.

I love the fermentation process. I’ve made beer, wine, mead, sake, kimchi, sourdoughs, sauerkraut, pickles and probably something else I’m forgetting. Especially with wild ferments it’s only controllable to a point.

Enablers.

Aww yeah!

 

[mawnansmiff]

About an hour ago I had a nice Amazon delivery man hand me a box of goodies!

Further to my purchase last week of 2 El Yucateco hot sauces, I ordered a selection of 5 of their sauces though 2 are repeats of the first lot.

The 3 new ones are their red habanero (very nice indeed, sour with just the right amount of hot), their green jalapeno (reminds me of Tabasco green) and their brown 'exxxtra hot'!

The exxxtra hot I nearly didn't bother opening as I'm no fan of paint stripper sauces but curiosity got the better of me. I dipped the handle of a teaspoon into the bottle and sampled it. Well it's not quite paint stripper but it aint far off. Initially I just tasted the pepper which was great....then came the heat a few seconds later. Apparently this is 11,250 Scoville units which apparently is 'mild' .

I find it hilarious that they put a warning on the bottles...

May Have an Adverse Effect on Activity and Attention in Children.

Thanks again Michael for the pointer.

Regards,

Jay.