I like to call this hot sauce “Vacati0n in my mouth”

Summertime Green HOT SAUCE

Welcome to summertime hot sauce class!

I’m excited to make some spicy sauce with you. In preparation for class, below is the recipe and shopping list. You can get these ingredients at most grocery stores or produce markets. But you can also find chili peppers via your preferred online grocery vendor, like Amazon Fresh. There’s a list of fun chili pepper sites, if you want some fun and exotic fresh peppers to cook with. The one rule you can’t break? Make sure you get fresh chili peppers, not dried ones. Dry chilies won’t work for this recipe.

This recipe is awesome because it’s a perfect summertime hot sauce! Green and fruity, you can drizzle this sauce on your tacos or some grilled chicken wings, and you will win that BBQ.

How do you pick your pepper? The hotter the pepper, the hotter the sauce. Chili peppers are rated for heat using a Scoville index, and the higher the number of Scoville units, the hotter it will be. This recipe uses both super hot and medium hot peppers. You can use this handy cheat-sheet at the grocery store when you shop for ingredients!

WARNING: always use latex gloves when handling hot peppers and hot sauce. These babies can BURN your skin!!
NOTE: this recipe makes about 2 x 5-oz bottles of hot sauce

INGREDIENTS

10 green hot chili peppers (try habanero, serrano, or scotch bonnet chili peppers if you like it super hot, or cayenne, fresno, Thai or jalapeño chili peppers if you like it less hot)
1 small apple, roughly chopped
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup water
¼ cup lime juice
¼ cup cilantro, or one small handful (this is optional if you hate cilantro)
1 cup pineapple, chopped–either fresh or frozen
1 tablespoon sea salt
OPTIONAL: 2 kiwi fruits, peeled

DIRECTIONS

1. Remove the stems and roughly chop up the peppers along with the apples, and add them to a pot with the water and 1 tablespoon salt. You can remove the seeds if you want a milder sauce.

2. Cover the pot, bring the mix to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer everything for 15 minutes or so, until the peppers are nice and soft. Make sure there is still water in the pot, adding a tablespoon of water if it evaporates.

3. Cool the mixture slightly, then transfer it to a food processor or blender. Add the remaining ingredients: lime juice, vinegar, pineapple, cilantro, salt, (and the optional kiwi) and pulse for at least 30 seconds, or until it is reaches your desired texture. NOTE: This sauce will thicken as it cools, and taste less acidic after a few days.

3. If it is too thick for your liking, you can add a bit more water and vinegar, alternating 1 tablespoon of each at a time.

4. Taste it! Add more salt if needed. Too chunky for your liking? Blend it longer and strain through a mesh strainer for a smoother texture.

5. Fill bottles or jars with a funnel and put a cap on them.

6. Refrigerate when completely cool. Hot sauce should last at least 1 year. How do you know if it has gone bad? It will get moldy.

SHOPPING LIST

This recipe uses fresh chili peppers, please DO NOT USE dried peppers, as they will not work in this recipe.

10 green hot chili peppers (try habanero or scotch bonnet chili peppers if you like it super hot, or Cayenne, Fresno, Thai or Jalapeno chili peppers if you like it less hot)
1 small apple
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup water
¼ cup lime juice
1 cup pineapple, either fresh or frozen
1 tablespoon sea salt
¼ cup cilantro, or one small handful (this is optional, if you hate cilantro)
OPTIONAL: 2 kiwi fruits

WHERE TO BUY CHILI PEPPERS:

The best place to find a wide and amazing assortment of chili peppers is at your local farmer’s market or farm stand (smaller and more local, the better!). But maybe it’s not the season where you live, or your access to a local market is limited? You can always find chili peppers on Amazon, like Thai or Fresno. And while you can certainly find common peppers through online delivery services like Amazon Fresh or Fresh Direct, here is my list of online retailers for more exotic varieties (ghost pepper sauce!), or plants to grow your own:

Janie and Fernando run a small nursery in New Jersey, Cross Country Nurseries, and have been growing chilies since the early 90s. You can find fresh chili peppers, pepper plants, seeds, and much more.
Pepper Joe’s sells over 100 varieties of exotic chili peppers as well as plants via PepperJoes.com.
GhostPepperFarms sells, you guessed it, ghost peppers from their Florida pepper farm.
Another Florida vendor, Baker’s Peppers offers fresh peppers delivered to your door when in season.
Bohica Pepper Hut in South Carolina, also sells fresh peppers delivered to your door when in season (late June or early July). Over 200 varieties and free shipping.
A&M Farms offers mixed variety boxes, plus sauces, seeds, spices and powders.
Non-dried, chopped and frozen New Mexico and certified Hatch Green Chilies are best found via The Chili Guy, in packages of 5, 10 and 25 pounds; or even a whole truckload!
Ghost Pepper Store is a bit of a misnomer, as they sell a variety of fresh chili peppers, dried peppers, smoked peppers, powders and seeds.
Homesweet Homegrown was started by Robyn Jasko, founder of Grow Indie and lauds itself as the “world’s first chili pepper CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).” You can get a share of their chili pepper harvest, and each month a box of 18 hot peppers will arrive at your door.

Summertime green Hot Sauce Recipe