I have an urban garden on my porch and always manage to get an amazing array of tomatoes (so far this year, 840) and Chili Peppers (over 300 shishitos and another 5-ish kilos of other chilis — I planted a dozen varieties: Redskin Sweet, Caribbean Red Habanero, Carolina Reaper, Red Cayenne, Shishito-Takara, Cubanelle, Jalepeno, Scotch Bonnett, Mad Hatter, Candy Cane, Texas Habanero and Bhut jolokia (ghost peppers). What happens when everything becomes ripe at the same time — well, you have to do something with the produce, so I ended up making Chili Oil and Hot Sauce. I don’t actually know how “hot” either of these are — they are spicy to me, but I usually have a fairly mild tolerance for hot things, so if you are a hot sauce aficionado, these cold be fairly mild. If you are going to make either of these yourself, mix your chilis according to your own taste.
“Straight From the Garden” Flavored Chili Oil
Ingredients (for 6 5-ounce bottles)
1 pound fresh mixed chilis*
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups distilled white vinegar
3 1/2 to 3 3/4 cups vegetable oil
Directions
Wearing disposable gloves, de-stem and de-seed chilis. Cut chilis to a small dice, no larger than 1/4 inch (make sure they fit in the top of your jar). Place in a non-reactive bowl, mix in salt and cover with vinegar. Make sure that all the chilis are completely covered by the vinegar. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 24 hours.
Drain off the vinegar through a mesh sieve (no need to rise) and divide the chilis between your six bottles. In my case, this was about 1/3 of the way full in each bottle. Fill with vegetable oil to 3/4 full, screw on cap and invert the bottle a few times, so let any air bubbles come to the surface. Fill the remainder of the way with oil and seal.
Store in fridge. The oil will get spicier over time. If the oil is running low, you can refill it.
Urban Garden Experimental Chili Pepper Hot Sauce
Ingredients (for 6 5-ounce jars)
2 pounds peppers of your choosing (a mix of sweet peppers and hot peppers), tops/stems removed, halved
6 cloves garlic, peeled
2 cups filtered water
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons honey, optional
1 teaspoon xanthan gum, optional (see note)
Directions
Combine the peppers, garlic, water, kosher salt, apple cider vinegar, and honey, if using, in a medium pan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 20-25 minutes, or until the peppers and garlic have softened.
Pour mixture into a blender (making sure to leave the cover vent open, but covered with a kitchen towel; you may have to do this in batches) and blend until very smooth. While the blender is running, sprinkle in the xanthan gum, if using, and blend for an additional minute.
Depending on your blender, your hot sauce may be foamy when you’re finished blending. If so, let the hot sauce rest for 15-20 minutes, then skim off any foam before bottling.
Transfer mixture to bottles and seal. Once opened, store in fridge.
Note:
In this recipe, xanthan gum works as an emulsifier, stabilizer, and thickener. It is 100% optional. If you choose not to use it, the hot sauce will separate in the fridge, but there is nothing wrong with that. Just shake it each time you use it.
