Homegrown and Homemade Hot Sauce

I have to be honest with you - The only contribution I made to this recipe was the typing and the eating.  Bo grew the peppers, tended to them, researched a recipe, and whipped it up.  All I did was stand around and look cute.  (Ok, maybe not all that cute with my frizzy hair and all this humidity, but you get the picture.)

We're novice gardeners, and these Apache pepper plants have been our most exciting crop yet.  The peppers are hotter than jalapenos, but when I've chopped them up for salsa, I overestimated their heat, and we ended up with a very mild salsa.  So, whatever peppers you end up using for this hot sauce recipe will be fine; use hotter peppers if you like some heat, milder peppers if you like mild spices.

We love this hot sauce dumped on chicken and mixed with this black bean salsa and eaten straight on tortilla chips.  It's got a mildly sweet flavor from the peaches and the brown sugar which adds a great balance to the spice.

Enjoy!




Apache Hot Sauce
adapted from Allrecipes

6 Apache peppers (or habanero peppers), seeded and chopped
7oz. (half a can) of sliced peaches in heavy syrup
2 Tbsp. molasses
2 Tbsp. mustard
2 Tbsp. honey
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. white vinegar
1/2 tsp. liquid smoke
2 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp. salt
1 Tbsp. paprika
1 1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. coriander
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. allspice

Place all ingredients into the container of a food processor or blender and blend until liquefied. Pour into a medium sauce pan and bring to boil over medium heat, stirring often.  Boil 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently.  Allow to cool and pour into clean jars, and refrigerate overnight before using.  Makes 28oz.

One of our Apache pepper plants:

Yummmmmmm.