So we obviously have quite a few hot pepper lovers around these parts, as evidenced by the many threads on this subject that have come before. We've got Shroomism's 12 year old Hot Sauce thread, Gumby's How to Make Your Own Hot Sauce/Paste thread, Amatoxin's impressive list of hot sauce recipes and ohmatic's Chili Pepper Grow 2015, amidst countless others. I wanted to create this thread, to pay homage to some of the peppers grown on my home turf (which, these days, are largely curated by my gardening whiz of a partner who keeps us flush in some sort of home grown edibles the entire year round).
Having often exclaimed my love for Marie Sharp's Belizean Habanero hot sauce, which is pretty much my all time favorite retail sauce (although Barbados style Scotch Bonnet/mustard sauces as well as the ubiquitous Sriracha are high up on my list to be sure!), I wanted to create something along a similar vein to Marie's spicy carrot based masterpiece. And so I have gathered:

- Two Fatali Peppers
- 35-40 Pequin Peppers
- Grated Carrot
- Grated Onion
- Garlic (Fresh and Powdered)
- Agave Nectar/syrup
- Rice Vinegar
- Juice of a Lime
- Salt
Fatali peppers are a wonderful, orange habanero-esque pepper, a little more rumply and pointed, but offering a similarly high heat level with a beautiful background of smokey flavor. I attempted to accentuate this smokiness by charring them over the open flame of our stove prior to pureeing. Pequin peppers are little red fire grenades, absolutely packed full of seeds. While perhaps not as hot as the Fatali by weight, their density does compensate and they easily prove that big things can come in small packages.
Everything here went into a food processor to get all mixed up. I chose to use a food processor over my more powerful Vitamix blender, in efforts to better preserve some texture. Pre-grating of the carrots and onions helped to ensure that it wasn't too lumpy when all was said and done. As for specific measurements, it's pretty much what you see in the picture, with approximately 1 tbsp of the agave syrup, 3 tbsp of the rice vinegar, and 1 tsp of salt. I didn't measure those things, just threw them in to taste, then brought the whole mix up to a boil for a few minutes and bottled.
Came out pretty flippin' awesome. A little sweet, with a whole lotta heat and some good tang! I love how the carrots work to mellow the peppers and tie things together, giving some added substance to the sauce, while also helping the color come out to a tremendously vibrant orange. Although I definitely like this as is (I am a hot head), I intend to try a tamer batch with 50% less pequin peppers and 3-4 times the amount of garlic to appease the more sensitive palate. I'd bet one with roasted garlic will be soon on the block, and I definitely would like to try some fruit additions such as mango and/or pineapple!
--------------------
-------------------- ┼ ··∙ long live the shroomery ∙·· ┼ ...╬π╥ ╥π╬...
|