Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Now Fermenting


I have completed making four bottles of hot sauce from two different recipes. These recipes are made from some of the freshest ingredients I could find and are some of the most powerful as well. One of the recipes combines habaneros with carrots and lime juice. The other recipe combines habeneros with garlic, tomato paste (for coloring) and onion.

Simmering Sauce


After sampling my hand picked habaneros, I blended them very carefully on a low setting for a couple of minutes until the consistency was of a thin paste. Then I added them to a pot with other ingredients to simmer for a few minutes. I intentionally left the seeds in as well.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Review of The Undertaker Hot Sauce


I recently purchased a bottle of The Undertaker at the Lowell Ribs Festival last Sunday. I had the opportunity to chat with Tom Palmerino, owner of Woowee Hot Sauce of Southbridge, MA.

I love hot sauce, am serious about it, and wanted to give a review, or at least my feedback on it.

I'll do a rating of 1-5, 5 being the best. First, I want to let you know that I never give anyone a perfect score of 5.

- Review of The Undertaker -

Ingredients: Habanero peppers, tomato puree, white distilled vinegar, fresh onions, bourbon, oleoresin, capcicum, white pepper.

Appearance: 4 - I loved the dark, blood red color

Aroma: 2.5 - I think the tomato puree made it smell more like tomato soup or a V8 drink than hot sauce.

Texture: 2 - The tomato puree made it more like a hot paste than a hot sauce. I like my sauce to have some body to it, but not that thick. Maybe more white vinegar would help.

Spice Blend: 3 - Interesting choice of white pepper and bourbon.

Originality: 3.5 - I like the name, the look and the use of bourbon as an ingredient.

Flavor: 3 - I like a hot sauce that draws a fine line between heat and flavor. I think there was more heat then flavor though, but maybe that was the intention.

Heat Scale: 4 - Bumping up the heat with the added oleoresin, capcicum did the trick. I love heat. I had to hit the bathroom 2 times in the afternoon.

Overall Impression: I liked The Undertaker. I tried it on chicken, beef, and pasta and found that it had some big heat to give my meals a special kick. The color of the sauce is very appealing, but the texture of the sauce has something to be desired for--too pasty. I would recommend this sauce to anyone that is addicted to heat rather than flavor.

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Sample Pepper Has Been Tested


I sampled a habanero pepper from one of my plants yesterday. I've got two words to describe it---holy shite!

I picked a glowing, bright orange, size of a dime, pepper and popped it into my mouth. I purposely picked an undersized one to really test its heat. It was interesting to say the least. . .The back of my mouth and tongue immediately lit up with big heat. This is going to be a great crop this year.

Thursday, September 08, 2005

Supplies Have Been Recieved

I received my shipment of 5oz. bottles, caps, droppers, and shrink seal tubing from www.Leeners.com today. Thanks to Eileen at Leeners, she was able to get exactly what I needed for bottling my habanero sauces. I highly recommend them.

Here's what I got: http://www.leeners.com/hotsauce.html#bottles

Almost There

I can't wait! My 3 habanero plants are nearly ripe and ready to be plucked. I still can't believe how well these plants did this Summer as opposed to last. I couldn't get the habs to sprout at all. I am convinced that it must have been a bad batch that I bought. This Summer has been really hot with little rain, so that might have something to do with it as well.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Welcome Hot Sauce Addicts!


Welcome, my fellow hot heads. You have chosen to come here on your own accord--To seek out other addicts that share the same values and desires of the almighty pepper. This is the place of communal worship and following for learning and talking about hot sauces, hot peppers, and how to feed your hot sauce addiction.