Making Habanero Hot Sauce

How many hot peppers can you eat? This year I had a large harvest of Habanero peppers. Always wear gloves when harvesting or handling these peppers. Trust me, these things are hot! For comparison, here are the Scoville ratings for other varieties, from mild to hot peppers:

• Bell pepper: 0 SHU
• Jalapeño pepper: 4,000–10,000 SHU
• Serrano pepper: 10,000–20,000 SHU
• Cayenne: 30,000–50,000 SHU
• Habanero: 100,000–300,000 SHU
• Ghost pepper: 1,000,000 SHU

Habaneros are a great addition to any dish that you want to add some kick to, especially Mexican food as this chili pepper is a staple in Mexican cuisine. A little bit of this pepper goes a long way. The hottest part of the pepper are the seeds and the light membrane inside the pepper. Unless you can handle eating fire, it is best to remove these parts before you consume the peppers. I usually freeze the peppers whole, and remove them one at a time from the freezer when I need them. But, if you have lots of them, try making this hot sauce recipe.

• Step 1 Roast the garlic cloves in their skins on a hot dry skillet
• Step 2 Wearing gloves, destem, cut the peppers in half and remove the seeds and inner membrane.
• Step 3 Add the peppers, carrots and onion to a pan and soften 5 minutes stirring constantly, without oil.

• Step 4 Add the apple cider vinegar, water, salt and sugar to the pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 25 minutes.
• Step 5 Let the mixture cool for a few minutes and pour it into a blender leaving the spot or center piece open (depending on what type of blender you have.)
• Step 6 Covering the opening with a paper towel, blend the sauce until well blended and you don’t see any big pieces.

You can store your sauce in any small containers that you like in your refrigerator for a few months. Since a little bit does go a long way, you could get small jars and make your own label and give it as gifts to your friends who like it hot!