The saddest time of the year for any chile gardener. Venit Hiems.
This week marked the official end for my growing season, so the peppers needed to be picked whether they were ready or not.
Usually harvest time is the happiest of days for a pepper grower. Months and months of hard work and patience finally pays off. The final harvest, however is always bittersweet. Despite my conflicting emotions, it was time to get picking. I donned my trusty headlamp and harvested fiery chiles all night before the autumn frost closed the chapter on this year’s growing season.
Ripe tasty peppers in the background. Green underachievers up front.
The good news is that I should be posting several recipes in the coming weeks that feature my prized peps. The first of which is a super tasty and simple hot sauce that I’ve adapted from Clifford A. Wright’s Some Like it Hot (Spicy Favorites from the World’s Hot Zones). I highly recommend this book as a great resource for piquant favorites from around the world. The rather large book is not only educational but inspirational and chock full of spicy info and rarely discussed recipes. Originally named “Cliff’s Orange Devil Sauce”, this Peppermeister version turns the heat up to 11 with the addition of a Bhut Jolokia Chile, a.k.a the ghost pepper. It also answers the question: What can I do with all these habaneros?
Peppermeister’s Roasted Habanero Hot Sauce
Ingredients:
- 30-35 Habanero Peppers
- 1 Ghost Pepper (or any superhot chile)
- 10 garlic cloves (unpeeled)
- 10 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon Agave Syrup (or 1 tsp sugar, if you’re not a hipster)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees
- Place chiles and garlic on roasting pan and roast for about 15 minutes
- Enjoy the amazing smell of your kitchen while these chiles and garlic cool completely
- Remove peels from garlic and stems from peppers
- Throw everything aggressively into a blender with seasoning and puree to perfection
- Add filtered water to achieve a thinner sauce
- Pour mixture into jars and refrigerate
- Enjoy this sauce on anything.
When you’re done making this super easy, super tasty hot sauce, check out these Sausage and Feta Stuffed Peppers from A Fork in Each Hand.
PEPPERMEISTER! 
I was just thinking of roasting some stuff for hot sauce. Great way to develop the flavors.
Great end of season harvest, BTW!
Hey Tim, yes, roasting definitely adds flavor. I usually use less salt when I roast the chiles because the flavor isn’t hiding, it’s right in front. I actually took a bunch of those immature green chiles today and made a batch of roasted tomatillo salsa. It’s crazy hot but crazy good.
OOHHHHhh, I am so making this. It sounds heavenly. Thank you for sharing!
You certainly should make this. It’s so freakin easy and has a great flavor, if you love habaneros.
I can’t wait to try this recipe! Do you think local wildflower honey would work instead of agave? (I’m a hippie, not a hipster.)
Wildflower honey should suffice. BTW, saying you’re not a hipster is soooo hipster.
My wife thinks I am nuts, but not able to handle that bitter sweet end to our growing season here in Kentucky, I purchased indoor grow lights and started transplanting. Previously, all we grew inside were seedlings. Now I have 6 foot Carolina Reapers in my basement.
They are so large, that I am lobbing off the tops and rooting the cuttings. I don’t think it makes business sense unless you are selling seedlings, but for the heart it is worth every penny of the electric bill.
That’s serious commitment! Keep it going. If you keep rhe nutrients coming, that plant will produce for years. Thanks for checking in.