The Autumn is the right time for making Hot Sauce. I have been doing this annually for some time, maybe about five years. I've been growing Chiles for about 26 years, but didn't start making Hot Sauce until more recently. Before I was pickling, drying, and smoke drying the Chiles.
So, what I have learned about Hot Sauce is that the best Hot Sauce is Fermented. The flavor can not be mimicked by any other process. And there are many other processes. Hot Sauce is all about flavor, and not just heat. Now don't get me wrong, I want the heat, but I don't want all heat, and no flavor. There are specific components to the flavor that are critical to a good Hot Sauce. Acidity, Salinity, Smokiness, Hotness, Sweetness, Savoriness, and Viscosity are all important attributes in a good Hot Sauce.
So, back to fermented Chiles for a moment. I'm using a 9 oz. bottle of Carolina Reaper Mash from Pepper Joe's for this batch of Hot Sauce. Then I'll dilute the Chiles with Tomatoes with a 3:1 ratio. This does reduce the heat a bit, but adds volume, and flavor. The Tomatoes are the San Marzano variety, that already have Basil, and (a little) Garlic adding to the flavor. Right after saying that I am going to add a whole head of Garlic.
Starting off here we almost have a Italian Pasta Sauce. Maybe its a little Garlicky. We'll throw this in a pan, and cook it a little to cook the sharpness out of the Garlic. When you cook Garlic it gets sweet. Wut? Sweetness in the Hot Sauce? Yeah, more flavor.
At this point, before adding the Chile Mash, taste it for salinity. I add extra salt to this. Remember were making Hot Sauce, not Marinara. The Hot Sauce will only be used a drop at a time, or maybe a couple drops, so the Salt needs to stand out. I'll cook this until the Garlic is soft, and then everybody into the Choppa.
That is a 64 oz. pitcher, and we have about 30 oz. of Tomato Sauce in it. Then I'll add the Chile Mash, and 8 oz. of Vinegar to start. As the mixture is blending I am looking for viscosity. The Hot Sauce is distributed in Woozy Bottles that have a Dripper Top, so you want the Hot Sauce viscosity to be light enough that it can flow through the Dripper Top. The finish on the sauce has to be right so it can flow through the Dripper Top. I use the Vinegar to "thin" the sauce to produce the correct viscosity for the Dripper Top. The Hot Sauce is tuned to the delivery device.
The Hot Sauce has to be completely liquefied also. Chunks of Tomato, or Garlic are not compatible with the Dripper Top. There is a lot to this process simply concerning the delivery of the Hot Sauce. The flavor is the most important attribute, but getting the Hot Sauce to the food is almost equally important. I run the blender on high for an extended period until the Hot Sauce has a silky smoothness.
Then, finally we are bottling the Hot Sauce. This batch yielded around 44 oz., or 8.66, 5 oz. bottles. The yield per batch is fluid depending on the taste, and viscosity factors. So, I get a varying number of bottles from each batch. The bottles are washed, and sterilizer immediately before filling in a parallel operation. We fill the bottle, clean up the top, apply the Dripper Top, and then the Lid... Finished, right? No, gotta haz label...
