Barbados-inspired Habanero Hot Sauce

This recipe is inspired by a hot sauce that was on every cafe table when my wife and I went to Barbados for our friends' wedding. We both loved it, which is uncommon for us when it comes to hot sauce. My wife's spice tolerance is notorious in my family. Meanwhile, I am a total wuss. We spent four days in Barbados and put this sauce on every meal.

Fish? Perfect. Pork sandwich? Outstanding. Eggs? Absolutely.

Needless to say, we bought some to bring home and were excited to continue eating hot sauce with every meal. Unfortunately, what we did not count on was having to go back through security to make our connection when we arrived back in the US. TSA took one look at our stash and decided that the bottle was 0.2 oz too big to be taken on a plane and confiscated it. Not wanting it to go to waste, my wife jokingly told the TSA agent that it was great hot sauce, and they should try some. The agent did not find humor in this and sternly told us that all confiscated items were to be destroyed. A real bummer of an end for our beloved hot sauce.

Once we got over the disappointment, I began looking for ways to get this hot sauce in the US. I found a few websites to have it shipped all the way from Barbados. But I was not sure the $4 hot sauce was worth the $35 shipping. So step two was figure out who to make it.

I was able to find a couple of recipes online that I have adapted over the years to make small batches of something that came close. Then this last summer we had a bumper crop of habaneros in the garden and so I took the opportunity to perfect the recipe. My recipe is a lot spicier than the original because it is made with habaneros instead of a slightly less hot scotch bonnet pepper. Also, I have increased the amount of vinegar to help keep it shelf stable longer.

Ingredients (makes 2 pint jars of sauce)

• 12 - 15 Habanero peppers
• 1 white onion
• 2 - 3 carrots (3/4 C to a 1 C chopped)
• 3/4 C white vinegar
• 1/4 C yellow mustard
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2 tsp kosher salt

Equipment

• Saucepan
• Blender
• 3 1/2 pint mason jars
• InstantPot, pressure canner, or hot water canner
• rubber gloves

Hot Tip (pun intended): the habanero-to-carrot ratio is how you control your spicy-to-sweet ratio. If you like a sweeter and milder hot sauce you can add more carrots, whereas a habanero-heavy hot sauce will be spicier.

I have been using my InstantPot for hot water canning with good success. Now, before we even get started it is important to note that even though the InstantPot is a pressure cooker it is NOT a pressure canner. This is important because this means that any sterilizing and canning done this way should be considered equivalent to a hot water canning. There are some very important distinctions between the two which primarily involve the shelf stability of the preserved food. You will see we use a lot of vinegar in this recipe which helps keep the hot sauce shelf stable, but if you are worried about botulism (as any home-canner should be) it is not a bad idea to store this recipe in the fridge where it should keep for a long time. We are only making about 2 pints of hot sauce, so you should have the fridge space.

To drive the point home, there are some other good Instructables to check out that talk in detail about the difference between hot water canning and pressure canning. What we are doing today should be considered hot water canning. Here is one of them:

A-Beginners-Guide-to-Canning-at-Home

Sterilizing jars in InstantPot

1. Place empty jars upside down on trivet leaving 1/2 inch of space between all jars.
2. Add enough water to come up to just over the bottom lip of the jar.
3. Seal the instant pot and cook at high pressure for 20 minutes. (most hot water canning suggest 5 to 15 minutes)
4. This will sterilize the jars with steam by forcing steam and hot water into each jar.
5. leave the jars in the InstantPot until you are ready to can in Step 9.

Sterilizing lids

It is a good practice to use new lids for each new round of canning. These lids do not need to be boiled but, they should be washed with soap and soaked in boiling water prior to topping jars with them. This ensures that they make a good seal.

Alternatively, sterilize jars and lids through a traditional hot water bath as described here:

https://www.thespruceeats.com/preparing-jars-for-canning-3052438

While your jars are sterilizing, prepare your hot sauce.

Carrots add a very nice sweetness and give the sauce a good depth of flavor that I think is often lacking in hot sauce.

I always peal and chop my carrots for this recipe. I use 2 to 3 carrots for this recipe depending on their size.

I chop carrots until I reach 1 full cup chopped. For this batch I started with the two, pictured and then ended up needing to add a third.

Onions are a common addition to hot sauce. I have used white, yellow, and red onions for this recipe and they all will work well. Overtime I have found that I like the flavor of a white onion the best.

Hot Tip (pun intended): How to dice an onion:

1. Cut off non-hairy end
2. Place onion on flat side and slice in half through the hairy-end
3. Working with each half separately slice towards the remaining hairy-end (keeping fingers clear)
4. slide downward with tip of knife almost reaching hairy end (keeping fingers clear)
5. turn knife 180 degrees and dice onion into small pieces (keeping fingers clear)

This was just a preview, If you have never mastered how to dice an onion you can learn from about 5 different full Instructables right here on this website!

How-to-Chop-an-Onion

How-to-cut-an-onion-like-a-chef

How-to-cut-an-onion-efficiently-safely

Habaneros are where the sauce gets the heat. I think 12-15 habaneros is a good starting place, but feel free to up the number to increase the spiciness. I have made batches with up to 20 with good results.

I suggest that you wear gloves for this step, last time I did not wear gloves my finger tips were stinging for 24 hours and it was like playing with fire every time I touched my face.

Start by rinsing the peppers to remove dirt and then pull off the stems.

Next you want to slice habaneros in half or in quarters.

I leave the seeds in my sauce as they add heat, but be sure to check to make sure none of them look discolored or moldy like the ones in the photo. You will want to remove at least the seeds, maybe the whole pepper if you see something like this.

This spice assortment provides a lot of flavor to the hot sauce and contributes to the beautiful golden color (thank you turmeric).

I generally use all dried spices, but I have used fresh turmeric root before successfully. I could not taste a big difference in flavor though so decided that using powder is fine.

You might also be tempted to use fancy mustard, but a basic yellow mustard really does a great job as a supporting flavor in the final sauce.

Hot Tip (pun intended): Turmeric will stain your clothes, fingers, and even some counter tops. I have started to wear an apron every time I make this recipe to prevent staining.

Now that you have everything prepared it is time to blend everything together.

Add all ingredients to a standing blender and make a hot sauce smoothy.

Leave things to blend for 2 to 3 minutes. The final texture should be similar to a thin salsa with only small vegetable chunks visible.

Hot Tip (pun intended): For thinner sauces add more vinegar.

Boiling the sauce serves two purposes. First, it helps kill any bacteria that may be in the sauce. Second, it helps to meld the flavors together into a cohesive sauce.

Pour the contents of the blender into a 2 quart saucepan and bring the mixture to a low boil.

Simmer for 15 minutes.

While the sauce is cooking, take some time to check on your jars, clean up your work station, and prepare for canning.

Return your hot, hot sauce mixture to the blender and re-blend the mixture for 1 to 2 minutes to make it extra smooth. Alternatively you can use an immersion blender.

Remove jars from the hot water bath shaking slightly to remove excess water and line them up on a towel.

Make sure your lids are close by and still soaking in hot water.

Hot Tip (pun intended): Canning is all about being prepared. Have a station ready to go with hot jars, lids, and paper towels. This will allow you to smoothly move from jar to jar without making a mess. Again, this sauce will stain everything it touches so staying tidy is important.

Add about 2/3 of a cup of hot sauce to each 1/2 pint jar leaving 1/2 inch of head space at the top.

Wipe the rim of each jar with a clean paper towel and place a lid loosely on top.

Use a ring to fasten the lid to the jar until it is finger tight, but not cranked down too hard.

Place jars into hot water bath or if you use an InstantPot like I did make sure that there is enough water to at least cover the bottom 1/4 of the jars. Remember, the InstantPot is not a true pressure canner so we are hoping to achieve the shelf stability of a hot water canner. This is why it is also important to use a lot of vinegar because we can achieve a higher acidity which is important for limiting growth of botulism.

Regardless of the type of canner you are using, it is important that:

1. There is space between jars
2. The jars are placed on a trivet
3. heat can reach all sides of the jar evenly.

Set InstantPot pressure too high for 20 to 25 minutes. I was paranoid about botulism and did 30 min at high pressure and the sauce still tasted great, but this was probably excessive.

Let the pressure come down naturally. Do not fast release pressure.

Remove the jars from the pot and allow to rest on the counter until you hear the very satisfying "POP" of the jar lids sealing. Once cooled, sealed jars can be kept in the fridge for probably forever or they should be shelf stable at room temperature depending on your home canning risk tolerance. I have stored mine for months at room temperature without any trouble.

We enjoy this hot sauce with everything, but I have found that it can be added to just about any marinade to add a great spicy flavor. Here are a couple variations below. The proportions in these sauces should be taken as guidelines only. I usually make sauces by mixing and tasting as I go. But for the purpose of this Instructable I will try to be a bit more specific.

Spicy marinade:

• 1 teaspoon hot sauce
• 2 tablespoon oil
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2 garlic cloves crushed
• salt & pepper

Alternatively, add about 1 tsp hot sauce you your favorite marinade to find a new "spicy" version.

Hot Habanero mayo

• 1 teaspoon hot sauce
• 2 tablespoon mayo

Great with burgers or as a dipping sauce

Spicy Yogurt sauce

• 1 tablespoon hot sauce
• 1/3 cup greek yogurt
• Juice from 1/2 lemon
• 1 tablespoon fresh dill or parsley
• salt & pepper to taste
• thin with cold water or olive oil

Excellent on any sort of wrap or pita pocket. I also have been known to toss roasted vegetables in this type of sauce which is also delicious.