Homemade Hot Sauce
A homemade hot sauce using Thai bird's eye chilis, garlic, and a 2% brine solution.
Prep Time1 hour hr
Active Time20 minutes mins
21 days d
Total Time21 days d 1 hour hr 20 minutes mins
Course: Condiments
Cuisine: American
Keyword: chili peppers, holiday gift, Homemade, hot sauce
Yield: 1 bottle
Cost: $2
Vitamix or similar
strainer
quart-sized jar
bottle
- 1 lb chili peppers I used Thai bird's eye
- 20 grams salt
- 1000 grams water
- 3 cloves garlic crushed
To Prepare Brine Solution
To Prepare Chilis for Fermentation
Place chopped chilies into a clean quart-sized jar.
Add aromatics: a couple cloves of crushed garlic, thyme, onions; whatever you like that will infuse your hot sauce with more flavor.
Add your brine solution.
At this point, the chilis will want to float up. Press them down so they stay below the brine. I used an onion with the outside layers removed; on top of that I placed a pickling weight to keep everything down. If you don’t do this you may get mold growth, a definite no-no! Also, be sure not to use anything metal as it will react with the salt.
Fermentation Process
Put quart jar on a plate for storage.
Place a lid loosely on top to allow the CO2 gas that will be created to escape.
Place the in a dark spot at room temperature, allowing it to ferment for a minimum of 10 days. (Two to three weeks is probably optimal.)
Once it is happily fermented, place it in the refrigerator to slow down the fermentation process.
To make the Hot Sauce
Remove the pickling weight and pour all of the chili peppers through a strainer.
Using a blender or a Vitamix, liquify the peppers, increasing the speed slowly as you go. (You may need to add back a little of the brine to aid in the process.)
Using a funnel, pour your hot sauce into a decorative bottle, or even a recycled hot sauce bottle. (I used an antique bottle my husband found in the woods.)