How do you make hot sauces ?

If you didn't add any acid to the hot sauce, then you could keep it in the fridge for about a week without having to worry about it any botulism toxins. Even if you cook the sauce ahead of time, Celia, there is no guarantee that you would kill the botulism spores, since they need really high heat to be killed. So you may neutralize the toxins, but if the spores are still present, then you would still need to eat the sauce within a week and keep it refrigerated for that time.

It's not the spores that are the problem. They're everywhere, although mostly in soil. The spores are dormant, inactive bacteria. It's how the bacteria survive a hostile environment. Once a spore lands in a suitable environment, it activates and the bacteria start replicating. And releasing their toxin. So it's the active bacteria that are the problem. The spores are, as you said, very tough and it takes prolonged high heat to kill them. This is why you use prolonged heat when canning something.

Yes Paul...thank you...I was saying the same thing, but I wasn't as detailed as I should have been. I know that the spores are not the issue, but what I meant to say was that if you didn't kill the spores, that they have the potential to become active and releasing the toxins. So even if you cooked the sauce, you neutralize the toxin, but spores may remain, which could become active under the right circumstances, and release toxins again. Thanks for making it more clear...sometimes I have thoughts in my head that don't make it to the post, but I think they do !

I had the tiniest bit of habanero once, and had to drink a litre of milk. It didn't help ! All power to you !

I ate an entire freshly picked habanero once. It provided a very instructive lesson on the path of the digestive tract. I knew at all times exactly where in my gut that habanero was.

-Paul W.

Eat ice cream after eating a habanero. Then next morning, you can say, "Come on, ice cream!"

Do any of you make hot sauces ?
Thanks, Celia

I sure do! Usually I take some diced carrots, diced onion and plenty of minced garlic and simmer them until tender. Then I drain them and put them in a blender with habanero’s and lime juice. I’ve also added chipotle’s in the past as well.

Your harissa sounds great.

Cheers, Dave. I once read somewhere that having chilli or hot sauce with a meal can reduce the calorie absorption by up to 25%. I wonder what happens if you ONLY have hot sauce as the meal ?

Cheers, Dave. I once read somewhere that having chilli or hot sauce with a meal can reduce the calorie absorption by up to 25%. I wonder what happens if you ONLY have hot sauce as the meal ?

Try it once, Ce, and you'll never forget the experience. It gives a whole new meaning to the term "afterburn." I see that you've got excellent information already so I have no need to supply any technical details. I occasionally make my own hot/chili sauces, but there are so many good commercial products now available even here in the Outback that I use my precious free time in other pursuits, like actually cooking meals! One of my favorite hot sauces to make, though, is a chipotle (dried, smoked Jalapeño)-roasted tomatillo-cilantro salsa that is a treat with all sorts of grilled and smoked meats, especially good barbecue.

Mark Lipton

Sounds delicious, Mark ! Tomatillo is another ingredient we don't really get here, but we can get imported chipotle (powdered and whole). I love the stuff, but it certainly packs a punch !

Sounds delicious, Mark ! Tomatillo is another ingredient we don't really get here, but we can get imported chipotle (powdered and whole). I love the stuff, but it certainly packs a punch !

Well, like Jalapeños, chipotles are actually not that high on the Scoville scale, especially when compared to the rocoto, red savina, or the recently discovered naga jokolia. Now those things'll kick your youknowwhat

Mark "Capsaicin Kid" Lipton

Sounds delicious, Mark ! Tomatillo is another ingredient we don't really get here, but we can get imported chipotle (powdered and whole). I love the stuff, but it certainly packs a punch !

Chipotles (aka smoked jalapenos) are pretty mild when compared to Thai bird chiles and habaneros (aka Scotch bonnets). I posted a recipe for Thai Mahogany Fire Noodles that has 30 bird chiles and 10 cloves of garlic. Now THAT packs a punch. Really leaves you sweating and panting (which is the whole point of the dish, actually).

-Paul W.

Yep, you guys are nuts, it's official.

Paul, wasn't there a story that the 30 chillies recipe caused a call to the fire brigade or something ? I thought you posted something about it a while back ?

There have been a couple of cases where shopping malls were evacuated because a chef put a pan that had gotten out control of some dish with lots of chiles in outdoors. And by mistake positioned the pan right under an air intake duct for the mall. The fumes from the burning chiles got sucked in and circulated throughout the mall. It was like hitting all the shoppers with pepper spray.

-Paul W.