Hot sauce

This year, for the first time, I was able to make hot sauce with peppers from my garden.

Here's how I made it:

• 12 red chili peppers
• 3 red jalapenos (found out they aren't ripe until they're red)
• 2 habaneros
• 1 red bell pepper
• 2 cheese peppers (really! they look like little gouda cheeses)
• 1/2 Hungarian sweet pepper
• 5 cloves garlic, pressed
• salt
• 1/2 c. vinegar
• 1/2 c. water

Because this wasn't intended to be suicide sauce, I removed the seeds and membranes and chopped the peppers. (I like hot sauce to be hot, but not so hot that I can't use enough of it to fully enjoy the flavour.) And if you're more prudent than I was, you'll wear vinyl gloves!

I simmered it all together for about 15 minutes to thoroughly soften the peppers, then blended until smooth. This is what it looks like (it made one more small jar than what you see here):

And it wasn't quite right. I'm rethinking the bell and cheese peppers. But it also seemed to be missing something. So I added:

• 3 small red onions

I minced them and sauteed them in a bit of olive oil until they caramelized. Then I added the hot sauce to the onion, blended again, and poured into jars. I have no hopes of it lasting because I'm putting it on everything - especially scrambled eggs.

Bon appetit!