Good old Southern Pepper Sauce

Good old Southern Pepper Sauce … we put that ____ on everything.  LOL  Pepper Sauce is not to be confused with Hot Sauce … Pepper Sauce is a vinegar based sauce with a dirty water sorta look whereas Hot Sauce, which is also vinegar based, is made using red peppers and paprika, hence the red tomatoey color.  There is a difference in flavor between the two.

No Southern table is complete without a bottle/jar of Pepper Sauce and we literally put it on everything … well at least some of us do … collard greens, turnip greens, kale, mustard greens, black eyed peas, field peas, white acre peas, purple hulls and zipper peas and whatever else you feel like splashing it on.

Now normally I make mine with Thai Chile Peppers but this year I couldn’t find any plants for that particular pepper so I grew Cayenne … I’m sure it will be just as good, just not quite the kick of the Thai Chile Peppers.  Depending on the type hot/spicy pepper you use … the flavor can be different … from mild to blow your head off HOT!

I reuse my bottles … GLASS bottles … let me rephrase that … Clear Glass Bottles (cause you want to see what’s inside plus the peppers look pretty through the clear glass) … from things such as malt vinegar or red wine vinegar since they have the little sprinkling cap on the top, otherwise, the sauce would just come pouring out.  You don’t want to use plastic bottles … for many reasons.  Now I’ve seen some that use mason jars and that’s fine too but you might need a spoon to dip it out cause pouring from a mason jar just wouldn’t be pretty.

This year my pepper plants didn’t produce quite as many peppers as usual.  I really didn’t have enough to completely fill (tightly pack) my bottles.  This is fine but the sauce won’t be near as potent.  You really need to pack ‘em in as tightly as possible.  I really prefer the Thai Chile Peppers for several reasons (1) they are much more potent than the cayenne that I grew this year (2) they are much smaller … growing to about 2-3 inches and (3) they are multi colored … red, green and yellow.

Another helpful hint, if your sauce begins to run low from harvesting season to harvesting season … just pour in a little more vinegar mixture to get you through the year!

It’s easy to make your own and besides that you know where the peppers came from.  Mine are totally organic … I do not use pesticides in my gardening ~ I use companion plants when necessary.  I had some today (after it sat for a few days) on my kale and man was it good!

Pepper Sauce

1 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar

1 tsp Kosher Salt

1 tsp Sugar

Thai Chile Peppers

Tightly pack your glass bottle with chile peppers which have been stemmed to within one inch from top.  Bring vinegar, salt and sugar to a boil over medium heat, stirring until salt and sugar are dissolved (about 3 minutes).  Remove from heat and let stand for about 5 minutes.  Pour hot mixture over peppers in jar.  Whalaa … you’ve got yourself some homemade Pepper Sauce … its just that easy!  Hint: You might want to wear rubber gloves when working with hot peppers.

One Recipe = one bottle (if peppers are packed in as tightly as possible)