Jalapeno and Sweet Banana Pepper Hot Sauce

This was the first hot sauce recipe I ever tried and it turned out wonderfully. It's based on the classic process used by McIlhenny's for Tabasco sauce. I first encountered it in Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky (fabulous book!) and have used it twice so far with great results.

This one has a pure, fresh jalapeno flavor that will remind you of the garden in summer no matter what time of year you eat it. Bruce says "You can taste the sunshine in it!" The banana peppers add just a little bit of sweetness to it to round it out.

Ingredients:
2 to 3 lbs. jalapeno peppers
1 lb sweet banana peppers
(peppers should fill a 1-gallon container)
a little less than 1/2 cup kosher salt
2 cups white vinegar

Process:
Wash peppers and remove the stems. Rough chop peppers so they will fit easily into a food processor. Run chopped peppers (seeds and all) through a food processor until coarsely ground. Add a little of the vinegar to get it going if need be (most likely). Transfer batches of ground peppers into a very large bowl or container. Once all of the peppers are ground and in the bowl, add salt and stir in well. Transfer ground peppers with salt to a 1-gallon+ container that can seal as airtight as possible and close.

Let the pepper/salt mixture sit in the airtight container for 4-6 hours. The salt will leech the pepper juices out a bit. Once there is a little liquid in with the peppers, press the solids down so that they are below the surface of the liquid. (I use a flat plastic lid from a takeout container or food storage container. You can usually cut them down to the right size with good scissors.) If there is not much liquid from just the salt and peppers you can add a bit of the vinegar to cover.

Once the pepper/salt mixture is pressed down under liquid/vinegar, close the container and let sit for 3-4 weeks. Then add the rest of the vinegar on the top and let sit another week or two.

Once the aging process is complete (your discretion), put the mixture in a blender and puree. You will probably need to do this in batches as well unless you have a very large blender. Put each batch in a large bowl. Once the pureeing is done, run the pureed mixture through a sieve to strain out whatever little bits may still be present. This also gives the sauce a nice smooth consistency.

Bottle/Jar and serve.

Methods of adding the vinegar vary so there is some leeway with how much you put in initially and how much to add later. Any way you cut it, the longer it ages, the better.

Enjoy!