2025 Growing Season Starting
2024 Hot Sauces
recipes for hot sauces this year. all of them are pH 3.25-3.5
2024_01 Ferment
Freeco Mild
5 cloves garlic
1 large yellow onion
501g Thunder Mountain Longhorn peppers
255g red pepper
3-4 weeks
35g sea salt
1 liter water
3-4 weeks
Add
1 qt brine
1 qt water
3 tsp XG
5 large
5 woozy
2024_02 – FERMENT
Beets Workin
First, the ferment:
380g onion
43g garlic
113g Purple Tiger x Jalapeño peppers
325g red beet
10g Pink Tiger peppers
24g dried Chipotle pepper
35g sea salt
1 liter water
3-4 weeks
Add:
2.5C brine
2.5C ACV
5C water
4 tsp XG
6 large
9 woozy
24_03 Fermented
F Standard
220g yellow onion
34g garlic
200g Aji Mango peppers
229g carrots
3-4 weeks
Add:
3C brine
3c water
3 tsp XG
5 large
4 woozy
24_04 Fermented
Ají Limón
207g yellow onion
40g garlic
200g yellow carrot
250g yellow peppers
249g Ají Limón peppers
3-4 weeks
Add:
usual stuff
9 large
5 woozy
24_05 Vinegar
Ají Limón
170g yellow onion
38g garlic
250g yellow carrot
1187g yellow pepper
557g Ají Limón peppers
8C water
8C white vinegar
6 tsp XG
5 large
17 woozy
2 Boston
2 mini
24_06 Fermented
F Standard
151g yellow onion
45g garlic
261g carrot
222g orange pepper
177g Ají Mango peppers
3-4 weeks
3C water
3C ACV
3 tsp XG
6 large
2 woozy
24_07 Vinegar
The Standard
475g carrots
600g orange peppers
361g yellow onion
26g garlic
499g Ají Mango Drop
8g Redgum Tigermamp x Chocolate Nagabrains
8C water
8C ACV
5 tsp XG
12 large
12 woozy
1 travel mini
24_08 Fermented
Ají Limón
261g white onion
33g garlic
476g yellow carrot
300g yellow pepper
660g Ají Limón peppers
3-4 weeks
Add:
4C brine
4C white vinegar
2tsp XG
24_09 Vinegar
Ají Limón
344g yellow onion
24g garlic
152g yellow carrots
373g yellow peppers
477g Ají Limón peppers
4C water
5C white vinegar
3tsp XG
7 large
4 woozy
24_10 mystery
Perps
212g Red Onion
23g garlic
244g Purple Carrots
193g Chocolate Roasting Pepper
150g Purple Tiger x Jalapeńo
34g Pink Tiger pepper
24_11 Ferment
337g Jolene’s Rustic Italian Roasting Pepper
334g Emerald Fire Jalapeńo
25g garlic
ferment for 5 months
TBD
24_12 Vinegar
Ají Limón
381g yellow onion
34g garlic
101g yellow carrots
601g yellow peppers
562g Ají Limón peppers
358g Ají Guyana
8C ACV
2C water
5tsp XG
14 large
4 woozy
1 boston
24_13 Vinegar
Ají Limón
213g White Onion
24g garlic
540g orange peppers
216g carrots
298g Ají Mango Drop peppers
4C ACV
4C water
4tsp XG
4 large
4 woozy
2 boston
24_14_S Ferment
FSZL
252g onion
26g garlic
250g red pepper
421g mixed chile peppers
1tbs Szechuan pepper corns
1 Pink Tiger pepper
ferment 3 months
Add:
3C brine
6C water
1.5C ACV
3tsp XG
3 large
9 woozy
1 boston
The garden this year
2024 Season
Plants are off and running:
Main Garden:
Aji Pineapple – Lemon Drop – Aji Mango – Aji Pineapple – Aji Guyana
Purple Tiger Jalepeño – Mattapeño – Farmer’s Market Jal – Emarald Fire – Farmer’s Market Jal
Pink Tiger – Pasilla Mixe – Jolene’s Rustic Italian
Sarago Giant Chocolate
Mattapeño
Out and About:
Aji Orange Drop – Aji Mango
Mattapeño
Redgum Tigermamp x Chocolate Nagabrains – Thunder Mountain Longhorn – Pink Tiger
Total Eclipse Space Chile
Jolene’s Rustic Italian
Current roster:
2023 Garden
And so it begins… 2023 garden is ready to start.
Seedlings are hardening off – almost time to plant.
2022 Labels
Most years, I make a label, stealing public domain art from José Guadalupe Posada. Known for his art based on Día de los Muertos style and imagery like this:
This year I discovered these AI art generators – where you give it some prompt and the AI returns some images it creates based on that input. I decided to experiment with them for the label. My first run of exploration into them produced some pretty disturbing images.
The prompt for those was something like “Chile pepper skeleton”.
Tweaking the prompt a bit helped to generate some lighter, more fun images. I started with something like “In the style of Jose Guadalupe Posada, an outlaw running with a Chile pepper”. That produces 4 images and you can have it make variations of an image you like, and so on. The result was some pretty funny and boggling images of skeletons looking like they were having a good time. I added the text and a QR code to simplify the label – you can find the ingredients on the 2022 Hot Sauces post.
This years labels:
2022 Fall Garden Notes
2022 has been an odd year. Many of the plants had full fruits, but wouldn’t go to ripe until very late in the season. Thus many of the sauces are made with all or some green (not fully ripened) peppers.
Death Spirals did well, as did the Ají Limón (Lemon Drop) plants.
Chilhuacles did pretty well, but had the same general issue with pushing ripeness through to full color. A few of them turned to the full rich brown color and looked great.
Ají Mango was a new variety – looked promising, produced a lot of fruit, but – you guessed it – couldn’t get to that beautiful mango orange color.
The Total Eclipse Space Chiles were definitely interesting, but the plants weren’t the most stable structure-wise.
Ají Benito was a nice little red gem, pretty productive.
Cochiti Pueblo pepper plants were really weak and low producing.
For next year, I think I’ll simplify and go with Ají Limón, Death Spiral (or similar), a Red one, and one or two more varieties.
Full chile pepper variety descriptions here
2022 Hot Sauces
In addition to the standard vinegar-based sauces, this year I experimented for the first time with Fermented Hot Sauces. Small batches, we’ll call them artisanal. In general, Ferments are in the short, stout bottles – Cooked sauces are in the square and traditional woozy bottles. “They” claim that the fermentation process makes the flavor more sophisticated or blended (makes sense since it sits for 2+ weeks), also some probiotic claims, likely minimal since the last step is to cook it to stop the fermentation process. They do achieve a shelf-stable pH without the need for vinegar, which opens up options for flavors.
The Labels ….? What’s the deal with them? Background on this post
Recipes below – look for batch number on bottle in format [year]_[batch]
Looking for your best feedback on heat, flavor, etc.
*new* Feedback form: el golpe avisa feedback form
2022_00 – FERMENT
Beets Workin
First fermentation!
First, the ferment:
4 Death Spiral
2 Lg Red Beets
1/2 Lg Yellow Onion
3 cloves Garlic
1 QT Distilled Water
3 Tbsp Sea Salt
Cabbage Leaf
Fermented for 2 weeks
drained the brine
blended the veggie mass (minus the cabbage) with 4C distilled water
stovetop, boil, simmer for 20min
whisk in 2Tsp xanthan gum
bottle
PH – 3.4
5 alt size bottles
Heat: 4/4
2022_01 – FERMENT
The Peach
First, the ferment:
1 Death Spiral
40 Lemon Drop
1/2 Lg Yellow Onion
2 Peaches
1 Qt Water
3Tbsp Sea Salt
Cabbage Leaf
Fermented for 2 weeks
Drain the brine
Blend the veggie mass (minus the cabbage)
Add 1C Watre
Add 1C Apple Cider Vinegar
stovetop, boil, simmer for 20min
whisk in 2Tsp xanthan gum
bottle
PH – 3.4
3.5 alt size bottles
Heat 4/4
2022_02 – Vinegar
Peachy Limón
60 Lemon Drop
8 Yellow Carrots
1 Lg White Onion
4 Cloves Garlic
4 Yellow Peaches
2 Tsp Salt
4C Water
4C White Vinegar
stovetop, boil, simmer for 20min
whisk in 3 Tsp xanthan gum
bottle
PH 3.38
8 Lg bottles
3 Sm Bottles
Heat 3/4
2022_03 – Vinegar
Beets Workin
4 Large Red Beets
1 Lg Yellow Onion
2 Red Lesya Peppers
2 Red Death Spiral
3 Green Death Spiral
4C Water
2C White Vinegar
2C Apple Cider Vinegar
stovetop, boil, simmer for 20min
whisk in 1 Tsp xanthan gum
bottle
PH 2.9
9 Lg bottles
Heat 4/4, 3/4
2022_04 – Vinegar
The Standard
5 Green Death Spirals
234g Space Chile & Ahi Benito
2 White Onion
12 Orange Carrot
6 Clove Garlic
2 Tsp Salt
4C Water
4C Apple Cider Vinegar
4 Tsp Xanthan Gum
PH 3.44
7 Lg Bottles
4 Sm Bottles
Heat
2022_05 Ferment
Smokey Spaceman
First, the Ferment
133g Chilhuacle Pepper
200g Total Eclipse Space Chile & Lemon Drop
207g Lesya Pepper (Green)
1 Yellow Onion
6 Clove Garlic
3.5% Sea Salt Brine
Cabbage Leaf
10/3 – 10/21
Strain, add to blender
add:
4 Green Death Spirals
41g Dried Morita Chiles
133g Red Beets
6C Water
4C BRine
2C White Vinegar
5tsp Xanthan Gum
12 alt size bottles
pH 3.5
Heat: ?
Recipes above and below this picture
2022_06 Ferment
Fermented Ají Limón
First, the Ferment
10/3
475g Aji Limón Pepper
6 Yellow Carrots
1 Yellow Onion
6 Clove Garlic
3.5% Sea Salt Brine
Cabbage Leaf
3.5% Brine
10/3 – 10/30
Strain, add to blender
Add 2C Brine, blend
to pot
add:
6C Water
1C Brine
1C White Vinegar
3tsp Xanthan Gum
10 alt size bottles
pH 3.35
Heat: ?
2022_07. Vinegar
Beets Workin
684g Red Beets
8 Purple Carrots
1 Yellow Onion
6 Cloves Garlic
4 Green Death Spiral
2 Sugar Rush Peach Peppers
9C Water
4C Apple Cider Vinegar
2 Tsp Xanthan Gum
PH – 3.17
10 Large Bottles
5 Small Bottles
Heat x/x
2022_08. Vinegar
Smokey Wildman
3 Giant Garlic Cloves
1 Large Sweet Onion
377g Red Beets
20g Lesya Peppers
6 Chilhuacle
17 Aji Benito
2 Death Spiral
( ^ 177g chiles)
4 Guarijra Chiles
2C Guajira Juice
4C Beet Water
6C Apple Cider Vinegar
2tsp Liquid Smoke
2 Tsp Xanthan Gum
PH – 3.19
8 Large Bottles
9 Small Bottles
Heat x/x
2022_09. Vinegar
Ají Limón
159g White Carrot
1 Large Sweet Onion
6 Clove Garlic
36g Frozen PIneapple
242g Chiles [Ají Limón, Ají Mango, Sugar Rush Peach]
6g Death Spiral
4C White Vinegar
4C Water
3 Tsp Xanthan Gum
PH – 3.27
5 Large Bottles
6 Small Bottles
Heat x/x
2022_10. Fermented
Fermardamom
351g Sweet Onion
56g Clove Garlic
389g Carrots
183g Orange Sweet Peppers
25g Death Spiral
Rind of 1 Orange
6g Cardamom Pods
3.5% Brine
Ferment above from 10/9-10/22 – 2 weeks
add
4C Brine
8C Water
3 Tsp Xanthan Gum
PH – 3.36
7 Large Bottles
9 Small Bottles
Heat x/x
2022_11. Vinegar
The Fives
1 Very Large Onion
5 Clove Garlic
5 Red Mini Sweet Peppers
5 Carrots
5 Ají Mango
5 Ají Benito
5 Death Spirals
8C Water
4C White Vinegar
5 Tsp Xanthan Gum
PH – 3.33
7 Large Bottles
10.5 Small Bottles
Heat x/x
2022_12. Ferment
Green Mango Passion
476g Yellow Onion
44g Clove Garlic
340g Green Mango Chiles
51g Passion Fruit
100g Lesya Pepper, Green
1 Green Death Spiral
3.5% Brine
10/29-1/31
Ferment ran for about 2 weeks, Let sit for a while longer to see how flavors are
Strain, Blend
***Split off some of the mash blended with some brine and water
***Handed this off for dehydration – results pending
Add:
2C Brine
4C Water
3Tsp Xanthan Gum
Boil, simmer 30m
PH – 3.5%
x Large Bottles
x Small Bottles
2022_13 Ferment
F-Standard
Ferment:
266g Yellow Onion
30g Clove Garlic
50g Space Chile
88g Red Ají Beinto
18g Death Spirals
211g Carrots
3.5% Brine
10/29-11/18 3 weeks
3.5C Brine
3C Apple Cider Vinegar
3C Water
4Tsp Xanthan Gum
PH – 3.03
5.5 Large Bottles
1 Small Bottles
5 Tiny Bottles
Heat x/x
2022_14 Ferment
Wild Greens
Ferment:
260g Cochiti Pueblo NM Chile
212g Chilhuacle
197g Green Ají Beinto
2 Medium Green Tomatoes
3.5% Brine
10/29-11/12 2 weeks
2.5C Brine
6.5C Water
4Tsp Xanthan Gum
PH –
5 Alt (Boston) Bottles
6 Small Bottles
1 Large Bottle
Heat x/x
2022_15. Vinegar
RubyLacha **************Batch rejected – not up to standards
320g Red Beet
27g Garlic
302g Yellow Onion
737g green Ají Limón chiles
5C Beet Water
2C Water
6C Apple Cider Vinegar
PH – x
x Large Bottles
x Small Bottles
Heat x/x
2022_16. Ferment
TBD
Ferment:
780g Ají Limón – green
30g Garlic
228g Onion
3.5% Brine
10/230-xxx weeks
***This ferment is going strong over 2 months out. Still producing steady offgassing (2/5/23)
PH –
x Small Bottles
x Large Bottle
Heat x/x
2022_17 Vinegar
The Standard, Hot
446g Orange/Yellow Beets
2Lg Sweet Yellow Onions
5Lg Garlic Cloves
41g Carrots
37g Death Spirals
4C Water
6C Apple Cider Vinegar
4Tsp Xanthan Gum
PH – 3.5
x Small Bottles
x Large Bottle
Heat x/x
2022_18 Ferment
The Devil’s Ferment
So named due to a ridiculous number of Death Spirals
Heat is pretty intense for me, but manageable
Ferment flavor is a nice balance to the Death Spiral intensity
305g Red Onion
55g Garlic
134g Death Spirals
1Lg cross-section of Cabbage
21g cabbage leaves
3.5% Brine
10/30-2/2/2023
Ferment ran for about 2 weeks, let sit for a long time to see if it would mellow the heat
Strain, Add:
7C water
3C White Vinegar
2tsp Xanthan Gum
Boil, simmer for 30min
PH – 3.11
5 Small Bottles
4 Large Bottles
1 Alt Bottle
6 Mini Bottles
2022 Garden is in
Layout:
Will upload some photos in a tick