GROWING
AND USING HOT PEPPERS $3.95
Published exclusively for Leeners, this booklet
teaches you how to identify, grow, harvest, store and use all types of
hot peppers. 32 pg by G. Andrews
HOT
SAUCE KIT $29.95
Anyone can make a sauce hot. Making a great hot sauce, that’s
a pepper of a different color. This kit gives instructions for making
your own varieties of hot sauces using pepper mash, fresh picked peppers
and exotic dried peppers.
To simplify, all of the recipes given are called “hot sauces” when,
in fact, some may be considered marinades, basting, cooking or finishing
sauces depending on how they are used. Once you have prepared the
sauces in this kit you will have the knowledge and experience needed to
create your own signature sauces.
Making Your Own Pepper Mash
Pepper mash
is salt cured ‘aged’ hot peppers. Hot peppers can be cured by this
method because of the resulting low pH (high acidity) and the preservative
properties of capsaicin, the chemical which gives hot peppers their heat.
The biological and chemical process which takes place during curing are
not fully understood. If you are interested in preparing your own
pepper mash please be aware that this document is only meant as a description
of the process and is not a recipe, formula or instruction for doing so.
We accept no liability for damages for losses as a result of the use of
all or part of the information given here.
Selecting Peppers for Mashing
Only peppers with an average Scoville Unit Rating of 10,000
or more should be used. It is not recommend that pepper varieties
be mixed during curing. If a blend is required, it should be prepared
after the aging process. The peppers must be free of calyx (foliage),
stems and all other substances. When initially selecting and sorting
the peppers, the same rules used to select fruit for wine making apply.
Any peppers with soft spots, blemishes, mold or broken skins should be
discarded. Sorted peppers should be washed with cold water.
Preparing Hot Peppers for Mashing The peppers must be chopped or ground. The best
way to accomplish this is to run them through a meat grinder using a medium
sized cutting die. A food processer may also be used but avoid over
processing and/or grinding the seeds. The ground peppers must be
placed in a food grade vessel made of non reactive material (plastic, stainless
steel or glass) which has a loose fitting lid. Once the peppers are
fully ground they must be weighed with a good quality scale.
Adding the Salt and Aging Only flaked pickling salt should be used to cure the peppers.
The amount of salt depends on the Scoville Rating of the peppers.
The lower the SHU the more salt that is required. The minimum salting
is 12% by weight for peppers of high SHU and maximum salting of 15% for
peppers with low SHU. The amount of salt must be accurately calculated
and weighed out. Stir the salt completely into the ground peppers.
Cover the mash with a loose fitting lid. Allow the mash to rest for
one hour and then stir again. Stir it again in another hour and then
again after 24 hours.
Cover the mash with a water bag style airlock like the one used to
make sauerkraut. Place the mash in a dark location with a stable
temperature between 64-68°F for up to six weeks. Gently open
the mash and lightly stir it once a week during this time.
Adding Oak If you would like to give your mash an oaked aged character,
you can add wine making toasted oak chips after the second week.
We recommend French or Hungarian Medium Toasted Oak Cubes. These
should be soaked in boiling water for 3 minutes then rinsed and added to
your mash pail.
Storing Pepper Mash After aging, the mash should be heated to 180°F for
3 minutes and then canned as you would tomatoes.