On 9/7/2011 10:34 AM, Nicholas Fryer wrote:
> Greetings one and all!
>
> I am new to canning and preserving, so please bear with me
>
> I grew a bumper crop of cayenne peppers this year, and I want to make
> a thin, "Tabasco"-style hot sauce. I want to bottle this sauce and
> process it so that it is shelf-stable. If I make enough, I would like
> to give it as gifts to friends and family. The only problem is that I
> cannot seem to find good instructions on how to accomplish this! Any
> suggestions y'all may have will be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks in
> advance!
Hot sauce is normally made with fermented chiles. I used to make quite a
lot until they ate out the lining of my stomach.

Basically you need to wash, cap (take off stem), dry, and then fine chop
the chiles. Put them in a large jar or crock, cover top of chiles with
about a half-inch layer of pickling or kosher salt. Leave in a dry, cool
place, like a cellar and keep an eye on the stuff. If it grows mold you
need to scrap it off. It will mellow out and get good over time.

Alternatively you can just make the stuff the way you want, run it
through a blender or a food processor until slurried, add about 30% by
volume of 5% USP white vinegar, mix well and blend.

Tabasco is fermented in a played out salt mine on Avery Island in
Louisiana. It is in used wooden barrels, salted down and the lids
replaced and held for a year before processing. The salt mine provides a
constant humidity and temperature which is used for making fermented
sauces. YMMV.

Do a Google on this newsgroup and you should find several references to
"Hot Sauce" from the last nineteen years.

George