Hot Sauce Addict – Make My Own

Anyone who knows me knows that I love hot sauce. I am addicted to hot sauce, a hot sauce addict I am. I cannot and do not want to be without my precious red hot and spicy liquid gold in a bottle. I drink it every day. Now, I make my own.

I put hot sauce on almost everything. Well, usually I just take it directly from the bottle. If you put it on stuff and it drips off it can stain so the best solution is just put it directly into the mouth unless the food is hot sauce friendly. Popcorn, sunflower seeds, crackers, pretzels, cheese, chips, meats, wings and whatever else.

If you ever see any pictures of my living room there is usually a bottle sitting somewhere around. When I lived in USA I went camping a lot. My friends always said they knew when it was my campsite because of the hot sauce bottle sitting on the table next to a chair. I carried hot sauce in my purse. I even took a bottle to the hospital with me when I had back surgery!

I had a bottle in my truck, a bottle by the bed and always one at my chair in the living room. I bought Frank’s Hot Sauce by the gallon. 6 gallon bottles in a case at a time at Sam’s Club.

I even started a Hot Sauce Anonymous Group. “Hi, I’m Janette and I’m a hot sauce addict”! No. I didn’t do that but I used to joke with friends and customers that I belonged.

Here, in DR, it took me a while to get used to the hot sauce. I had people bring me a bottle of Frank’s when they would visit me in DR. I only used it for special things. When I got American Sharp Cheddar Cheese to eat with it. When I made Buffalo Wings (I mixed Frank’s with local). And sometimes to drink with popcorn (put some popcorn in the mouth and take a little swig of hot sauce and chew it all up together…yummm).

My local Colmado now buys hot sauce by the case instead of just a few bottles at a time. I’m their best hot sauce customer.

The problem is that my addiction is getting to expensive. I’m on a very limited income and buying hot sauce is getting difficult. I had to find another way to feed the addiction. I decided to figure out how to make it myself.

I now walk to Barrio China / China Town every month or so when they have their Sunday market and get a few pounds of these life-giving chili peppers. Last time I bought some they only cost RD$25 (About US$.50) a pound. A bottle of prepared hot sauce is between RD$35 to RD$50. I cook up my own hot sauce and save the big bucks.

I cook them until soft in a little water. The biggest problem is with this is the smell. I start gagging and choking every time. I put the fan in the kitchen to blow the fumes out the window for the neighbors to enjoy. I put a bandana around my nose and mouth and that helps a little. But I do cough and choke from the fumes.

I put them in the blender and blender till smooth then strain the liquid. Then I put the thick liquid into old hot sauce bottles. I like to leave a little pulp in the bottle but not much. 1 of these bottles makes 2 to 3 drinkable bottles of sauce.

I sun dry the seeds and pulp and use as chili peppers seasoning. I give a lot of this to neighbors because there is just too much for me to use.

When I run out of my sofa bottle and need to refresh, I just take out a fridge bottle and divide it into 2 or 3 bottles. I add some vinegar, a little salt and maybe some water, depending on the taste. I have to keep testing it to get it just right. And there it is. A drinkable, inexpensive bottle of my addiction for me to enjoy.