xergm posted:

Picked the last harvest from my pepper plants today. I think I need to make some hot sauce...

Left to right: Ghost, Moruga Scorpion, Carolina Reaper

TheAardvark posted:

ok so this is going to sound ridiculous but like a year and a half ago i bought some secret aardvark hot sauce and it fell in to a weird spot in the back of my fridge and i forgot it existed, and it's been open back there this whole time (cap on). anyway do you think it's still good?

TheAardvark posted:

ok so this is going to sound ridiculous but like a year and a half ago i bought some secret aardvark hot sauce and it fell in to a weird spot in the back of my fridge and i forgot it existed, and it's been open back there this whole time (cap on). anyway do you think it's still good?

quote:

Thanks for asking! Since Secret Aardvark is made with fruits and vegetables, including tomatoes and carrots, we recommend refrigerating after opening and consuming within three months. That’s the time period during which you’ll get the full flavor we aim for, and you won’t have to worry about mold (unless you’re dipping food directly into it, which we seriously don’t recommend).

mischief posted:

I had heard that Pepper X was having FDA issues but this Apollo thing is out of the blue. Got my monthly email yesterday I think, curious to see how it goes.

Jhet posted:

I've posted in the past about starting an indoor chile pepper garden in a basement, and it's working a little too well. I started too many seeds and am going to run out of space entirely by December. These are only a week apart.



I'll definitely need to be culling the crop, but I've learned some good things about size needs and growth patterns of a couple new varieties to me, and one of them (二荆条 erjingtiao) has 4 plants putting out a bunch of fruit that I'll be eating before I cut them down for the year (first picture). They grew fast and big enough where I'll be able to grow them in the garden and hopefully keep them running all summer next year. I'll probably get a row cover for the early season to get them to grow big early, and then have them for the year. I also have Korean Dark Green and Cayenne putting out fruit already. They'll probably be in the first round of cutting back to 'winter' them on the other side of the room.

Also pictured: Chi-chien (a random variety that I picked up from semillas.de, its maybe a type of heaven facing, unsure though) and Aji Charapita flowers



The room itself has a forced air vent from the furnace in it, and is staying above 70F and from 60-70% humidity so far without any additional help. I may add a heating mat or two to keep the temp more constant in the bottom of the plants when we get further into winter, but I don't expect it to be all that cold in that room. I may add some extra reflective insulation above the lights, but maybe not. Definitely not the most productive use of space, but I really like growing hot peppers, so that's what I'm going to keep doing.

mischief posted:

Remember your mask if you use a blender.

I wore a neck gaiter last time and basically pepper sprayed my lungs.

Jhet posted:

Indoor grow room you say? I'd smash up those dried pods and have hot pepper flakes for pizza, burgers, and everything else. Fully grinding is something to use a mask and eye protection. Dust burns. How are you keeping the soil warm enough?

X-post from the gardening thread. I have flowers on my Caribbean Reds now, and they're forming on both the Moruga Caramel and Moruga Red Trinidad Scorpions. And on the Bhut Jolokia strain too. They're all on the shelf part of the setup. Carolina Reaper are much bigger than the other superhots and are hiding on the table in front of the Chiltepins. I'm hoping for a hot winter.

scuz posted:

Made that mistake ONLY ONCE and sneezed for around 2 straight minutes. Not fun. It's mortar and pestle from here on out.

Those look awesome! No idea how we're gonna do the soil thing, but it's parked right next to the furnace in the basement. Is there any methodology that you'd recommend for soil warmin?

Missing Name posted:

The latest locally grown habaneros I aquired are decidedly... Unspicy. What do

Platystemon posted:

I hate the habanero taste

a foolish pianist posted:

Platystemon posted:

I hate the habanero taste

Ugly In The Morning posted:

Sliced habenero on chunks of cantaloupe is like my favorite dessert.

Ugly In The Morning posted:

What the gently caress? Good habeneros have an awesome fruity, nearly citrusy taste to them.

Sliced habenero on chunks of cantaloupe is like my favorite dessert. I have to try it with watermelon.

Shooting Blanks posted:

I've never tried raw habanero, what's the problem with that post?

Dr_0ctag0n posted:

Wut?

Jhet posted:

You should try raw habanero though. The strong citrus/fruit that they can have is pretty wonderful.

Missing Name posted:

I wound up slicing some up on toast with hot ajvar and cheese and then throwing the rest in my bland store bought curry for lunch.

angerbeet posted:

This reminds me I bought a jar of ajvar a while back and never really decided what to do with it. Toast and cheese sounds nice, what else do you use it for?

Jhet posted:

Start with a fine mesh sieve before trying to push it through cheesecloth. I don’t know if it’ll take it all out, but it might get to a better texture. It should catch most of the ginger, but I’m not sure how well it’ll work on the coriander seed. It’s a step faster than cheesecloth, but that might be what you need to do anyway.

Worst case you end up with a really thin texture vinegar hot sauce, and at least you’ll know for next time to grate your ginger and grind your spices first. You could even double down on it, add a little more vinegar, and leave it to sit and extract all the flavor you can before cheesecloth filtering.

mischief posted:

Food mills are super underrated in texturing hot sauces.

WITCHCRAFT posted:

In March/April I noticed that the hot sauce section of my local grocer were getting very empty. Assumed that supply chain disruption meant that I might not get to try those sauces at a reasonable price anytime soon. So I loaded up on the hot sauces that could be got for $3 or less per bottle. I will absolutely pay more for something I know is good, but it's hard for me to justify $8 or more for a tiny bottle of something that might be underwhelming.

Tabasco Chipotle: picked this up because people said it is a good mass market chipotle sauce, and far better than other Tabasco sauces. This is true. Lightly spicy, and just the right amount of smoke/sour to put on anything. Scrambled eggs, canned sardines, pizza, egg rolls, turkey subs, etc.

Cholula Sweet Habanero: I love the flavor of habs and they are just the right level of heat for me. Sweet fruits like pineapple and mango go great with it. It is sweet and fruity. I did not like it, read the ingredients and found out that it doesn't just have pineapple in it, it has "natural pineapple flavor." Years ago I had a surgical thing where I had to drink a gallon of REMOVE ALL POOPS liquid before going to the doctor. It was pineapple flavored. It did not upset my stomach or make me puke. I did poop forever after drinking it though, and now any "pineapple flavor" foods taste unpleasant to me. This sauce is sweet and hot with a lingering flavor of "pineapple flavoring" and not just actual pineapple. Probably fine for anyone else, but I do not want it at all.

Pickapeppa: it's spicy jerk chicken sauce. Goes good anywhere you might use A1 or Worcestershire sauce. It's great, but a complex flavor that you don't really want to mix with anything else. I loved it on turkey burgers w/ swiss cheese and carmelized onions and mushrooms.

Tropical Pepper Co. Ghost Pepper: the first ingredient, even before water and vinegar, is ghost peppers. It has an unpleasant metallic smell. I like 2-3 drops in a bowl of soup or chili, mixed in real good. Straight out the bottle it is unpleasant both in level of heat and flavor. This is the spiciest sauce I have used and actually enjoyed.

My last unopened sauce from that panic purchase is Tobasco spicy honey. I've had more expensive froofy niche hot honeys before, and this is actually honey + hot peppers so I would be surprised if it's bad. Anyone tried it before?