I invented a chilli sauce recipe, which I choose to share with the masochistic of the teaming millions. I lied, somewhat about the “gentle” part, to be honest.
It is a simple recipe, habanero chillis with stalks chopped off, preserved in honey. Just honey and haberneros in a jar. It needs several months to mature, ideally over a year.
The ideal is when the osmotic potential of the honey that of overcomes that of the chilli, eventually leaving a fairly liquid honey/water mix and habernero chillis that look like shriveled raisins. That takes about a year, but even just three months is pretty good.
Yes, and to be honest, I’m a bit confused-- I assumed the thread would be about recipes that highlighted flavor over heat, hence the ‘gentle’ part. I clicked in ready to share tips for building flavor and adding umami without getting capsaicin-crazy. But habaneros are pretty high octane.
The aging for a year process does sound intruiging. Some of the most famous sauces, like Tabasco or Worchestershire, are aged for long periods. Does the honey-soaking reduce the overall heat from the habenero chiles? No salt? I know honey does not go bad, but that’s due to its lack of water content. It seems like you’d want to salt it generously, not just for flavor, but to try to avoid any nasties growing in it with the water from the peppers. How does the end result taste? How do you use it-- just use the liquid part and discard the raisinesque habaneros, or use it all? What do you like to put it on?
I do agree. It seems like everything has been hot honey this and hot honey that for the last few years. Often served drizzled over pizza, pepperoni pizza in particular. I can’t say I’ve come across a habanero version, but I bet if I Google it, I will. goes off to Google Yup. There’s a few commercial versions and recipes. I don’t see the long steep times of the OP, though. These tend to be overnight concoctions, and one I see says “up to 3 months.” Would be curious what a fully matured one would taste like. Time to get some decent honey (my local Polish-targeted supermarket has probably about 8-10 different flower types they offer, from dark, earthy honeys like buckwheat to light floral ones like acacia. Also, linden, pine, rapeseed, heather, multifloral, forest flowers, etc.)
Minor disagreement - yes, habaneros have a good bit of heat, but I find them substantially more flavorful and fruity than a lot of the common options made from underripe/green chiles. So I build my hot sauces around fully ripe habs or serranos at home.
I also keep Hot honey in the house, though IMHO far too many use cinnamon and/or capsicum extracts to do the work. Heat and flavor is key for me. Though I get it that I’m a bit of an outlier.
I’ve never made an infused honey as described by the OP. I know honey’s properties and preservative powers, but it’s just barely past my tolerance for making something I’m almost completely sure will be safe.
Sure, habeneros are definitely flavorful, and I very much enjoy them for that-- the fruitiness is the very first flavor note, and the main flavor note for a second or two, before the capsaicin kicks in. I meant I thought the thread would be about flavor over heat, not flavor plus heat. Habaneros are very flavorful, but ‘gentle’ they ain’t.