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.
Ah, then we are in complete agreement. And habaneros are perfect for me, hot-heat that I am. The newer varietals tend to overload me on heat without adding any more flavor, but I totally get that other people say the same about serrano peppers. Or jalapenos. Or whatever their personal heat tolerance is at.
Though, come to think of it, if I wanted a milder endpoint for heat, sweet, and color, I bet roasted Pueblo Mirasol peppers would be a really nice combination. They’re semi-hot (IMHO), or at least enough so that I notice, generally bright red when fully ripe (for the contrast to the honey), fleshy and sweet. And easy for ME to get since I go to Pueblo every year for a roasted bushel of Big Jims for general purposes…
I think it would be a good match! I may have to try this year.
Pueblo Mirasol chiles sound good, don’t think I’ve ever tried those. Thanks for the tip.
When I think of a chili recipe that’s flavorful, colorful but not really ‘hot’ at all, I think of a ‘Colorado Chili’ style base using a combo of any or all dried, rehydrated and pureed Pasilla, Guajillo and Ancho peppers. LOTS of flavor, but very little heat on its own. Then I add fresh jalapenos to my spice liking. Habaneros would be good thrown in, too!
No, just raw chilli, with the the stalk taken off then, then
No. No salt, and man, those chillis are stil potent.
What I like about this is that the honey also picks up the insane heat, and as such, it is an amazing complement to pork, chicken, and certain game meat.
Not for everyone, for sure, but haberneros are very flavorful, if you like extreme chilli heat.
Just FYI, there’s some concern over botulism in honey and adding raw fresh peppers for long periods of time. There’s already known to be some botulism in honey, which is why you can’t feed it to infants. Numerous sites recommend using dried peppers if you’re keeping it around for a long time.
Thanks. I dont particularly want to die from food poisoning!
I would have thought the high sugar content would have kept bacterium out, but in research, you are right and I am wrong.
It is so delicious I might keep taking the gamble… I wonder if (gasp!) microwaving the honey or the combination would eliminate the bacterium. I don’t want to cook the chilies, or denature the honey. I’ll do some googling. For what it is worth, I do use irradiated honey.
I have 4 litre jars filled, awaiting aging. If I suddenly stop posting…
That was my concern upthread as well. Chili sauces like Tabasco are aged for a long period of time (3 years?) but I believe the added vinegar and salt kills bacteria or keeps it from multiplying.
You’re still introducing raw habeneros, which, no matter how thoroughly you wash them, likely have plenty of bacteria and wild yeasts, in addition to water, which by diluting the sugar content of the honey gets the party started. So you’d have to cook or microwave the peppers, make sure the container is sterile, and have an airtight seal to be safe. Or probably something akin to a home canning process, where you can and then cook the mixture thoroughly.
Which makes me wonder, does your sauce ferment at all? I’ve made hard cider from apples, and I’ve used special cider yeast, but I know if you want to gamble (with flavor, not with safety) you can make a fermented beverage from fruit without adding any extra yeast since the fruit carries wild yeasts. The reason you don’t (usually) need to worry about bacterial growth with the fermentation process is because the yeast activity dominates and (usually) prevents bacteria from getting a foothold in the mix.
Yeah, I like canned chipotles in adobo sauce too. Lots of flavor, and a nice amount of heat.
Carne Adovada sounds good! I’ll have to make sometime. I certainly have enough dried peppers on hand, since I bought huge bags of dried Pasilla, Guajillo and Ancho peppers on Amazon. Does this Serious Eats recipe sound right, or do you have a better one?
No, not at all. I am into home-brew beer and bread, so I know the signs of fermentation.
Honey is a natural antiseptic (and noting the objections earlier in this thread) a fairly powerful antibactrial. Honey is not a bacterial friend (usually)
This is primaily why my recipe works, osmosis between the raw chillis and the honey.
I thought that honey does not spoil solely because of the fact it’s almost pure sugar with little or no water. But a quick googling shows that you are correct-- the high sugar / low water content is only one factor of several (yes, the info I posted below is AI, but the cites look solid).
Still, I think it’s best to err on the side of extreme caution in matters like these. Botulism is bad news.
Yes, honey is highly antibacterial. Its natural properties actively stop bacteria from growing and can even kill them. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Its antibacterial power comes from a combination of several factors: [1]
High Sugar Content: Honey is mostly sugar and very low in water, which creates an osmotic effect that dehydrates bacteria so they cannot survive.
High Acidity: Honey has a low pH (typically between 3.2 and 4.5), creating an environment that inhibits bacterial growth.
Hydrogen Peroxide: Many types of honey naturally produce hydrogen peroxide when they come into contact with body fluids, which acts as a mild antiseptic.
Specialized Compounds: Some honeys (like Manuka honey) contain additional potent antibacterial compounds, such as methylglyoxal (MGO) and bee defensin-1. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Huh. I thought you meant the ketchup-like chili sauce Heinz makes, found near the ketchup section in a grocery store. Every fall I used to make a batch with tomatoes, peppers, spices, vinegar, brown sugar, and cook on the stove like I would making jam (only not as thick).