trini pepper sauce recipe

A significant part of Caribbean cuisine must be the many hot sauces or pepper sauce as it’s commonly known throughout the islands and our appreciation for such sauces. Not only will you find different variations of these explosive sauces from island to island… in just about every home you’ll find a unique recipe as well. Over the years I’ve been experimenting with different ingredients to create some tantalizing hot sauces, so this mango peach hot sauce is just me being creative and using what’s around me. I like to refer to this hot sauce as being where the Caribbean and Canada collide!

You’ll Need…

10 Scotch Bonnet peppers (or habanero)
1 cup mango nectar or juice
1 cup peach (with syrup)
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cloves garlic
teaspoon mustard powder
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup vinegar

Notes: You’ll notice that I used the entire pepper. I wanted the raw explosive heat.. if you want to tame it down a bit, you can discard the seeds and white sort of membrane surrounding the seeds. That’s where the majority heat is when it comes to hot peppers, like the scotch bonnet and habanero. Remember to wear gloves when handling these peppers as they can cause some problems for sensitive hands. If you don’t have gloves coat your hands with some vegetable oil at least.

Remove the stems off the peppers and wash. Drain and give a rough chop..same for the cilantro. Then place all ingredients in a deep saucepan and bring to a boil.

The idea is to gently cook the peppers and infuse the sauce with the goodness of the peaches, garlic,, cilantro and mango juice. I used canned peaches, so i included the syrup it came with a swell. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer and cook for about 20 minutes.

Your kitchen will have a strong scent of cooking peppers (spicy) so you may need to open your kitchen window or turn on the vent fan above your stove. You’ll notice that everything will go a bit pale as it cooks, but that’s normal.

After 20 minutes of cooking (remember to stir a few times) allow to cool before putting into your food processor or blender, or risk getting burned when it splatters.

Now place everything from the pot into the food processor and give it a few pulses.. then blend for a minute or two. Try not to over-blend or it will go frothy and ruin the texture (not my liking). You’ll now have a wicked hot sauce flavored with the mango and peach. It will be thick, but runny enough (smooth) to place in a squeeze bottle.

Don’t be fooled with this hot sauce wonderful fruity fragrance… it will be like rocket fuel. Store in the fridge up to 6 weeks. Directly below you’ll see some links to other hot sauce recipes I’ve shared in previous posts.

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habanero hot sauce recipe For those of you who’ve been following my updates on FierceSauces.com will know that I have a growing collection of hot sauces (peppa sauce as we say in Trinidad and Tobago) and I use this affair I have with spicy sauces to write short reviews. Though I purchase new ones every time I come across varieties I don’t already have, I can honestly say that nothing beats a “fresh” made sauce.

Here’s a simple recipe for a very quick hot sauce that packs a wicked punch. It’s sure to add some zing to whatever meal or snack you introduce it to. For me it was a case of having some jerk pork tenderloin I just took off the grill and I craved a fresh peppa sauce to top the thinly sliced pieces of pork to enjoy while I watched play-off football this weekend.

*This makes about 1 1/2 cups of hot sauce.

You’ll Need…

1 teaspoon salt
4-6 cloves garlic
20 habanero or scotch bonnet peppers (use any hot pepper you like and can tolerate)
3/4 cup vinegar
1 cup roughly chopped cilantro
4 mild peppers (banana, Cubanelle, Hungarian Yellow, Biscayne Sweet.. etc)

Before we get to the actual process, I must mention that the peppers I used were all frozen. Every spring I plant an assortment of hot peppers, including my favourite… the habanero. When I reap them in the fall, I place them in freezer-lock bags and keep them secure in the freezer. I then have enough peppers to last me until next harvest. So if you ever have an abundance of peppers, do remember that you can freeze them. During the winter months the very same peppers sell for between $7 and $11 a pound in the local super markets so I can’t afford them. Luckily I have my supply in our freezer.

Wash and remove the stems from the peppers and chop roughly (wear gloves if you’re using scotch bonnet or habanero). Then do the same with the garlic and cilantro so it’s easy to work with in the food processor.

Add everything to a blender or food processor and process for a couple minutes. Try to get a smooth consistency but try not to overwork it, since we don’t want to add too much air and risk it getting foamy.

Taste for salt (if you’re getting a sort of raw taste with no flavour except the heat of the pepper, add a little more salt)

*Fresh squeezed lime or lemons also add another lovely level of flavour to this sauce.

Place in a jar and use as needed. Normally since we used vinegar as the liquid in the sauce, you should not have to refrigerate it. However it may be a good idea to place it in fridge just as a precaution. Please note though that the sauce will loose a bit of it’s heat the longer it stays in the fridge.

trinidad hot suace recipe