The unusual spell of warm weather and the still vivid yellows and oranges of the poplar, beach, apple and maple in the garden gives a warmth that I know I'll miss mid Winter. It's still harvest time, though most has either been composted, processed, or eaten.

Aaand it's hot sauce time again. Already, you say? Now, have you made the hot sauce I recommended last year? Or is this the first time you're thinking about it? The chillis are still coming on, and I'm still adding them to jars to make hot sauce. I can never make enough.

After last year's more precise tinkering, this year I'm just whacking stuff in jars and seeing what happens. Rocket science it ain't - hot rocket sauce it is. The basic recipe is to get a jar, chuck a heap of chillis in there, a carrot, half an onion, maybe some garlic, chuck a brine in there, weight it down, leave for a week or two and then make a sauce out of it.

This time I had a heap of rosehips and thought I may as well add them to the brew, and a small knob of ginger.

Then I forgot about it. Damn things been sitting there for a month - so I on this autumnal day, thought I'd get around to making actual sauce from it! To do so, I strain off the liquid and reserve a little for if I need it. Then, I put the whole lot in a blender and whizz it up with some apple cider vinegar - about two tablespoons. I had some ginger infused vinegar, so I used that, adding a bit of the reserved liquid to help the blender along. Then I strain it through muslin, discarding the leftovers, and putting the liquid back into the blender with some xanthan gum, which thickens it and gives it a sauce like consistancy. Add just half teaspoons and blend slowly, waiting a little until it's the conistancy you want, and use a funnel to get into the jar.

If your chilli sauce is too hot, don't panic. Usually the vinegar will temper it, and it won't be as hot as you think. This was perfect in the end. I couldn't taste the rosehip much but I imagine it lent colour and vitamin C to the sauce as well. Plus, it sounds fancy. I saw a hot sauce with rosehips and hibiscus once so I thought I'd give something like that a go. You can ferment anything, really.

The next lot of chillis are brought in now, ready to make more hot sauce. I wonder what I'll add to this one. Perhaps the passionfruit a neighbour just dropped at my doorstep. Though those pips might not like being processed - hmmm. Thinking.

Here's a more precise recipe.

Riverflows Fermented Hot Sauce

1- 2 handfuls of hot chilli (I used half jalapeno, half hot maui)
Half an onion
1 clove garlic
1 large carrot
1 cm cubed knob of ginger
1 handful of rosehips
Salt and water
Xanthum Gum

Put the ingredients in a jar and cover with a brine made from 1.5 tsps of salt to one cup of water. Weight down so the vegetables don't touch the air and sprinkle the top with a little extra salt. Cover with a muslin cloth or teatowel. Leave for 1 - 4 weeks. You might get a white 'mould' on top but this is normal and perfectly fine. It will start to smell delightfully sour - how you'd imagine a fermented hot sauce to taste.

When you are ready, strain the vegetables and add to a blender. Add a few tbsps of the reserved brine and two - three tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. This will add to the taste, but also stop further fermenting and the jar exploding, and help preserve it. Then, strain off the liquid from the resulting paste, rinse out the blender, and add the strained liquid and 1 tsp of xanthum gum. Blend slowly and let rest, then check the consistancy. If too runny, continue adding 1 tsp of xanthum gum and blending/resting until it's desired consistancy. Funnel in a glass bottle and keep in the fridge.

Do you make fermented hot sauce?

With Love,

Are you on HIVE yet? Earn for writing! Referral link for FREE account here