Frank A 'Fresh Pod' Bitch

Fresh Ingredients:

• Carolina Reaper 137g (24 pods)
• Georgia Fire Garlic 38g
• White Vinegar 2.5 Cups
• Salt 3/4 tbs*
• Limes 1 Juiced
• Xanthan Gum 1/4 tsp

Combine all ingredients except the xanthan and blend on high for 10 minutes. Simmer for 20 mins, let cool, reblend on low for 90 seconds with the xanthan. Bottle, refrigerate. Yield of 23oz, pH 3.06

Notes:
• Reapers were picked less than a week before blending
• Bigger yield on this from the water content in the fresh peppers
• Only hacked up my lungs once (!) making this
• I added an extra 1/4tbs of salt, it doesn't add much so I'd be better sticking to a 1/2 tbs*
• Heat isn't blinding but a few drops on a fresh palate was overwhelming. This is a lot hotter than the lemon Frank and where it should be
• Xanthan is right where I want the consistency
• Good color as always, ridiculously vibrant with white marbling

Serranapeno tequila lime b4

 Fermented Ingredients (93 days):
• Serranos 90g
• Jalapeno 85g
• White Onion 110g
• Garlic 20g
• Brine 2/3 cups

Fresh Ingredients:
• White Onion 224g
• Green Bell Peppers 126g
• Killarney Garlic 26g
• Cilantro 30g
• Tequila 1.5 oz (Jose Curevo Silver)
• Limes 1.5 Juiced
• White Vinegar 1.5 cups
• Water 1/2 cups (+ 1/2 cup)
• Salt 2/3 tbs
• Xanthan Gum 1/8 tsp

Combine all ingredients except the xanthan and blend on high for 5 minutes. Simmer for 15 mins, cool, reblend with the xanthan gum on low for 90 seconds. Refrigerate, bottle. Yielded about 25oz

Notes:
• Changed the name to be a bit more accurate now that I have some straight serranos fermenting
• Normally I saute the bells, onions, and garlic. I kept it raw to see what that'd be like
• Initial thoughts- color is a lot brighter and more vivid. Definitely lacking a bit of sugar from the onions not being caramelized, savory notes from the bells. It's missing a lot of depth by not being cooked. Now I know, it's not as good
• I added an extra half lime, not very notable. Let's just go two next run
• This one was all white onions when usually I use yellow. Maybe ferment the white and cook yellows?
• I did 2/3 tbs salt instead of 1/2, it's a bit over seasoned, keep with the 1/2
• I simmered this for too long and reduced it a bit too much. I added an extra half cup of water to make up for that. The yield on this was pretty small but it's still a bit watery even with the xanthan. 
• Next time simmer for less and keep the reduction to a minimum 

(Salty) Mango Reaper

Fermented Ingredients (48 weeks):
• Carolina Reapers 110g
• Garlic 15g
• Brine 1 cups

Fresh Ingredients:
• Yellow Onion 237g
• Yellow Bell Peppers 175g
• Chesnok Red Garlic 28g
• Mangoes 257g
• White Vinegar 1.5 cups
• Water 1/2 cups
• Salt 1/2 tsp (I did tbs, don't do that)
• Xanthan Gum 1/8 tbsp

Saute the bells and the onion until charred and caramelized, add the garlic until golden. Throw everything into the blender except the xanthan and blend on high for 5 minutes. Simmer for 20 minutes, cool and reblend with the xanthan on low for 90 seconds. Bottle, refrigerate. Yields about 30oz, pH 3.4

This is maybe the oldest jar in my cupboard and for sure one of my first ferments. I was wondering if I over salted the brine, but after reviewing other recipes I think I made a mistake up by adding salt measured by a tablespoon instead of a teaspoon. That might explain why it's so fucking salty. Not inedible but not fit to sell or give away. I'm eating it with unseasoned food which is surprisingly working out great

Notes:
• Not many tasting notes since the salt over powers literally everything else
• Deeper color than what I was going for. This was a recreation of a sauce I made a month or two before I launched the blog that I remember being a bit pale (hence the bell) but this came out completely orange leaning towards red
• I think this recipe used way more peppers than the original also, given the jar ratios. It's also possible I used yellow reapers instead of red ones
• I think I threw in the mango raw instead of searing it, but who knows if that made any difference
• Definitely going to make a batch 3 in the near future
• I was in a hurry to make this and next time I want to take some time and add some nuance to it. It's a really basic recipe and I think I can craft something that adds more to my staple formula

Bourbon Peach

Fermented Ingredients (40 days):
• Habaneros 62g
• Carrots 55g
• Garlic 41g
• Yellow Onions 157g

Fresh Ingredients:
• Sweet Onions 197g (one medium)
• Red Bell Pepper 174g (one medium)
• White Peaches 673g (3 large peaches)
• Garlic 25g (5 cloves)
• Sugar Rush 25g (one pod frozen)
• Red Scorpions 15g (5 frozen)
• Brown Sugar 1/2 Cups
• Water 1/2 Cups
• Bourbon (Evan Williams) 1.5oz
• White Vinegar 1 Cup
• Apple Cider Vinegar 1/4 Cups
• Salt 1/2 tbsp
• Xanthan Gum 1/4 tsp 

Saute the fresh onions and bell peppers in olive oil until slightly charred, add the garlic and cook until golden. Remove the pit and skin from the peaches. Add everything but the xanthan into a blender and blend on high for five minutes. Light simmer for 20 mins, then let it cool before adding back to the blender with the xanthan gum. Blend on low for 90 seconds, bottle and refrigerate. Yield ~50oz

Number one thing here to note is this was supposed to be a smoked sauce. I put the habs, carrots, onions, and garlic on a propane barbeque for 90 minutes on indirect heat with some wood chips on the burner to add some smoke. I fucked up and let the wood chips soak for an hour instead of 20 minutes so it was hard to get the smoke even going. Nothing really stuck and I'd have no idea that was a concept I was aiming for, next time I need to use a real smoker or maybe use some oil to coat the veggies to soak up some smoke. All the bacteria got killed off probably on the grill so to get this to ferment I had to use the backslop method of adding some live brine into the jar from an already active ferment. It took three or four days to get going, and the jars were over stuffed. The products became much softer after being cooked so I was able to pack the fuck out the jars, which made it difficult for the brine to fully envelop everything. 

Notes:
• I wanted to use normal peaches but winco only had ripe whites
• On top of smoking ideas this should have been three jars, not two. This thing is over packed 
• I wanted to add a bite and also use up some of my scorpion pods. I added the sugar rush because it was the last one and I wanted to shut that book. I was on the fence about making this more spicy and it worked out great
• I initially had 400g peaches (2) and decided to add the third post initial blend. The sugar on these come through but not so much the flavor
• I was going to make this with Southern Comfort but that sucks and got a real bourbon instead
• Maybe add an apple or two next batch?
• Color's pretty dark, to lighten that I'd use a yellow bell
• For a yield this big a second ounce of bourbon might help
• This is one of my first sugar additions and it worked out fine!
• I pretty much wrote this recipe drunk and I'm honestly impressed

Frank A 'Lemon' Bitch

Fresh Ingredients:
• Yellow Reapers 148g (22 pods)
• Garlic 35g
• Salt 1/2 tbsp
• White Vinegar 2.5c
• Lemons 1
• Xanthan Gum 1/4 tsp

Throw everything straight into the blender except xanthan, juice the lemon and add some of the zest. Blend on high 5 minutes and simmer lightly for 20 mins, skimming the gunk off the top. Cool, then blend on low for 90 seconds with the xanthan gum. Bottle, refrigerate

Fresh pepper Frank sauce. Pricey shipment and honestly these pods are a bit on the weak side. I wanted to make a lemon version after seeing the color on the last batch

Notes:
• Bigger yield on this of about 20oz instead of the 16ish I usually get on these. I think it has something to do with the water content of the peppers, all the frozen stuff I used before is a bit more dry
• As noted above the heat is pretty low on this. I used ~4 less pods because I didn't want to blow through my box in one batch, but it should be hotter
• The lemon comes though fine but it feels a bit unbalanced. I'm glad to try it but the lime works better 
• Overall a little disappointing. Still pretty good but short of what I pictured

Honey Garlic Habanero

Fermented Ingredients (1 Month):
• Habaneros 101g
• Garlic 40g
• Yellow Onion 114g
• Brine 1 Cup 

Fresh Ingredients:
• Yellow Bell Peppers 96g
• Garlic 132g
• Sweet Onions 112g
• Honey (Clover) 8oz
• White Vinegar 1 Cup
• Xanthan Gum 1/8tsp 

Saute the onion and the bell pepper lightly in olive oil. Once they start to sweat add the fresh garlic and cook until golden brown. Add everything into the blender except the xanthan and blend on high for five minutes, then simmer to a light boil for 10 minutes skimming solids off the top. Add back to the blender with the xanthan gum and blend on low for thirty seconds. Bottle, refrigerate. Yields about 28oz, pH 3.43 

Notes:
• Garlic was grown organically by Prima Farms, 2.5 heads netted the 130g
• Surprisingly, I kind of wish I used a bit more garlic. The honey comes through the strongest and edges the garlic out a bit
• Sweetness is right on the money. I took a shot in the dark on the amount of honey and it worked out perfect
• Good viscosity, I wondered if I used more vinegar would give me a bigger yield but I'm glad I left it where it was
• Way hotter than I would have expected for straight habs. Throwing a few super hots in might help out the flavor profile a bit but I like where it's at
• Curious where this will be in a week or two

Jesse's (a) Jerk Sauce

 Fermented Ingredients (7 months):
• Yellow Reapers 65g
• Habaneros 60g
• Yellow Onions 100g
• Garlic 43g
• Brine 1.5 cups

Fresh Ingredients:
• Mango 260g (is that two mangoes?)
• Yellow Onion 120g
• Pineapple Juice 18oz
• Apple Cider Vinegar .75 cups
• Limes 2 Juiced
• Honey .5 cups
• Allspice .25tbsp
• Cumin .25 tbsp
• Ground Clove .25 tbsp
• Ground Ginger .5 tbsp
• Xanthan 1/8 tsp

Additional Ingredients:
• Water 1 cup
• White Vinegar .5 cups


Sweet and spicy Caribbean inspired recipe. I sauteed the onion but other than that everything is straight into the blender. Blend on high for five minutes and simmer to a boil for twenty* minutes afterward. Add the xanthan and blend on low for 1 minute. Yield of 48oz, pH 3.3 

*My dumb ass got distracted and forgot to turn off the stove and let this thing boil for almost 45 minutes. It reduced down to an ooze, so I had to go through and re-hydrate the sauce with water and a bit more vinegar to get the viscosity back to where it was originally. I'm sure this would be better without having to do so but here I am and it's still pretty good 

Notes:
• I'm coming up on a year of the plunge into fermented super hots and this is a shot at the first sauce I made. I called it J's sweet heat but that's basically all my sauces now.
• I'd credit the website I found the initial recipe on but all I have is a screen shot of the ingredient list from last year.
• There are a few changes I made- the og calls for 1.5 lbs fermented habs (I don't have that many), I added onions to the jar (using 1.5 instead of 1), and there was nothing about reapers (which I didn't know were in the jar).
• I also added the xanthan gum which wasn't in the original either
• There was also supposed to be 24oz of pineapple juice but I thought that was just too much sugar
• It's also worth noting I didn't separate all the peppers, and just eyeballed about a 50:50 ratio.
• Jar was also 24oz instead of 16ozs so the yield was a bit larger.
• They wanted five cloves of garlic and I said fuck that and tripled it
• Honestly really complex, most ingredients of anything I've made

The sauce itself is pretty good! I actually really like the extra kick from the reapers and they play well with the spices and habanero base. Really sweet and tropical but an almost christmas like spice with an earthy ground. Better than I remember that first sauce being

Ideas:
• Use a sweet onion, ferment the entire thing
• Add some additional salt instead of just relying on the brine. Maybe .5 tbsp
• A pound and a half of habs is a lot of peppers. Idk if that'd add to the body of the sauce more but as far as heat goes the reapers worked just fine
• Lean into the Caribbean angle and use Trinidadian scorpions
• A bit more cumin, double it up to .5 tbsp
• Keep the reapers but move to a lower ratio, 1:4 maybe
• Set a timer or don't walk away from from the stove :(
• Maybe 12oz of the pineapple juice also. I think all the extra liquid was to handle the yield from having so many peppers from the original recipe. That might help balance out the sugar a bit, or consider cutting down the mangoes. Keep the honey though
• A bit more runny than I'd like it but better than being too thick
• Might be a fun anniversary sauce to make every July