INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

Carey Starzinger was kind enough to respond to my request for his
Tabasco recipe within an hour of my requesting it! Thanks, Carey.  And
away we go. I have included how I do it as well as the original
McilHenny method. This should be a big hit. I have had the
fermentation start very early in the aging stage, but I have also had
a delay of up to 6 months before it started. I assume it is due to
temperature differences. I just set it on a shelf with the
fermentation lock on and checked it every once in a while.  Hope you
and all the members enjoy it. I know that I certainly do and  it is
worth the effort even though it may take a year or more.  Carey  Grind
peppers. Add 1/2 cup kosher salt per gallon of ground peppers  and
allow to age 1 month in glass or crockery jars. Add white wine  vinegar
to taste and bottle in cologne bottles. Age before using to  blend the
flavors together. Try to find somebody to buy it. Get  famous.
Nowadays they do it the same, except that the salted mash goes
directly into oak barrels. The mash is packed down and the top sealed
with oak planks into which holes have been drilled. Avery Island
(trivia: the "island"`is really a natural salt dome; originally all
salt used in production came from natural salt digs in the area. ),
where some of the peppers are grown, is the production site. The
barrels are topped with a thick layer of salt and allowed to ferment.
The salt layer serves as a permeable barrier that allows gases to
escape but allows no bacteria, fruit flies, etc. access to the mash.
McIlhenny allows them to age three years in these oak barrels. After
aging, the mash is pulled, checked for quality and, if OK, it is
blended with white wine vinegar (they don't say how much) and aged
some weeks more ('nother secret!). Finally, the product is pulled,
strained and the liquid bottled. They already have buyers and the
stuff is famous.  The US version has potassium sorbate added to inhibit
fermentation.  Same method except the peppers are aged not fermented.
Adapting this to your home:  Note: as you must pull the liquid from the
peppers, they must be  fresh, fleshy and of the right state of
ripeness. At Avery Island  they still use the original "critique baton
rouge", a red stick  tinted to the exact color of the peppers to be
harvested. Peppers not  matching the "critique" are rejected. Old or
overdried peppers are  the key to failure. One trick for garden peppers
is picking them as  they are just at the right stage (I've been doing
this with habanero  peppers for weeks), then popping them into freezer
bags until you  have enough to make a batch of sauce.  The ratio of
mash to salt seems to be about the same as for  sauerkraut. Grind
peppers, seeds and all, in a medium to fine grind  (compare To
KitchenAid cutters). Mix with Kosher salt and put into  gallon jug. Add
enough sterile water so the whole puree is pourable.  Place a
fermentation lock (available from homebrew/wine making shops)  on the
jug. Use a campden tablet (from same source as above) in the  lock.
Liquid will form. Allow to ferment until the mash stabilizes  (stops
fermenting). It may be 3-5 months before obvious fermentation  begins.
It is a very slow ferment. It will last a couple of months.  Place the
whole thing in a larger, sterile crock and add sterile  white wine
vinegar to taste. Allow to meld another week or so. Run  the mash
through a chinoise, fine strainer, or, last resort, throw it  all into
a bowl lined with cheesecloth, fold the cheesecloth up into  a ball
(like making cottage cheese) and twist & squeeze until the  juice is
extracted. Adjust for taste with salt. Bottle the juice and  keep in
fridge. You might want to heat the sauce to pasteurize it, or  not. I
use potassium sorbate (available from the same homebrew/wine  making
shop) in the concentration for wine.  If there is a question as to
whether the material has fermented, if  the liquid that forms on top
(with the pepper slurry settled out) is  very red, then fermentation
has occurred. Otherwise the liquid on top  will be very pale and almost
colorless. (i.e. not red)  Variables: Age of peppers. Variety. Water
content. Consistency of  ripeness.  Hope this helps. Win or lose, it's
a lot of fun. The key is : Keep  all your stuff clean and sanitized!
Enjoy the effort! Amaze and  astound your friends with your own hot
pepper sauce. If it doesn't  beat Tabasco, sweat it not. It took him a
couple of years to perfect  it.  Posted to CHILE-HEADS DIGEST by
Suzanne <suz@avana.net> on Aug 22,  1998, converted by MM_Buster v2.0l.

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Nutrition (calculated from recipe ingredients)
----------------------------------------------
Calories: 45
Calories From Fat: 4
Total Fat: <1g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 287.8mg
Potassium: 306.2mg
Carbohydrates: 8.8g
Fiber: 3g
Sugar: 6.1g
Protein: 1.4g