Habanero Sauce

Habanero Orange

Look at all these gems I harvested from my backyard. It has been a chili-fest at home ever since the 10 plants started bearing green, yellow, orange and red colored fruits. We planted three varieties this year- Mazzetti, Habanero and Naga Jalokia.

Habanero Orange variety of peppers are crinkled bright orange colored beauties, about 1 inch in diameter and 1 1/2 inches in length. They start off as light green fruits and take about 60-65 days to change the color to orange. They are also slow at the germination stage but oh! boy are they worth the wait. They have a distinct smoky taste and are dangerously hot measuring about 200,000 - 300,000 scoville heat units. Scoville is the standard for measuring heat in a pepper. So the green bell peppers are 0 scoville units and cayenne pepper is rated 35,000, just to give you an idea about the heat level.

Storing and preserving these gems is important because it it impossible to consume these in a hurry. You can wash, dry and then freeze them in a heavy duty freezer bag for future use. Making a hot sauce is another way. This can be used in marinades, sandwiches, burgers, burritos, etc.

Habanero plant in our backyard, soaking the sun

Ingredients:
15 habanero chilies
1 small onion
3-4 cloves of garlic
250 ml white vinegar
2 cloves(optional)
1/2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt

1. Chop the onion and chilies (using gloves). 
2. Take the first four ingredients and blend them together to form a smooth puree. 
3. Transfer puree to a pan and bring to boil with whole cloves. 
4. Cook on high for 4-5 minutes. Be careful to not breathe over the boiling liquid. It is extremely intense. 
5. Adjust seasoning. Cool. 
6. Transfer to a clean sterilized air tight glass jar. Will keep for 4-6 months.

Habanero Sauce

Use gloves while chopping chilies