Blue Ash

Name: Blue Ash
Yield: 2 sauces / 1 batch
Ingredients: 40 g Smoked habaneros (6–8); 40 g Smoked jalapenos (3–4); 500 g Roasted tomatoes; 240 g Apple cider vinegar (5%); 13 g Honey; rest Reserved base (less 8 oz banked); 150 g Blueberries; 2 tsp Lemon juice; 2 pinch Salt

Smoked habanero and blueberry. More flavor than fire.

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Heat: Habanero-forward
Smoke: 150°F / 5 hrs
Keeps: Fridge 2–3 mo
Yield: 2 sauces / 1 batch
Finished pH: Not measured

01 The Whim

By the end of the season Haley and I had grown more peppers than we knew what to do with, and she hauled a batch up to Boston. I have a smoker up here, so I ran a tray of habaneros and jalapenos over Texas white oak before they ever saw a blender.

The blueberries were a total whim. I had a bag in the freezer, went back and forth on what to add, and finally just dumped them into half the batch with no idea what would happen. It worked, which was either fortunate or unfortunate depending on how you feel about loving something you only made a little of.

Blue from the fruit, ash from the smoker. So: Blue Ash.

Blue Ash jars dated 9.6.25 on the shelf with the rest of the pepper program — The shelfCat. 9.6.25

02 The Build

Base

the smoky tomato habanero foundation

Smoked habaneros 6–840 g

Smoked jalapenos 3–440 g

Roasted tomatoes500 g

Apple cider vinegar 5%240 g

Honey13 g

Finish

what turns the base into Blue Ash

Reserved base less 8 oz bankedrest

Blueberries150 g

Lemon juice2 tsp

Salt2 pinch

03 The Method

Simmer the roasted tomatoes until reduced, then blend with the smoked peppers, vinegar, and honey until smooth.
Simmer 10 to 15 minutes. Taste, then correct with salt and lemon. Bank 8 oz of this plain base as its own sauce before the fruit goes anywhere near it.
Add the blueberries to what is left and blend smooth. Simmer again until the jammy edge cooks off.
Adjust with salt and lemon to cut the sweetness, then jar hot. Same smoky backbone, deeper color, a faint wine-like finish.

Before shelf storage

Vinegar and bottled lemon should push this well under pH 4, but the tomatoes are the wildcard near 4.6 and it was not measured. Refrigerate for 2 to 3 months, or verify the finished pH is under 4.0 before a water bath.

Home guidelines, not a lab certification.