Hot Sauce | Smoked & Preserved
Smoked habanero and blueberry. More flavor than fire.
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.
02 The Build
the smoky tomato habanero foundation
what turns the base into Blue Ash
03 The Method
Simmer the roasted tomatoes until reduced, then blend with the smoked peppers, vinegar, honey, and ginger 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.