Trailblazer Hot Sauce Recipe

This is my go-to hot sauce recipe that can be made with either red or green chillies. It was a top seller when I had my Shopify store during Covid, and may feature again in a soon-to-be erected honesty box here at our HQ in Assynt. Until then, here’s the recipe for anyone who’d like to make it themselves!

It’s inspired by Cathy Barrow’s hot sauce recipe from her excellent book Mrs. Wheelbarrow’s Practical Pantry – Recipes and Techniques for Year-Round Preserving. My version includes a few adaptations, namely I use fresh pineapple in place of her dried pineapple and Mango. I also char the chillies; Cathy suggests trying with smoked or fresh chillies, too, but I haven’t tried that yet!

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Trailblazer Hot Sauce Recipe 

Ingredients

• 450g hot chillies (I prefer green chillies, jalapenos ideally) 
• 475ml distilled white vinegar or cider vinegar
• 6 large garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 Tbsp kosher sault
• 85g honey
• 1/2 pineapple, peeled and roughly diced 
• 1/2 tsp Coleman’s mustard (or 1/4 tsp Coleman’s dried mustard powder) 
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger 

Method

1. Prepare the chillies: Heat a cast iron skillet or bbq on high. Char the chillies, turning often until blistered on all sides. As they finish, put them in a bowl covered with a lid or tea towels. Leave them to steam for about an hour. Then stem and roughly chop. 
2. Combine the vinegar, garlic, and salt in a large jar. Shake or swirl to dissolve the salt. Add the chillies, cover, and leave overnight to brine. 
3. Transfer the chilli-brine mixture to a large pot. Add the honey, pineapple, mustard and ginger. Cover and bring to a strong boil, then boil for 3 minutes to combine the flavors. 
4. Pure the chilli mixture in a blender in batches as needed until very smooth. 
5. Press the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl. 
6. Return the hot sauce to the pot. Bring back to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. 
7. Decant the sauce into jars or bottles. Leave to cool then enjoy!