Sriracha homestyle

Our Matchbox Chilis in the greenhouse.

The chilis are mixed with palm sugar, garlic, vinegar and water then fermented for a week before blending

The mixture is thoroughly blended before being put on the stove to reduce to a thicker sauce before being blended again, strained and then goes through it's final fermentation.

There are a few great sites out there for how-to's, but of course I had to read those and then veer off in my own direction.  My friend, fellow cook and farmer, Billi, turned me on to this project after visiting her at the Common Ground Fair where she serves up some serious fish tacos.  She can be found cooking the rest of the year over at Firefly Farm. The bottom line with this sauce is to preserve the essence of the fresh hot pepper and not end up with a cooked red pepper flavor.  Multiple fermenting stages accomplish this nicely.  I used a Foley Food Mill, but a medium mesh strainer or china cap would work. This is what I did and am very happy with the results.  I am sure you could vary the amount of sugar, increase the number of garlic cloves, whatever.  I used a combination of matchbox chilies, cayenne  and ghost peppers because that is what I had.  Other recipes call for Fresno chilies  but jalapenos or a blend of any red, hot peppers should work.

The Recipe:

Makes 2 cups

• Clean and stuff in a jar: 3 lbs whole hot peppers, one head of garlic (cloves peeled) 3 cups vinegar, 3 cups water, 1/4 cup palm sugar, 1 teaspoon salt.
• Ferment at room temp. for one week
• With lots of air-flow (hood vent on high...) strain peppers and garlic, reserving the liquid.  Blend on high adding reserved liquid as needed to make a thick mud-like consistency.  Don't bother cleaning the processor/blender; you'll be using it soon.
• Once mostly smooth-ish, put in a non-reactive pot on medium heat.  Add remaining liquid and stir often.
• Cook down by half till or until the sauce reaches ketchup consistency.
• Let the mixture cool to room temp and blend again until very smooth. Put through strainer to pull out seeds.
• Ladle into a jar or squeeze bottle  and let sit for three to four days at room temp, then refrigerate.

Next up:  Roasted tomato, tomatillo, chipotle salsa