Smoked Cherry Pepper hot sauce recipe

I would not go so far as to call our family homesteaders in the modern terms, but
I make much of our canned items at home and hot sauces are one of my favorite to make. We use hot sauce like a toddler uses ketchup in our home, at least 4 or 5 of us do.  We douse our eggs and pizza with it. Burgers, chicken, tacos  and pretty much anything that needs a little heat to it.   We go through quarts of hot sauce every year and one of our favorites is this smoky cherry pepper sauce. Hot but not so fiery as to be unable to taste the peppers.

Though simple this does take a little time, mostly in the straining of the sauce, not hard but time consuming. All I do is put the cooked ingredients through a mesh strainer. I use a ceramic pestle to mash the bits through the mesh.  I toss out the bits of skins and seeds leaving a thick close to ketchup consistency. If you like your sauce thinner like many store bought just add a 1/4 c more vinegar and or 1/4 cup water.  We like it thick.

Note I try to find as many red peppers as I can. I don't just like the way they look. The red peppers tend to be less bitter.


Recipe:
5 lb. washed cherry peppers
1 small red onion diced
2 clove garlic
1 cup cider or white vinegar
1 cup water


First step is to smoke the cherry peppers. We smoke ours for 2 hours with a good hickory.

Boil the peppers and the other ingredients for about 20-25 minutes.  I simply buzz the "soup" with a hand blender in the pot. A blender can be used as well.  Using a canning funnel I strain my sauce into sanitized glass jars. I water bath the sauce for 20 min. or it can be frozen. Makes about 2 quarts of sauce.

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