So, after many months of work, we have finally completed our Hot Sauce project. Introducing:
So, as most of you know here, I'm a big fan of spicy food and hot peppers, and we grew a bunch of hot peppers in our garden this past year (Ghost, Habaneros, Cherry Bombs, and some bells). I was talking on the Cadre about what to do with them aside from making salsa, and said I wanted to try making hot sauce with them. Tony, @OpusX , suggested I look into fermented hot sauce. So I joined a FB group on the topic and learned a lot. We bought the equipment we needed to do it, and got to fermenting. It was actually a lot of fun.
Now, as to the theme and labeling this is where the real fun came in. The sauce was a team effort between Amber @Ambalance and myself. She spent many hours in the garden tending to all of our pepper plants, especially when I was deployed for a month during peak harvest time this past summer. So I wanted to come up with something that represented both of us. The "Spider" part is pretty obvious. But Kilher is a nickname that she had used online and still uses here and there, so I thought to combine them for a little play on words, and Kilher Spider was born. With 6 different sauces, I needed 6 different “Killer Spiders” to be on the labels. And indeed, each one of these spiders is on the top 10 list of Deadliest Spiders in the world.
Sauce #1: Cherry Bomb, Featuring the Black Widow
Cherry Bombs are a great pepper variety. Sweet like a red bell pepper, and with just the right amount of heat as to not overpower anything. This is mostly just Cherry Bombs with a tiny bit of garlic. I only made a test batch of this (two bottles) but I love it and will definitely be making more of this! A great all around sauce. More Garlic and it'll be perfect. A great entry level sauce.
Sauce #2: Habanero Pineapple Peach, Featuring the Brazilian Wandering Spider
This was a fun experiment. Sweet and spicy! Nothing else added aside from what the label says. I intended to just make it with Pineapple, but when I made it, we had some peaches that were about to go bad, so I threw them into the mix so they didn’t get wasted.
Sauce #3: Habanero, Featuring the Yellow Sac Spider
Pretty much just Habaneros, but a few cloves of garlic as well. (Not enough to taste). This one to me is pretty dull. I like habaneros a lot, and expected it to taste better. I think it's just plain tasting on its own, but will go with some foods very well!
Sauce #4: Ghost Habanero, Featuring the Sydney Funnel Web Spider
This sauce has the most number of ingredients, and is the most balanced sauce. It contains Ghost, Habanero, Cherry Bomb, Jalapeno, Anaheim, Poblano, and Bell Peppers; as well as Onions, Garlic, Shallots, and Carrots. This one tastes, to me, the most like a commercial sauce. Lots of heat, but also lots of balanced flavor. This is my personal favorite.
Sauce #5: Smoked Ghost Habanero, Featuring the Six-Eyed Sand Spider
This is my most complex sauce. Contains Ghost, Habanero, Cherry bomb and bell peppers that were all smoked prior to fermenting. It also contains garlic and caramelized onions. It's a very smoky, but also very spicy hot sauce. Most of my testers said this was their favorite.
Sauce #6: Ghost Pepper, Featuring the Mouse Spider
Again, mostly ghost pepper and an undetectable amount of garlic (not sure why I didn't add more to any of these). This, as you'd expect, is just pure fire. Good flavor from the peppers, but the heat takes center stage.
When it came to the labels, I went the complete ghetto route, and just designed my own in Word, printed them out, covered them in clear packing tape, and used double stick tape to attach them to the bottles, lol. Probably more effort than just buying label stock, but it's what I had on hand, and how I usually make labels for my aftershave bottles.
Overall, I'm very happy with how this all turned out. I learned a few things along the way and know what I'll do differently next time. Definitely going to experiment with different peppers in the garden next year!
This is our stock of sauce. Together with the 6 bottles I’m using, and the 6 I already gave away to coworkers, we made 63 bottles of sauce!
Kilher Spider Hot Sauce!
So, as most of you know here, I'm a big fan of spicy food and hot peppers, and we grew a bunch of hot peppers in our garden this past year (Ghost, Habaneros, Cherry Bombs, and some bells). I was talking on the Cadre about what to do with them aside from making salsa, and said I wanted to try making hot sauce with them. Tony, @OpusX , suggested I look into fermented hot sauce. So I joined a FB group on the topic and learned a lot. We bought the equipment we needed to do it, and got to fermenting. It was actually a lot of fun.
Now, as to the theme and labeling this is where the real fun came in. The sauce was a team effort between Amber @Ambalance and myself. She spent many hours in the garden tending to all of our pepper plants, especially when I was deployed for a month during peak harvest time this past summer. So I wanted to come up with something that represented both of us. The "Spider" part is pretty obvious. But Kilher is a nickname that she had used online and still uses here and there, so I thought to combine them for a little play on words, and Kilher Spider was born. With 6 different sauces, I needed 6 different “Killer Spiders” to be on the labels. And indeed, each one of these spiders is on the top 10 list of Deadliest Spiders in the world.
Sauce #1: Cherry Bomb, Featuring the Black Widow
Cherry Bombs are a great pepper variety. Sweet like a red bell pepper, and with just the right amount of heat as to not overpower anything. This is mostly just Cherry Bombs with a tiny bit of garlic. I only made a test batch of this (two bottles) but I love it and will definitely be making more of this! A great all around sauce. More Garlic and it'll be perfect. A great entry level sauce.
Sauce #2: Habanero Pineapple Peach, Featuring the Brazilian Wandering Spider
This was a fun experiment. Sweet and spicy! Nothing else added aside from what the label says. I intended to just make it with Pineapple, but when I made it, we had some peaches that were about to go bad, so I threw them into the mix so they didn’t get wasted.
Sauce #3: Habanero, Featuring the Yellow Sac Spider
Pretty much just Habaneros, but a few cloves of garlic as well. (Not enough to taste). This one to me is pretty dull. I like habaneros a lot, and expected it to taste better. I think it's just plain tasting on its own, but will go with some foods very well!
Sauce #4: Ghost Habanero, Featuring the Sydney Funnel Web Spider
This sauce has the most number of ingredients, and is the most balanced sauce. It contains Ghost, Habanero, Cherry Bomb, Jalapeno, Anaheim, Poblano, and Bell Peppers; as well as Onions, Garlic, Shallots, and Carrots. This one tastes, to me, the most like a commercial sauce. Lots of heat, but also lots of balanced flavor. This is my personal favorite.
Sauce #5: Smoked Ghost Habanero, Featuring the Six-Eyed Sand Spider
This is my most complex sauce. Contains Ghost, Habanero, Cherry bomb and bell peppers that were all smoked prior to fermenting. It also contains garlic and caramelized onions. It's a very smoky, but also very spicy hot sauce. Most of my testers said this was their favorite.
Sauce #6: Ghost Pepper, Featuring the Mouse Spider
Again, mostly ghost pepper and an undetectable amount of garlic (not sure why I didn't add more to any of these). This, as you'd expect, is just pure fire. Good flavor from the peppers, but the heat takes center stage.
When it came to the labels, I went the complete ghetto route, and just designed my own in Word, printed them out, covered them in clear packing tape, and used double stick tape to attach them to the bottles, lol. Probably more effort than just buying label stock, but it's what I had on hand, and how I usually make labels for my aftershave bottles.
Overall, I'm very happy with how this all turned out. I learned a few things along the way and know what I'll do differently next time. Definitely going to experiment with different peppers in the garden next year!
This is our stock of sauce. Together with the 6 bottles I’m using, and the 6 I already gave away to coworkers, we made 63 bottles of sauce!
