Homemade Habanero Hot Sauce

Preheat the oven to pretty much as high as it can go. For my oven, as far as I know, that’s 525 F. If you have a baking stone you could put that in the oven as well for added heat, but you really don’t need to.

Cut the stems off of the peppers and use a knife or your fingers (gloves recommended) to pull or scrape out the seeds and most of the white membrane. Those are the spiciest parts of the pepper, just too spicy for a condiment. This can most easily be done by cutting each pepper lengthwise then scraping out the insides.

Once they are prepped, place the peppers on a baking sheet and pop them into that really hot oven. Five minutes should be sufficient to get a nice char. I’m just going to warn you right now that these peppers are serious. Are habeneros the spiciest peppers out there? Not by a long shot. But, they do secrete spicy oils. Use gloves, and/or wash your hands really well and avoid touching your face. Sometimes as the peppers are in the oven or after they come out you will notice that you might start coughing because the spice has permeated the air. All of this goes away pretty quickly, and should not deter you from making hot sauce. It really is worth it!

Place the roasted peppers in a blender along with the tomatoes and lemon juice. Puree until the mixture is smooth. Take a fine food sieve and place it over a bowl. Pour the mixture into the sieve and work it through with a rubber spatula until only a thin layer of hidden seeds and other bigger clumps are left in the sieve. Discard the solids. Add the vinegar into the bowl and the hot sauce is ready. Enjoy!

P.S. Sometimes the oils will stay on your hands even after washing many times. In a few hours, your fingers may start to have a burning sensation. Put some toothpaste on your fingertips. Really, I’m not kidding, it works.