This summer, my daughter grew an assortment of peppers, including cayenne peppers. This is the first time we have grown cayenne peppers, so we did not know what to expect. Turns out, the cayenne grew a lot of peppers and we picked quite a few in the latter part of the summer!!
We harvested the rest during Harvest Week. The green cayenne peppers are mildly spicy and the red cayenne peppers are quite spicy – but not nearly as spicy as the hot kitchen lemon peppers!
Since we have so many cayenne peppers, we decided to pick most of the red cayenne peppers for making dried cayenne pepper and the rest for this Cayenne Pepper Sauce which is a bit spicy, yet a bit sweet with a nice garlic flavor and so delicious!
Let’s get started!
After we sorted through the peppers, I rinsed the ones we are using for this sauce. We have an assortment of colors!
I started with the garlic and one kitchen lemon pepper that I minced up.
I wore gloves, and sliced the ends off and then sliced the peppers small.
I had just over 4 cups of whole peppers which yielded the one cup of sliced peppers that we needed!
Add the peppers to the garlic.
It’s time to add the brine to the peppers. Add vinegar. We are using half rice vinegar and half pickling vinegar.
Add sugar.
Add water.
Next we are adding 2 tablespoons of pickling salt.
Stir well. Bring to a boil.
Once boiling, simmer for 10 minutes.
Mix 1/4 cup cornstarch to 1/4 cup water and stir well. While stirring the pepper mixture, add cornstarch slurry. Stirring while pouring will help so you do not get clumps.
Cook 5 minutes or until slightly thickened. Remove from heat.
Pour into prepared jars.
We got some tiny 125ml jars – I filled 8 of them.
And the rest we poured into 250ml/half pint jars which I ended up with 4.
Wipe rims, place seals and rings on just finger tight, and place in water bath canning pot. Process 20 minutes. Carefully remove and let cool completely. Any jars not sealed will need to be stored in the fridge.
Cayenne Pepper Sauce
4 to 5 large cloves minced garlic
1 cup sliced cayenne peppers
1-1/2 cups vinegar – we used 3/4 cup rice vinegar and 3/4 cup pickling vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
4 cups water
2 tbsp pickling salt
1/4 cup cornstarch mixed in 1/4 cup water
To a large pot, add garlic and sliced cayenne peppers. Add vinegar, sugar, water and pickling salt. Stir well. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, simmer for 10 minutes. Pour cornstarch slurry into pepper mixture while stirring to avoid lumps. Cook 5 minutes or until slightly thickened. Remove from heat. Pour into prepared jars. Wipe rims, place on seals and rings and place in water bath canning pot. Process 20 minutes. Carefully remove and let cool completely. Any jars not sealed will need to be stored in the fridge.
