I grew Carolina Reaper peppers this year and I got a dozen of dangerously looking and hot pods! Some of friends and colleagues are asking me one particular question…
What Are the Uses of Carolina Reaper Peppers?
I understand, these chili peppers are super hot! They are too hot for me to eat. To ask what the uses of extremely hot peppers is a good question.
If you have read my earlier post about the uses of chili peppers you may know the answer: make a hot sauce!
Even though I have grown chili for over 3 years this is my third hot sauce ever! In my first hot sauce I used garlic, onion, jamaican bell chili peppers, and celery. Even though I really like celery the taste was like this: first only celery and then the heat from the peppers came.
The second sauce you ask? Well… I used Apocalypse Scorpion Chocolate peppers and it is HOT. Way better than the celery tasting sauce. However, I did not write down the procedure and you may find better recipes elsewhere anyway.
The Hottest Banana?
Well… not really but here you will find a fermented hot sauce recipe that includes a banana.
Bananas contain a lot of starch and are flavorful with their sweet taste and I thought that this would make a great addition to a hot sauce. Oh, by the way, you don’t have to use any sugar because of the sweetness of the banana. The starch, however, means that you’ll need more water than in most hot sauce recipes out there.
Why fermented hot sauces…
You may ask? First of all, I really like fermented stuff from everything like sauerkraut, and kimchi to tempeh (fermented beans). Additionally, a fermented hot sauce is a bit milder but will have a deeper flavor.
Compared to cabbage peppers are lower in sugar and you may need to add something to start the fermentation process. There are many ways to do this. For instance, you can add a vegetable like a carrot. In this recipe I used whey from yogurt to start the process. If you prefer a vegan hot sauce you can probably increase the salt in the brine and it will be just fine! For information on how to ferment vegetables see here.
I hope you enjoy my experiment! Ehum, I mean the hot sauce! Let me know how it turns out for you.
Ingredients
- 5 Carolina Reaper Chili Peppers (Any pepper would do but if you use super hot peppers, wear gloves!)
- 1 Banana
- 1 Lime
- 2 Cloves garlic
- 3 tbsp Whey (See instructions)
- 4 dl Water
- 1 tbsp Salt
Instructions
- Pour the water in a sauce pan and add the salt. Let it simmer on the stove until the salt is dissolved. Put aside and continue with the other ingredients.
- Slice the Carolina Reaper peppers and remove the seeds. Removing the seeds is optional but they can be used to grow your own peppers.
- Mince the peppers and garlic.
- Slice the banana,
- Squeeze the juice out of the lime
- Add everything into a blender and mix until it becomes a mash
- Put the mash in a jar. The size is not super important. However, it should be 5 cm between the brine and the lid of the jar. Put a cheese cloth over the jar and put it somewhere dark for 30 days.
- Now when your mash is fermented put the mash back into a blender and mix until it is smooth. Filter the sauce through a sieve (if there are chunks left).
- Cook the sauce for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally and add water if the sauce gets to thick. Pour your super hot sauce into glass bottles!
Notes
Whey is not an option for everyone and can be substituted for other fermentation starter cultures. There are many freeze-dried cultures that can be bought but I have only used a salt brine and whey when fermenting stuff. Kombucha or juice from sauerkraut can be used as substitute.
Carolina reaper peppers are extremely hot. Consequently, the sauce will be hot and you can replace the peppers with any chili fruits you like.
The post The Hottest Banana You’ll Ever Taste! appeared first on The Chili Life.
