Cayenne Hot Sauce

In the northwest hot peppers are grown in greenhouses because our summer temperatures are fairly mild. Hotter weather produces hotter peppers. Nonetheless, our farmer’s markets are brimming with peppers of all kinds from late summer through early autumn. Making your own hot sauce takes very little time and is a wonderful way to preserve the harvest. I’ve kept bottles in the fridge through the winter. This hot sauce can also be canned in small jars using the water bath canning method. I use sweet Italian peppers to add sweetness and body without the addition of sugar—red bell peppers can also be used. Normally you would wear rubber gloves when cutting hot peppers, but I have designed the recipe in such a way that you don’t need to. By only trimming the stems off and not cutting into the hot part of the pepper you won’t need to wear gloves.