I must be crazy !!!!!

Yes, I must be certifiably insane. Why?? SOMEONE (insert my name here) decided it would be a good idea to make ghost chile hot sauce inside the house. Oh the windows ARE open and fans going like crazy but still.........the ingredients: vinegar, ghosts, garlic, salt. I think that might also be the recipe for napalm but I'm not sure.

Ever since the Chef and I discovered all the different hot peppers out there I have been wanting to make a Tabasco/Franks type sauce with super hots. I have read, met chileheads and shared recipes, and researched the internet like crazy. Finally, I have settled on what I think, and HOPE, will be successful.

So if you're brave enough.........

approximately 20-30 ghost chiles, stems removed 

3 cups white or cider vinegar

8-10 cloves of garlic

1 tb kosher salt.

Combine all in a saucepan. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer about 45 mins to an hour. Peppers will be very tender. Let cool overnight.

Blend or run thru a food processor, strain thru fine sieve and pack in bottles or 4 oz canning jars. Lasts in the fridge a long time, but you can process in a BWB for 10 minutes, after reheating the sauce first.

** Note- I scooped mostly peppers and garlic into the processor, pureed, then added vinegar from the pot til I got the consistency I wanted, a little body and not as runny. It is EXTREMELY hot and please taste test a TINY bit before you dump it in your hot wings.

Good luck !!!!! This sauce is VERY VERY hot !!!!

And I HIGHLY recommend you get your fresh ghost peppers from www.ghostpepperfarms.com and NOWHERE else. I guarantee, you will NOT find better peppers, faster service or a nicer guy than the owner.

One Hot Jelly Mama !!!!

The Mad Scientist is at it again !!!  I couldn't HELP myself !! My wonderful friend Ron Elkins has this awesome fresh pepper business in Florida, www.ghostpepperfarms.com, and I couldn't help but order some fresh ghost chiles this summer, as we did not grow any at home this year.

Well a pound of ghost chiles is A LOT of heat to work with so I knew I needed to get creative and fast. Knowing that pepper jelly is a pretty popular food and super easy to whip up, I thought  I'd do at least one batch. Researching recipe after recipe I couldn't really find what I wanted. Many called for red bell pepper, which is a readily available ingredient, but for me in small town Iowa, can be outrageously expensive. I know a lot of people make jellies from fruit juices so my little brain started thinking.......apple ? Too mild. Grape ? Too sweet. Ahhhhh CRANBERRY !!!!

So armed with 100% cranberry juice NOT cocktail, with no added sugar I began my experiment!! 

NOTE: This recipe/method is minimum 2 days prep so allow for that time.

Hotter Than Death Ghostly Cranberry Jelly

8 cups cranberry juice
4 ghost chiles
1 package Mrs. Wages pectin (just happens to be the brand I used, use whatever you like)
9 cups sugar

Start off by heating the cranberry juice to simmering. Meanwhile, CAREFULLY quarter the peppers leaving the stem end intact. Seeds and everything stay inside for now. 

Once the juice is hot, add the peppers,cover and let steep overnight. Refrigerate when it's cooled down a bit.

The next day TASTE TEST your juice. If it is way too hot you can replace some of the juice with fresh cranberry juice that has not been steeped with pepper. If you don't think it's as hot as you like, reheat WITH the peppers in the juice and allow to steep overnight, or add another pepper if you have one. The next day you will want to re-taste again before proceeding. Mine was not quite hot enough so I reheated the juice with the peppers in it, let it steep another couple hours and then it was perfect. You want a product with good hot hot hot heat that is still edible. When you have reached the right amount of heat, strain the juice through a jelly bag or coffee filter to remove all seeds and proceed with the jelly making.

In saucepan, combine juice with pectin. Bring to a full rolling boil over medium high heat. Add sugar all at once, stir constantly and return to full rolling boil for one minute. Remove from heat, skim foam if necessary.

Ever stared down into a volcano filled with molten lava?

Ladle hot jelly into 8 or 4 ounce jars, wipe rims, fix lids and seals and process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Remove from water, allow to cool at room temperature overnight. Remember, sometimes jelly does not "jel" immediately. Give it a few days before reprocessing with more pectin if needed. Check for proper seals, refrigerate or freeze any that did not seal. Label and store in cool, dry place. After my jelly boil over and sticky mess to clean up I ended up with 13 half pint jars processed and a custard cup in the fridge to test.

Now.......you have this beautiful ruby red and hellishly hot jelly. This is NOT peanut butter and jelly stuff, so what do you do with it? Some people like to spoon it over a softened block of cream cheese and serve with crackers. I plan to use it as a glaze/sauce for sticky sweet hot wings, a glaze for pork roast or kebabs, even steak cubes. Mix a little with cubed chicken and fresh Asian veggies for a spicy stir fry. Add a teaspoon to a vinaigrette for a roaring hot kick in the pants. Use your imagination and have fun !!

Pico de Gallo with a KICK !!!!

As you know, the Chef and I are growing a number of very very very HOT peppers in the garden and experimenting with using them in foods. This is the first thing we've actually used a ghost chili in as a seasoning and WOW was it delicious !

To make this FIERY fresh pico.......
2 small Lemon Boy tomatoes, finely diced
2 Roma tomatoes, finely diced
3 tb finely diced onion
1-2 tb finely minced jalapeno peppers
2 thin slices GHOST CHILE, finely minced
big pinch minced chives
big pinch minced cilantro or parsley
salt
pepper
splash of lime juice (I used Rose's sweetened lime juice from the bar dept)
...............
Mix everything together and allow to blend flavors for about an hour. Serve
as desired, with chips or as a topping. Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

We used this as a topping on tacos and nachos and ate every last bit of it ! The longer it sits, the more the heat diffuses throughout.  I used two VERY THIN slices of ghost chile and finely minced these into teeny tiny lieces. Didn't get any seeds in the dish and I decided to use the sweetened lime juice as opposed to regular lime juice thinking I could use the sweetness to counter balance the extreme heat of the ghost chile. It worked out great, but of course, you can use bottled or fresh lime juice if you prefer. Don't go buy a bottle of the other just for this- you can always add a teaspoon of sugar to soften the heat a little.