Monday, August 1, 2011

Blueberry Habanero Hot Sauce

Oatmeal, Blueberries, Egg, Cinnamon, Wheat bran, Blueberry Hot Sauce

My boyfriend brought me some wild blueberry hot sauce from his trip to Maine because of my obsession with hot sauce and blueberries. I instantly fell in love with the idea and taste of this sauce, so I attempted to recreate this recipe since it only required a few basic ingredients: wild blueberries, apple cider vinegar, habanero chili powder, ginger, garlic and honey

This unique blueberry hot sauce concoction tastes like a gingery blueberry sauce with a slightly spicy aftertaste. It's not as sweet as it sounds, but it pairs nicely with some carbs, meats, and perhaps even dessert.

My only critique would be the level of spice...or lack thereof. My rule of thumb is that if my boyfriend can handle it, then that means it doesn't pass my spice level test. So in my recipe, I threw in a generous amount of blueberries to turn it into a slightly thicker consistency. After refrigerating it for a few hours, the blueberries caused the sauce to thicken up nicely to a somewhat jammy-watery consistency. I also put in a good amount of fresh habanero pepper (not powder) to give it the extra heat it was missing.



Not exactly from Maine, but Butler's Orchard in Germantown, MD should do the job

4-6 minutes over low-medium heat

Blend well

Blueberry Habanero Hot Sauce:
1 1/2 cups Fresh blueberries
1 medium habanero pepper, seeded and minced (approx. 2 tbs)
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tbs honey*
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cinnamon
*Add more if you want it sweeter

1) Add all ingredients to pot over medium heat. Reduce to low-medium heat after about 4-6 minutes, mix, and let sit for another 2 minutes.
2) With a handheld blender, blend the sauce well (or transfer to blender). Let sit for about 1 hour to thicken. Store in jar and refrigerate. May reheat before serving if want a more saucy/fluid consistency.


Chilled


*WARNING*:
Habanero peppers WILL burn your fingers and any body part it may contact. Make sure you wear some gloves as a precaution to avoid suffering the never ending burn.  

According to the Scoville Scale, which measures the "spicy heat" of peppers, jalapeno peppers came in with a rating of 3,500-8,000 Scoville heat units, whereas habanero chili peppers came in with a whopping 100,000-350,000 Scoville heat units.