Chipotle hot sauce

Do you still have jalapenos and other peppers growing up there? The nights here are already almost too cold. and tomatoes? maybe some people had nice Fall tomatoes but ours are still only small and green.
I love making smoked vegetables though. Do you just eat the smoked pickled peppers plain? What a mouthful..

Kathy, we usually have a cold spell around the first of October. I cover my tomatoes and peppers on cold nights, because it's usually followed by a month of warm weather again. So if I can get it past the initial cold spell, I'll get another month of production.

I didn't pickle the peppers I smoked. The jalapenos-turned-chipotles went to hot sauce. And I smoked some hatch chiles to make some chile verde with.

Oh! I see. I have a big, industrial size can of hatch chiles. I should try to make chile verde, it should be made in a similar fashion,just no tomatoes..right?

Dennis that sound good, I love hot pepper sauce.
Can you tell me more?
How many peppers?
How much and what kind of salt?
What kind of vinegar?
How long did you smoke them?
I live south of Chicago and my garden (50 jalapeno pepper plants) is still going strong and I would like to make something out of the peppers I don't sell.
Thanks
Bud

This was my first attempt at chipotles. I cut them in half and laid them on the grate. Seeds in or out is your choice. Then smoke. For peppers you want to dry them--not cook. So keep the heat below 150.

If you want to make your own chipotle powder, you need to dry them completely. If you're just going to make hot sauce, they just need to get some smoke on them. I smoked ~4 hours pull the garlic sooner.

I used about 2 cups of jalapenos, and after smoking just put the peppers, garlic, and onion in the Cuisinart along with some hot white vinegar. I pureed, adding vinegar until it reached a pourable consistency. I also added the juice of a lime. With all the pulp, it's much thicker than Tobasco Chipotle.

Next I'm going to grill/char the jalapenos on the grill--2 cups jalapenos, 3-4 cloves garlic, and maybe only a half an onion.

Here's a good resource:
Making chipotles: http://www.randyq.addr.com/chiles/chipotles.html
Making hot sauce: http://www.randyq.addr.com/hotsauce/hot_sauce.htm

Thanks, I will try this the next time I have a couple days off.

Bud

Dennis,

I make a good chipotle sauce and found that I can calm it down by adding honey - also a good preservative.

smokemullet