Making sure you know how to handle hot sauce is key when your lucky enough to have a true Caribbean or homemade bottle on hand.

If you are looking for a recipe to make, my suggestion is to find one with few ingredients and a good preservative (as in vinegar). Try something with Scotch Bonnets – great balance and heat ratio when mixed with the right ingredients.

Scotch Bonnets being blended with vinegar and select ingredients.

Handle with caution

Straight out of the bottle and especially during prep, always remember…

• Do not touch your face or eyes with your hands (Oils from the peppers will sting/burn and cause you to flush with water for at least 15-20 minutes.
• Immediately wipe up and clean any that may spill or come in contact with counters/handles/table tops etc
• Never use wooden spoons or complicated utensils that will be hard to clean

Can’t Handle the heat

Everyone is different, so is every hot pepper. They are to be enjoyed, not just for dares or pranks.

A great chart found at http://www.cooking-with-us.com showing the heat ranges.

If you do have a sauce that is too hot – you can make it more enjoyable by “watering it down” with the base ingredients found in the original recipe. Look at the side of the bottle. Most use vinegar as the preservative and a mix of secondary liquids to reduce heat and/or improve flavour.

THICK SAUCES

Any sauce that is provided in a paste or heavy format (think baby food or ketchup thickness) can be brought to a liquid state quickly by mixing in a 5:2 ratio of vinegar to flavour.

For example, I prep my sauce into 250ml bottles. To thin out the recipe (to last longer and reduce heat), I recommend adding 5 TBSP of white vinegar and 1 TBSP of prepared mustard and 1 TBSP or chopped onions.

Enjoy.

p.s. Here is a link to my favourite hot sauce… http://www.the-barbados-shop.com/delish-bajan-hot-sauce-2litre/