The Peppers

We had an unusually hot and dry summer in New Jersey. While the Manasquan aquifer contained plenty of water, the amount of electricity required to pump the water from 250 feet below ground to the garden twice a week would have been astronomical. So the garden had to get by on less-frequent waterings. Not surprisingly, one of our most successful crops was peppers. We had planted Bell, Hungarian, Banana, and an extra hot type called del Sol. That's all the tag on the plants read and I thought, "Mmmm. What a pretty name." We ate peppers stuffed with Boursin cheese, peppers sauteed with sausages, peppers, peppers in spaghetti sauce. We ate lots of peppers. Then we thought about storing them for the winter. We froze them whole in Ziploc bags. And I made a big batch of Cuddin' (Mississippiese for Cousin) Mittie's Chillie Sauce--an old family recipe with tomatoes, peppers, onions, sugar and vinegar. Mama (that's pronounced Mehmaw--my grandmother, Lula) made this every year and we ate it on butterbeans and black-eyed peas. Momma (as in my mother, Rita) still makes it and has created a tasty cheese cornbread with it. The recipe in my file is in my juvenile handwriting and likely copied verbatim from Mama's. I still know neither the size of a water bucket nor how many tomatoes it would take to fill a water bucket. I usually just go with about a half-gallon of peeled, chopped tomatoes. And as far as the directions go, you just have to know what you're doing. If you're a cook, you'll figure it out.

Mittie’s Chillie Sauce
Lula Lewis Chatham via Mittie Chatham

Ø water bucket full of tomatoes
Ø 12 pods hot pepper
Ø 6 onions
Ø 1 quart cider vinegar
Ø 4 cups sugar
Ø pickling spices in cheesecloth

Simmer 2 hours, 20 minutes. Put in sterilized jars and seal.

Later in the pepper season, Ted was looking at one of our cookbooks and found a recipe for a famous Garden Hot Sauce. So we made it. Of course, I, Southern boy that I am, love it and eat it on everything from scrambled eggs to tacos to pizza to pasta. It's a bit fiery for Ted's taste. We call it Hotter'n Sauce--the diner gets to decide what it's hotter'n.. Be forewarned... I have since found out that the full name of the prettily-named pepper is Serrano del Sol. It's hotter'n a snake's butt in a wagon rut. Hotter'n whoopee in woolens. You get the idea.
The hot sauce is especially tasty on collard and turnip greens. With cornbread and a big glass of ice-cold buttermilk. And sliced Vidalia onions.
Apologies to Commander's Palace for the bastardization of their recipe.



Hotter’n Pepper Sauce
adapted from the Commander’s Kitchen cookbook

Ø 1 ½ pounds ripe hot peppers (cayenne, jalapeno, habaneros, etc., or a combination)
Ø 1 cup kosher salt
Ø 3 cups white vinegar (I'm not sure how much difference it makes, but we used cider vinegar)

Rinse the peppers with cold water and dry them with a paper towel. Remove the stems and chop them coarsely. Place the chopped peppers in a stainless bowl, sprinkle the salt on top, stir, cover with plastic wrap and place in a cool, dry area for two days, stir every 12 hours. All that salt is there mostly to promote ripening of the peppers. Add the vinegar, and puree with a hand blender or in a food processor. (We strained out the seeds and pulp at this point. Dear Lord, it probably would've gone down like molten lava if we hadn’t.) Place in a sterilized glass jar with a fresh lid and refrigerate. As time goes by, whenever you have an excess of red peppers, again wash, remove stems, chop and add to the jar. (The salting step isn’t necessary for these additions.) When the jar is filled, remove the sauce, puree if you wish , place in a clean jar and age it until it reaches the desired flavor—at least 2 months, or longer. (I liked it “green”—with no aging whatsoever. But it does get better with time.)
The “duh” note: Use rubber gloves when handling the peppers, or wash your hands thoroughly before your eyes or any skin. A special “duh” note for men: If you opt to not use gloves and at some point later need to go to the bathroom, don’t touch yourself. Anywhere. Trust me. But it does get better with time.
Yields about 2 pints.