What To Keep In Mind When Making Home-Canned Hot Sauce

Hot sauce is a delicious, spicy condiment that goes well with anything from eggs to wings. While hundreds of pre-bottled hot sauces exist, suited to every possible taste, it's not too difficult to whip up a batch of hot sauce at home. With full control over the ingredients and process, home cooks can craft the hot sauce of their dreams with a little skill and practice. Making hot sauce takes just a few simple ingredients, for the most part: peppers, aromatics (usually garlic or onions), seasonings (including salt), and liquid (typically water, citrus, or vinegar, or a mix). 

However, some people enjoy getting creative by adding flavorings, using anything from fruits to honey to chocolate. Some cooks enjoy blending in fats, such as olive oil or even lard, to affect the flavor and texture. But be warned: adding fats can reduce hot sauce's shelf life considerably, and they can also affect the texture as it sits in the refrigerator. Using vegetable oil or something equally neutral is preferable (if you want to include an oil at all).

Keep in mind that there are several different types of hot sauces, and some are easier to make at home than others. Simple hot sauces only require a blender and a container to keep them in. They typically can be prepared within the course of a day, or even an hour. If you want to make a fermented hot sauce, however, that will take far more time, effort, and skill. Fermentation develops deeper flavors, creating a more subtle finished product. It also helps the sauce keep longer in the refrigerator (barring any perishable additives, such as the aforementioned fats).

Fermented hot sauce is made by taking peppers and adding them whole to a salt brine, making a mash out of them and adding salt to the mash directly, or mixing these two processes by adding a wet brine to the pepper mash. Whichever way you decide to prepare the sauce, the salt will prevent the growth of harmful organisms while allowing lactic acid fermentation to take place as the flavors of the sauce develop.

While animal fats aren't recommended additives for a hot sauce — at least not for one you'd like to keep in the fridge for a long time — there are other ways to thicken homemade canned hot sauces. Starting with a thicker blend of ingredients in the first place can help. But what if the finished product turns out a little liquidy, even after you've gotten the flavors the way you want them?

A thickening agent, such as xanthan gum, can come to the rescue. This additive (which you might have seen on nutrition labels) is a flavorless powder you can buy in stores or via online retailers. Just a small amount of xanthan gum blended into the sauce can both thicken it and keep it from separating while sitting in the fridge. While it doesn't impart any extra deliciousness, the way that fat would, this ingredient can help in a pinch if you're looking for a more viscous sauce.