Easy, Delicious Vinegar Pepper Sauce

I took a few minutes to make a fresh batch of vinegar pepper sauce, which I find delicious in chili and gumbo!

The ingredients are simple:

Vinegar, peppers, garlic and peppercorn.

I am using a regular Ball canning jar to make this batch, only because I don't have an empty soy sauce bottle available (I find that the soy sauce bottle works best because the neck is slightly wider, allowing for larger peppers to be pushed in).

Here's how I do it:  I boil enough water to fill soak the bottles to be used for the sauce.  (I completely submerge the bottles in the boiling water).  After the water cools, empty the jars and allow to dry completely, while protecting them from contaminants.

After the bottles are dry, you're ready to start.  Smash up 3 or 4 cloves of garlic and set aside.  Also, set aside about a teaspoon of whole peppercorns.

Put enough vinegar to fill the bottle into the microwave or on the stove and get it towards a boil.  Pick your favorite peppers (I always use a combination of jalapeno, habanero, banana and chili peppers).  Cut a slit in each pepper (to allow the vinegar access to the seeds inside).

Put the peppercorn and the garlic into the bottle, and then put the peppers into the bottle, stopping when the peppers reach the neck.

After your bottle is stuffed with peppers, bring your vinegar to a boil.  Once boiling, pour the vinegar into the bottle, until it is at lease half way up the neck.  Use the handle of a long spoon to gently push the peppers down until the air bubbles quit rising.  Then check the vinegar level again, making certain that it is at least half way up the neck of the bottle.

Put the bottles aside (on the cabinet or stove top) and cover with a paper towel.  Do not "cap" the bottle until the vinegar is COMPLETELY cool!

Once cool, cap the bottle and put it in the pantry or the refrigerator for a few weeks.  (It is not necessary to refrigerate the sauce, though; some people prefer it to be at room temperature.  To each his own!).

After 2 to 3 weeks, the sauce should have a good pepper flavor, and some heat!  The longer it sits, the better it gets.

One of the cool things about making pepper sauce this way is that when the bottle gets low on vinegar, you just boil some more vinegar and refill the bottle.  The sauce will last indefinitely this way!