Fruity Scotch Bonnet Sauce

Scotch Bonnet (SB) Sauce

SB sauce (Spicy Bitch)

I’ve been making batches of SB sauce since before Christmas. I gave several jars away as presents which were well-received, and I myself consumed almost an entire bottle of it over about two weeks. It’s utterly delicious. The fruitiness of the chillies comes through before the spice bites the tongue.

This is the recipe I've developed - it’s a blend of the best bits of several different online methods, and which I think makes a perfectly balanced sauce. I reckon it’s about the same heat level as the red Tabasco sauce, but much fruitier.

Scotch Bonnet (SB) sauce

Makes about 1 litre. I can't tell you how long it lasts, as I've been eating/gifting it too quickly!

Ingredients

1kg scotch bonnets (predominantly red/orange, but it won’t lessen the red colour if a few green/white ones slip in)
One head of garlic, peeled
2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp smoky paprika
80ml - 100ml vinegar (I used tarragon-infused white wine vinegar - see below)
250ml water
Juice of 1 lemon

Method

Rinse the chillies and deseed them, using gloves or a plastic bag over the hands. You can either pull the chillies in half easily with your hands, or cut them in half, and then scoop out the seeds.

Place the halved, deseeded chillies and the whole garlic cloves into a large pan, and sauté with olive oil until you feel your sinuses start to sing. About ten minutes should do it - you want to heat the chillies so that the fruity flavour starts to emanate.

Clear a space in the bottom of the pan, add the smoky paprika, and fry for a couple more minutes until you can smell the paprika.

And the remaining ingredients - salt, sugar, lemon juice, vinegar, water - and bring to a gentle boil, and cover. After about 20 mins (when the chillies and garlic look soft), turn off the heat.

When it is cool, blend it and pour it into jars/bottles. Enjoy SB sauce with everything!

*To make tarragon vinegar, stuff some (clean) fresh tarragon into your vinegar bottle (can be cider or wine vinegar). It will start to smell deliciously herby almost immediately. It’s especially good in vinaigrette.

**To sterilise my jars, I clean them well, pour some just-boiled water inside, put the lid on, shake, and empty.

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