Crisp, flavorful sweet heat sauce with a spicy kick
- 3 tablespoons olive oil or more as needed
- 15 small fresh jalapeno peppers diced
- 4 ears fresh corn kernels cut from cob
- 3 plum tomatoes diced
- 1 red onion diced
- 1 yellow bell pepper diced
- 5 scotch bonnet chile peppers diced
- 1/2 cup shredded carrots
- 5 cloves garlic diced
- 3 cups cider vinegar or more as needed
- Carbohydrate 4.03535416678467 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 0.222375 g
- Fiber 0.592916671832402 g
- Protein 0.6462125 g
- Saturated Fat 0.0341904166666667 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (37g)
- Sodium 4.78416666730111 mg
- Sugar 3.44243749495227 g
- Trans Fat 0.0311625 g
- Calories 20 calories
Step-by-step
- Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Cook and stir jalapeno peppers, corn, tomatoes, red onion, yellow bell pepper, Scotch bonnet peppers, carrots, and garlic in hot oil until onion is translucent, 10 to 20 minutes.
- Pour enough cider vinegar into Dutch oven to cover vegetables by 1/2-inch. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and cook at a low boil until liquid is reduced to just covering the vegetables, about 20 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until liquid is slightly more reduced, about 20 minutes more. Pour mixture through a strainer to separate vegetables from liquid; reserve liquid.
- Pour 1 cup of vegetables into a blender. Cover and hold lid down; pulse a few times before leaving on to blend. Add another cup of vegetables and continue pureeing until smooth. Repeat with remaining vegetables. Add reserved liquid and blend until desired sauce consistency is reached.
Operating without a food processor requires a standard blender and a methodical approach to pureeing fibrous ingredients in stages. Fresh produce contains intact cellular walls packed with water and pectin, whereas preserved or fermented ingredients have already undergone structural breakdown. Cooking the diced jalapeños, corn, tomatoes, red onion, yellow bell pepper, Scotch bonnet peppers, carrots, and garlic in a Dutch oven softens those rigid cell walls via thermal hydrolysis. Sweat the vegetables in olive oil over medium heat until the onions reach a translucent stage, which typically requires 10 to 20 minutes of frequent stirring to prevent scorching. Pouring cider vinegar over the softened produce introduces acetic acid, which halts pectin breakdown and preserves a bright, sharp profile during the subsequent low boil. Reduce the liquid until it just covers the vegetables, taking roughly 20 minutes, then simmer on medium-low for an additional 20 minutes to concentrate the sugars released from the corn and tomatoes. Straining the solids from the cooking liquid allows absolute control over viscosity. Add one cup of cooked vegetables to the blender at a time, pulsing initially to break large chunks before running the motor continuously. Gradually incorporate the reserved cider vinegar until the emulsion achieves fluidity. Acidity levels dictate shelf stability, meaning high-acid vinegar environments naturally inhibit bacterial growth without artificial preservatives. Judge doneness visually by monitoring the reduction level of the cooking liquid until it meets the top of the vegetable mass rather than relying on internal temperature probes.
