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Bertie’s Mega-Hot Trinidad Pepper Sauce (recipe)

21 June 2007 20,649 views View Comments

Bertie's Mega-Hot Trinidad Pepper Sauce

So you want to know how to make Trini pepper sauce? Trinidad Pepper Sauce is no joke peoples. This is liquid fire, forged from the flesh of the hottest scotch bonnet peppers, garlic, onions and other assorted ingredients simmered to perfection.

This recipe is for my father’s pepper sauce, something he’s been making for… well let’s just say since before I was born :lol:

Mustard and vinegar give it a lovely sweet n sour tang, while ginger and garlic create a savoury aftertaste that will have you wishing you had sprinkled ‘just a little bit more’ on :) Some people add papaya and other assorted fruits for added sweetness, my father never has, still both options are equally valid.

This recipe yields around 1 Gallon of Pepper Sauce so feel free to scale down to suit your needs. Leave a little to give to a friend tho, they’ll love you for it :D

Scotch Bonnet Pepper

The main ingredient in Trinidadian Pepper Sauce is the infamous scotch bonnet pepper. This festive looking pepper comes in red, yellow, orange, and green and is well known for its heat. However, it also has a very floral quality and citric sweetness that many come to appreciate (after asking for more water the first few times that is :lol: )

From Wikipedia:

The Scotch Bonnet (Capsicum chinense Jacq.) is a variety of chili pepper similar to and of the same species as the habanero. A cultivar of the habanero, it is one of the hottest peppers in the world. Found mainly in the Caribbean islands, it is named for its resemblance to a Scotsman’s bonnet. Most Scotch Bonnets have a heat rating of 150,000–325,000 Scoville Units.

These peppers are used to flavour many different dishes and cuisines worldwide. Scotch Bonnet has a flavour distinct from its Habanero cousin. This gives Jerk dishes (pork/chicken) and other Caribbean dishes their unique flavour. Scotch Bonnets are especially used in Caymanian and Jamaican cooking, though they often show up in other Caribbean recipes

This entry has been submitted to Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by Astrid from Paulchen’s food blog.



Bertie’s Mega-Hot Trinidad Pepper Sauce

Recipe By: TriniGourmet.com
Yield: 1 Gallon

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 lbs Scotch Bonnet peppers
1/2 lb ginger, peeled
1/4 lb garlic
1 lb onions
2 litres vinegar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 – 3 tbsp salt (to taste)
2 cups mustard

DIRECTIONS:

1. Chop ginger, garlic, and onion.

2. Halve the Scotch bonnets (you may want to wear gloves for this)

3. Pour 1 cup vinegar into the blender
4. Add ginger, garlic, onion, and peppers in small batches
5. Blend until mixture becomes almost ‘too thick’ to blend further
6. Add 3 tbsp mustard and 1 cup vinegar
7. Repeat. Adding garlic, onions, peppers, mustards and vinegar in sequence until blender fills

8. Pour puree into a Dutch oven and continue the blending process until all the ginger, garlic, onion, and peppers are used up.
9. Add vegetable oil and salt to the pureed mixture
10. Bring to a boil over high heat
11. Immediately reduce heat and simmer uncovered (stirring occasionally) for 10 minutes

Bertie's Mega Hot Trinidad Pepper Sauce

12. Remove from heat and bottle

This recipe is an exclusive TriniGourmet original. Please do not share it or post it to your site without crediting TriniGourmet.com. A link back to our site is not necessary but always appreciated :)

  • Ask4bonnie
    I made some of the sauce about a year ago, canned it, gave away a ton, and still have some! most folks really like it! A great find!
  • peppersauceNumber5
    rings are nice but onions tend to encourage suplhurous bacterial growth hence old ppl say it causes spolilage of the pepper sauce as well as the added sugar encourages their growth....

    btw heat is good for bringing out the flavours and also killling bacteria off too

    lol try a roast pepper as compared to regular pepper

    or for those who can get it... a simple jalapeno..... try half raw and then roast the other half of the same pepper till it softens and see how hot it gets

    this is why ppl 'sun out' their sauces cos sunlight inhibits bacterial growth and heat changes the food too

    tabasco sauce is fermented in oak they claim cos most metals cause redox reactions with the acidic pepper sauce acid + base(metal) = metal salt + water
    eg Hydrochloric acid + sodium = sodium chloride aka table salt
  • peppersauceNumber5
    The longer the pepper sace takes to ferment the better or longer it lasts.. common chemistry lol the other stuff e.g the sugars and the ethanols which get oxodized to ethanoic acid eventually especially in the presence of vinegar aka acetic acid in trini...lol...... it also dependson what 'vintage taste/aroma/flavour u looking for... e.g. i have a bottle of pepper sauce i keep refrigerated as a master stock just pure pepper salt and vinegar...and when ready just add a lil extra vinegar and keep outside in a serving bottle which usually empties ina month during this time, complex redox reactions change the composition and flavour of it.... there are some pepper sauces i know outside in jus vinegar for more than a year... the other flavou
  • Louise Gadoury
    Okay so I made this sauce in January and gave it away in little bottles as gifts -- people LOVED this sauce. I made a few different kinds, but this was by far the most popular. It was a bit too hot for me in the beginning, but tasted so good that I started slow and now I put it on everything! Sarina -- thank you! I'm making a double gallon batch next week to give away at my birthday party. This sauce has now become a tradition in my circles.... thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
  • Bill
    Have you ever used peppers that you had previously frozen? I have a bunch of peppers from last season that I steamed, ice bathed, and then shrink wrapped & froze. Looking for a good use for them. Plus, 2 1/2 pounds is a lot of peppers to gather when you only have one plant!
    Thanks!
  • Hi Bill, after rereading my father's recipe for Trinidad Pepper Sauce I see no reasons why steamed and frozen peppers can not be used. If it was a recipe where the peppers needed to retain their form it may have been a problem but as they are pureed I say go right ahead! The only diffference I think you will experience is a reduction in the heat profile. Let me know how it turns out. Best Wishes! :)
  • Valerie - so glad it met your son's heat factor! :lol:

    Munch- Thanks! will check out yours ;)
  • munch
    Wow that was a great recipe, i like the size of dem peppers. This recipe is similar to my recipe check it out
    How to make pepper sauce
  • Bruce
    Hi Sarina!
    I was wondering - is there any method that can be used so that the sauce does not require refrigeration? I am making my first batch tomorrow and wondered if there was anything I could do to this end.

    Either way - I am sure looking forward to the "friendly fire"!!!

    Thanks for posting the wonderful recipe!
  • Valerie
    Absolutely fantastic! My son could never find anything hot enough but now he has! I made a tiny amount to try it out, but I will definitely be making it again. I am now hooked on your site. The black cake was yesterday (YUM!) and next I'm making aloo pies & doubles...
  • Randy
    Those are NOT scotch bonnets. Those are Trinidadian congo peppers, which are different to scotch bonnets. If you look at the description posted, they are even described as having "bonnets". Here is what a real one looks like.

    http://www.artsjournal.com/outthere/scotch_bonnet_pepper.jpg
  • They are not always 'collapsed'. My father doesn't use congos for his sauce. Best wishes

    http://www.bigoven.com/whatis.aspx?term=scotch+bonnet+chilies
    http://www.gringleygringo.com/acatalog/Scotch_Bonnet_chilli.html
  • Andre Sharp
    I just cooked it up. The boiling is what caught my attention. I've blanched before, but not boiled. I used some local peppers here in San Francisco, along with some yellows I brought back from Nevis, while on vacation. Otherwise I have to wait for family to come visit from Trinidad. It's cooling now, but the kitchen smells nice spicy. UMM.
  • It's a great smell isn't it ? :) Thanks for letting me know that a little bit of my home is now a part of yours :)
  • Steve Embleton
    Hi Sarina, mmmmmmmmmm!, I'm addicted. My supply of Trini hot pepper sauce is diminishing. I can't wait until June when our Trini friends come to the UK with fresh supplies, so I've had a go at making it myself. Great!, it even gets the thumbs up from the boys in the local pub (those brave enough to try!). I've tried a slight variation by adding three finely chopped up limes at the simmering stage. Both versions are just as addictive.
    Can't wait to try doubles and pepper sauce in Trini, won't get there for Carnival 2010 to see the Trini Revellers band.

    Many thanks, Steve E., Bridlington, UK
  • charlane bishop
    Sarina,
    thank you so much for sharing your poppas recipe .....its simmering on my stove......5 more min....it tastes and smells devine.....
    i look forward to trying one of your tradtional dishes to accompany it...or just on my eggs tomorrow morning,
    I wonder if Habaneros grown in my place , Wolfville ,Nova Scotia, Cananda are as hot as in the motherland
    thanks again
    char
  • Notice the gloves used in preparation!
    .-= Marsha´s last blog ..Coincidence? I CALL IT FATE =-.
  • Notice how he didn't have them on for a good part of the cutting the peppers though? ;) Yeah, not smart :lol:
  • Sharon & Jo - Hope they turn out to your liking!! :)

    Chris - I have never asked my father why he cooks it... I should do so before typing my answer but I'm feeling rather lazy. In tasting his (vs. others) I have noticed that his is not as harsh as many other pepper sauces I've had. Meaning that the heat is there, but the flavours are what you notice first and then the heat creeps up and takes over :). I believe the cooking is partly responsible for that. Also, he makes his batches to last for a full year and I can't see it lasting that long otherwise :D

    Michael - cooking it (if you did) it should last 6 months or more in the fridge :) I love how you made your own substitutions. I recently had a milder pimento sauce that used sweeter vegetables and loved it immensely :)
  • jo
    OMG! I can't wait to make this! Of all the things my Trini husband talks about missing from back home this is the big one. An authentic, mustard-based, singe-your-eyebrow-hair-off sauce is sure to bring a tear to his eye. Thanks!
  • Michael (Boca Raton, Florida)
    Actually the sauce from my previous post was Baron's from St. Lucia.
  • Michael (Boca Raton, Florida)
    Thanks.

    My daughter brought back some hot souce from Guyana (but it was made in Trinidad). It was a big bottle (28 oz) that I thought we would never finish, even though we like hot souces. It was gone in 2 months.

    I looked to get some more on the internet but the shipping would bring the price of a big bottle to over $20. So, I decided to try to make my own and ended up going with your recipe, more or less. I added 3 times the garlic and no ginger. I also added carrots, since they are an ingredient of "Dave's After Death" hot souce and I though it needed some more without the ginger body. I really like the result.

    I also tried a batch with a lot (3 mangos to 8 peppers) of fresh mango instead of the carrots for a sweeter milder sauce. That was great also. I guess it's all good.

    Bye the way, since I now have a LOT of sauce, how long should it last in the fridge?

    Cheers,
    Michael

    Thanks, again.
  • Like chennette mentioned, I'd love to know the "punch" cooking adds to it. Seems just about everyone in my family has a recipe for pepper sauce, including me.. even my 14yr old daughter. But none of them include cooking. Will have to give this a try when I reap my pepper this summer.

    <abbr>Chris De La Rosa’s last blog post..Shado Beni hot sauce which will rock your socks off!</abbr>
  • Sharon
    Hi Sarina, just wanted to say thanks for sharing your family recipes with us. Have been to St Lucia a couple of times and loved the local sauces but difficult to get in the UK. Now we can enjoy the real deal without the airfare! xx
  • Andre and April - I hope it turns out to your liking :)
  • Andre and April
    Thanks for the recipe! We're making it right now (though only 1/5 of the recipe). April's grandfather is from Trinidad, and we love his sauce... unfortunately, his recipe is lost... hopefully yours will be a good substitute!


    Cheers-

    Andre and April
  • SHANAZA
    thanks Nicole...
  • Shanaza - what settles at the bottom is the solids in the bottom sauce separating from the oils. Just a quick stir should fix things again :) Depending on how finely one blends ones pepper sauce you may or may not have this problem

    Nicole - thanks! :)
  • Hey, I am planning a pepper and pepper sauce post, too! This one looks delish.
  • SHANAZA
    why do peppersauce settles at the top or bottom when in bottles....can u tell me what i must do to prevent that.
  • Amina - those recipes are coming soon! :)

    Natasha - YAY!! I'll pass this message on to my dad! :)

    April - Hi there, I don't have a jerk chicken recipe on this site (yet).... the site may have been confused by this pepper sauce recipe as akin to jerk seasoning :lol:

    Lee - yes, by all means refrigerate! :D
  • Linbx
    Several years ago we enjoyed the scotch bonnet pepper sauces when in Jamaica; brought several home to enjoy. Last week we were visiting in Red Rocks, Colorado and tried their garlic and scotch bonnet hot sauce, omg!! Brought some home where we were actually growing plants for the first time. I can't waitto try your pepper sauce reciepe.

    Would you please send a jerk chicken or pork recipe to go along with the sauce??

    Many thanks for sharing!
  • lee
    HI,
    my name is lee and I live in america , I would like to know after making this pepper sauce if you have to refridgerate it?
    thanks for a wonderful recipe.
    lee.
  • april
    hi. i found this site from elise's simply recipes site (jerk chicken link). i'm looking for your jerk chicken recipe...

    also--is this sauce a table sauce that you just use on whatever you'd use tabasco on, or does it go well with any particular type of dish(es)? thanks!
  • Natasha Sotilleo Vink
    OMG!! I"m so greatful for the Bertie's pepper sauce recipie!! I live in Luxembourg and have been grieving for some real pepper sauce and found this recipie on trini gourmet.com. I followed the recipie all the way and ended up with the best tasting sauce and i did it all by myself! haha[thanks to Bertie!]
    THANKYOU SARINA for finding and sharing this recipie!
  • amina
    i want know how to make shadow benie sauce and garlic sauce
  • Laura
    This recipe sounds deeelicious and I'm about to make it with all my homegrown habaneros from the summer. Thanks for clarifying what kind of vinegar and mustard to use -- I just have one more question. I don't have a kitchen scale, so I don't know how much my peppers weigh. Can you estimate how much 2.5 pounds is in volume (cups or pints)? Thanks, and I look forward to searing my tongue with this stuff. :)
  • Nicole - Mmmm sounds good! :D

    Justin - we do yes, but feel free to leave them out if you want to reduce the heat level :)

    Terry - we use regular white vinegar :) I think apple cider would have too strong a flavour, but feel free to experiment and make it your own :D
  • Terry
    Can't wait to make some of this sauce. I have a friend here in the states that is originally from Trinidad and he makes me a very similar sauce. However, he never quite tells me his recipe, so I have to wait till he makes a batch. Now I can make my own. My question is what is the best kind of vinegar to use. Thanks
  • Justin
    Do you include all of the seeds from the peppers?
  • Great post and lovely photos. I love growing and learning about different hot peppers. Since January I have been using my Thai red demon chilis and orange fogo chilis every day, fresh off the pepper plants.
    You would not believe where I have tasted the best "congo" pepper in the world-Haiti! You taste heat, smoke and fruit, unbelievable! I was only there 3 days so I couldnt get seeds.
  • Danny
    I just made this. One tip: use gloves!!! I've tried every remedy the internet has suggested, but i still have hands that are BURNING and feel like they are on fire.

    Also, I tasted a tiny bit and I can confirm that "liquid fire" is an accurate description.
  • Lisa - I guarantee you'll love it :D hehehe ! :D
  • Hi Sarina, saw your comment and link on Simply Recipes -- the jerk chicken recipe. This looks just fantastic. Love the photos of the sauce maker, too! I'll have to try making this. I do see Scotch bonnets at the store sometimes.
  • John - oh no! :) thanks tho :)

    Chris - yes just plain yellow mustard, you can mix it up with some of your fave blends tho to see how that goes, i've been wanting to try some honey dijon at some point :)
  • Chris
    Um, what kind of mustard are you using in this? Just plain yellow mustard?
  • Hi Sarina, I'm not a real hot spice fan; "liquid fire" has me running for the extinguishers. I do like the way you have done your entry. Looking forward to more
  • Astrid - awww :)

    Maninas - Thanks! :)
  • You know what, you've made those little devils look really beautiful and even appetising! :D I'm a fan of hot food, but even if I wasn't, I would be tempted!
  • uuuh this might definitely be too hot for me ;)
    thanks for sharing and joining in!
  • 1969 - i never knew my grandparents but it's funny how many 'secrets' the older generation have foodwise :) be sure to get her recipe, that's one of the reasons why i started this site, to preserve my own family's recipes in turn :)
  • My grandmother makes some GOOD pepper sauce. I will be sure to try this one!
  • Chennette - I'm not sure how it changes the flavours.. i'll have to do a taste test between 'heated' and 'unheated' ... mmm sounds fun :D Should give you some! :D
  • Oops...didn't mean to imply that this was not a regular pepper sauce ;-) I meant to say "our family" pepper sauces!
  • hmmm...boiling the pepper sauce is interesting. Does that process change the flavours? because otherwise, the recipe is similar to regular pepper sauces which are preserved in the vinegar/lime juice (that's what we use). I am seriously curious now how the taste will change with the addition of heat.
  • This sounds like a fabulous recipe. I've heard stories about this type of hot sauce with scotch bonnet peppers, but I've never tried it. I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to hot foods, but I'd definitely try it if I had the chance!
  • @marflixone sounds good :) here is my dad's very trini hot sauce recipe :) http://bit.ly/iNX9
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