BERBERE, THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF ETHIOPIA, IS ALSO THE NAME GIVEN TO THIS INCENDIARY RED PEPPER SAUCE. USED BOTH AS A TABLE CONDIMENT AND AS AN INGREDIENT IN MANY SOUPS, STEWS, MARINADES, AND MEAT DISHES, BERBERE PLAYS A VERY IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE COOKING OF ETHIOPIA, AND CAN BE A VALUABLE INGREDIENT FOR AMERICAN COOKS, AS WELL.

When you prepare this intoxicating, brick-red chili sauce, be sure to use your overhead stove fan or open all the windows. You might also want to tie a scarf around your nose and mouth while heating the spices in the sauté pan.

Place the red pepper flakes, cumin, black pepper, salt, cardamom, fenugreek, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, allspice, and coriander in a medium, heavy-bottomed nonstick sauté pan. Cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until their aroma fills the air and the color has darkened slightly, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a blender and set aside.

In the same pan, heat the cayenne pepper and paprika over moderately low heat for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add to the spice mixture in the blender along with the garlic, water, and peanut oil. Puree until smooth, stopping occasionally to scrape the sides of the container.

Return the pureed mixture to the sauté pan and cook over moderately low heat for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent the sauce from burning. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature. Store in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 5 months.

1/2 lb Hawaiian salt (up to 1)

1 gal Water

Combine ingredients and bring to a boil. Cool; store in bottles. Let stand 2-3 days before using. Yield: 16 cups. Me ke aloha, Mary

Fragrant, fiery chile-pepper water is an essential condiment on the Hawaiian table, where a few drops of the stuff transforms even stodgy cutlets and lumpen beef stews into something almost magical.

Active time: 10 min Start to finish: 45 min

Servings: Makes about 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients

1/2 garlic clove, minced
2 fresh red Hawaiian or serrano chiles, halved and seeded
2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
1/3 cup plus 1 1/4 cups water
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

Preparation

Blend garlic, chiles, ginger, a pinch of salt, 1/3 cup water, and vinegar in blender until smooth. Bring remaining 1 1/4 cups water to a boil. Then add chile mixture and bring to a boil. Cool completely. (Keeps, covered and chilled, 1 month.)

• 6-10 small Hawaiian red chili peppers,
  dried or fresh. You may also use red Thai or Asian peppers.
• 1 teaspoon of freshly grated ginger
• 2 teaspoons white or rice vinegar
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and cut into thin strips
• 1 teaspoon Hawaiian salt (rock/kosher style sea salt, not iodized table salt)
• 2 cups of hot distilled water, but not boiling.

I usually chop about 1/2 the peppers into small pieces and leave the others whole. Warning: Hawaiian chili peppers are very hot! Don’t get any in your eyes and wash your hands well after chopping them.

Combine the peppers, ginger, garlic and salt in a glass jar. Add in the hot water and let the mixture steep at room temperature overnight.

In the morning, fill one or more appropriate sized ’shake n serve’ bottles. Clean Tabasco or soy sauce bottles work great. Be sure to divide the garlic, ginger, and peppers between each of the bottles. Keep refrigerated.

Chili pepper water is great on rice, eggs, meats, seafoods almost anything.

1/2 cup chili pepper water
1/2 cup diced tomato
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil

In a blender, combine chili water, tomato and vinegar-blend until smooth. Slowly incorporate oil. Note: To make chili pepper water, blend a quart of boiled and cooled water, 2 teaspoons Hawaiian salt and 1/4 cup of stemmed Hawaiian chiles in a blender. 3 cloves of garlic and/or 1 teaspoon of vinegar may be added. Store in refrigerator.

Active time: 10 min Start to finish: 45 min

Servings: Makes about 1 1/2 cups

INGREDIENTS

1/2 garlic clove, minced
2 fresh red Hawaiian or serrano chiles, halved and seeded
2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
1/3 cup plus 1 1/4 cups water
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

PREPERATION

Blend garlic, chiles, ginger, a pinch of salt, 1/3 cup water, and vinegar in blender until smooth. Bring remaining 1 1/4 cups water to a boil. Then add chile mixture and bring to a boil. Cool completely. (Keeps, covered and chilled, 1 month.)

n. A spiced sauce made with chilies and tomatoes.

Food and Nutrition:hot sauce
A tomato sauce with pungent flavour due to cayenne.

chili sauce

tomatoes and onions and peppers (sweet or hot) simmered with vinegar and sugar and various seasonings

hot sauce

Hot sauce, chili sauce, or pepper sauce refer to any spicy sauce made from chili peppers and other ingredients. There are many varieties around the world.

Ingredients

There are countless recipes for chili sauces, and the only thing they share in common is the use of chili peppers. The peppers are infused in anything from vinegar, oil, and alcohol to fruits and vegetable pulp. Additional ingredients are often used, including, on occasions, those used to add extra heat, such as pure capsaicin extract and mustards.

Styles of chili sauce

• United States: Most often called hot sauces, they are typically made from chili pepper, vinegar and salt. Peppers used are often of the varieties Cayenne, Jalapeño and Habanero. Chipotles (smoked jalapeños) are also common. Some hot sauces, notably Tabasco sauce, are aged in wooden casks similar to the preparation of wine and fermented vinegar. Other ingredients, including fruits and vegetables such as raspberries, mangoes, carrots, and chayote squash are sometimes used to add flavor, mellow the heat of the chilis, and thicken the sauce’s consistency.
  • Louisiana-style: the most popular style in America. Louisiana-style hot sauce contains red chili peppers (Tabasco and/or Cayenne are the most popular), vinegar and water. Occasionally salt and/or Xanthan gum or other thickeners are used.
    • Frank’s RedHot
    • Louisiana Hot Sauce
    • Crystal Hot Sauce
    • Texas Pete
    • Tabasco sauce
    • Trappey’s Hot Sauce
    • Chili Pepper Water: Used primarily in Hawaii, this concoction is ideal for cooking. It is made from whole chilies, garlic, salt, and water. Often homemade, the pungent end product must be sealed carefully to prevent leakage.
  • A comparatively mild chili sauce is produced by Heinz and other manufacturers, and is frequently found in cookbooks in the U.S. This sauce is based on tomatoes, green and/or red bell peppers, and spices. Chili peppers may or may not be included in the recipe, but if so, in relatively small proportions. This sauce is more akin to tomato ketchup and cocktail sauce than predominantly chili pepper based sauces.^{[1] [2]}
• Mexico - Mexican hot sauce typically focuses more on flavor than on intense heat. The sauces are hot, but the individual flavors of the peppers are pronounced. Vinegar is used sparingly or not at all. Chipotles (dried and smoked jalapeño peppers) are a very popular ingredient of Mexican hot sauce. Some sauces produced in Mexico are high-vinegar-content Louisiana-style sauces. Mexican-style sauces are also produced internationally (e.g. Huffman’s Hot Sauce & Kaitaia fire from New Zealand).
  • El Yucateco, the best selling sauces in Mexico
  • Valentina, a traditional Mexican sauce
  • Búfalo, a popular Mexican sauce
  • Cholula hot sauce, a versatile Mexican Hot Sauce
  • Tapatío hot sauce, the most common Mexican salsa picante in the US
  • Pico Pica, a good example of Mexican hot sauce without vinegar
  • Chile de Arbol very hot, similar to cayenne peppers, used in the popular Torta Ahogada dish
• Asia
  • China. Chinese chili sauces usually come as a thick paste, and are used either as a dipping sauce or in stirfrying.
    • Dou Ban Sauce (Dou ban jiang 豆瓣醬), originates from Szechuan cuisine in which chilis are used liberally. It is made from broad bean paste, and usually contain a fair amount of chili. Often referred to in English as Chili Bean Sauce.
    • Pao La Jiao, Yu La Jiao (泡辣椒， 鱼辣椒）Dipped Chili or Fish Chili. Made by pickling whole, fresh red chilis in a brine solution, this sauce is the key ingredient in the famous Sichuan dish YuXiang Rousi （鱼香肉丝），Julienned Pork in Fish Fragrance Sauce). The key to this pickle is to add a live crucian carp to the pickling pot along with the chilis, hence the name Fish Chili. The carp is supposed to lend its fragrance and ‘unami’ to the pickle.
    • La Jiao You or Hong You （辣椒油， 红油）Chili Oil or Red Oil, is another distinctive Sichuan flavoring found mainly in cold dishes as well as a few hot dishes. Chili oil is made by pouring hot oil onto a bowl of dried chilis, to which some Sichuan pepper is usually added. After steeping in hot oil for at least a few hours, the oil takes on the taste and fragrance of chili. The finer the chili is ground, the stronger the flavor (regional preferences vary:ground chili is usually used in Western China, while whole dried chili is more common in Northern China.)
    • Guilin chili sauce (Guìlín làjiāojiàng 桂林辣椒酱), made of fresh chili, garlic and fermented soya beans. Also marketed as soy chili sauce.
    • Duo Jiao sauce (Duo Jiao 剁椒） originates from Hunan cuisine, which is reputed to be even spicier than Sichuan cuisine. “Duo” means chopped, and “Jiao” means chili. Duojiao is made of chopped red chilis pickled in a brine solution, and has a salty and sour pickled taste. Duo Jiao is the key flavoring in the signature Hunan dish Duo Jiao Yu Tou (剁椒鱼头）， Fish Head steamed with Duo Jiao.
  • Thailand
    • Sriracha - made from sun-ripened chili peppers, vinegar, garlic, sugar and salt. Traditionally used as a dipping sauce for seafood in Thailand, but often used elsewhere in a wide variety of foods. It is commonly put on french fries in California.
    • Thai sweet chili sauce. Used as a dipping sauce. Mae Ploy is a leading manufacturer.
  • Japan
    • Okinawa - Kōrēgūsu (コーレーグース, 高麗胡椒), made of chilis infused in awamori rice spirit, is a popular condiment to Okinawan dishes such as Okinawa soba.
• West Indies - Hot pepper sauces, as they are most commonly known there, feature heavily in Caribbean cuisine. Like American-style sauces, they are made from chili peppers and vinegar, with fruits and vegetables added for extra flavor. The most common peppers used are habanero and scotch bonnet, the latter being the most common in Jamaica. Both are very hot peppers, making for strong sauces (e.g. Capt’n Sleepy’s Quintessential Habanero, or Matouk’s). Over the years each island developed its own distinctive recipes, and home-made sauces are still common.
  • Haiti - Sauce Ti-malice, typically made with habanero, shallots, lime juice, garlic and sometimes tomatoes
  • St. Lucia - Baron Hot Sauce, manufactured by Baron Foods Limited using fresh local Scotch Bonnet peppers, mustard, garlic, onions to focus more on flavor than heat profile.
  • Martinique
  • Puerto Rico
    • Pique - habaneros with orange
    • Sofrito - small piquins (”bird peppers”) with annatto seeds, coriander leaves, onions, garlic, and tomatoes
  • Jamaica - Scotch bonnets are the most popular peppers used on Jamaica. They are often pounded with fruits such as mango, papaya and tamarind.
    • Pickapeppa Sauce
  • Virgin Islands - Asher (from “limes ashore”), made with lime, habaneros, cloves, allspice, salt, vinegar, and garlic.
  • Belize - Melinda’s, made with habaneros, carrots, onions
    • Marie Sharp’s- found on every table in Belize
    • Hot Mama’s - The other Hot Sauce from Belize, winner at the 2006 Fiery Food Challenge with its Sweet Pepper Sauce

Heat

The heat, or burning sensation, experienced when consuming hot sauce is caused by capsaicin. The burning sensation is not “real” in the sense of damage being wrought on tissues. In fact, it is merely a harmless chemical reaction with the body’s neurological system (see this technical explanation).

The seemingly subjective perceived heat of hot sauces can be measured by the Scoville scale. The Scoville scale number indicates how many times something must be diluted with an equal volume water until people can no longer feel any sensation from the capsaicin. The hottest hot sauce scientifically possible is one rated at 16,000,000 Scoville units, which is pure capsaicin. Examples of hot sauces marketed as achieving this level of heat are Blair’s 16 Million Reserve (due to production variances, it’s up to 16 million Scoville units) marketed by Blair’s Sauces & Snacks. By comparison, Tabasco sauce is rated between 2,500 and 5,000 Scoville units (batches vary) - with one of the mildest commercially available chile condiments, Cackalacky Classic Condiment Company’s Spice Sauce, weighing in at less than 1000 Scoville units on the standard heat scale. Extremely hot novelty sauces generally do not have sophisticated or pleasing flavors.

An easy way to determine the heat of a sauce they are considering is to look at the ingredients. Sauces tend to vary in heat by the ingredients in them.

• Jalapeño - These sauces include green and red jalapeño chilis, and chipotle. Green jalapeño and chipotle are usually the mildest sauces available. Red jalapeño sauce is generally hotter.

• Cayenne/Chile - Sauces made with cayenne and/or other red chilis, including most of the Louisiana-style sauces, are usually hotter than jalapeño but milder than other sauces.

• Tabasco - Sauces made with tabasco peppers, like Tabasco sauce, are generally hotter than cayenne pepper sauces. Along with Tabasco, a number of “extra hot” sauces are made using a combination of tabasco and cayenne or other chili peppers.

• Habanero - Habanero pepper sauces are the hottest natural pepper sauces. They contain either habanero only, or a combination of habanero and other peppers.

• Peri-Peri - also known as the African Birds-Eye Chili. The unique characteristic of sauces made with this pepper is the delayed sensation of heat when consumed. This allows the consumer to taste their food first, then experience the heat.

• Extract - the hottest sauces are made from capsaicin extract. These range from extremely hot pepper sauce blends to pure capsaicin extracts. These sauces are extremely hot and should be considered with caution by those not used to fiery foods. Many are too hot to consume more than a drop or two in a pot of food. These novelty sauces are typically only sold by specialty retailers and are usually more expensive.

• Other ingredients - heat is also affected by other ingredients. Many sauces contain tomatoes, carrots (in habanero sauces), onions, garlic or other vegetables and seasonings. Generally, more ingredients in a sauce dilute the effect of the chilis, resulting in a milder flavor.

Remedies for pain caused by eating chiles

The least effective way to relieve the burning sensation it causes is to cool the mouth and throat with cool beverages including tap water or ice water. This just spreads the oils in your mouth and makes it seem hotter. The heat from spice is not something that can be ‘cooled’ by something that is cold.

Also the mechanical stimulation of the mouth by chewing food will partially mask the pain sensation.

Milk and milk products are also often effective in diminishing the effects of capsaicin, particularly fermented milk products such as yogurt and sour cream. Cheeses are also helpful. These products encapsulate and keep the spice away from your taste buds. Bread products also seem to help; presumably they absorb some of the oil. Beer is also reported to help somewhat, but not other carbonated drinks such as soda.

Many questionable tips are widely perpetuated. Since capsaicin in its pure state is not very soluble in water but dissolves in oils, some suggest eating fatty foods or beverages (e.g., whole milk), assuming that these will carry away the capsaicin. The value of this practice is questionable and the burning sensation will slowly fade away even if nothing is done.

An effective as fast way to diminish annoying sensation of chili´s capsaicin is to brush and rinse thoroughly the mouth, especially the tongue, using a soft toothbrush and regular toothpaste. When effects take place after digestion, uncomfortable sensations can be felt in rectum as well in anus; in this case, the external area must be scrupulously washed after every evacuation. Lack of care could conduce to hemorrhoids.

Like a distant island cousin of Crystal or Tabasco sauce, chili pepper water is a fiery brine used in Hawaii to add a spicy kick to rice, eggs, spaghetti, fried foods, Bloody Marys—just about anything. In fact, this weekend I made some beef stew and rice for dinner, and it was crying out for a splash or three of chili pepper water to go with it.

You can make chili pepper water a lot easier than you can make your own Tabasco or Sriracha sauce, and I think it’s equally delicious. In Hawaii chili pepper water is made with plump, wrinkly, Hawaiian chili peppers. The closest approximation for those outside of the islands would be small, red Thai chilies or any Asian red chili pepper. (Don’t use jalapeños or serranos.).

Hawaiian Chili Pepper Water

Once made, let sit over night to develop flavors. Keep refrigerated.

8-10 Hawaiian red chili peppers
2 teaspoons white vinegar
2 garlic clove, sliced
2 quarter-sized slices fresh ginger, bruised (optional)
1-2 teaspoons sea or kosher salt
2 cups hot water (not boiling)

Place all ingredients into a slightly larger than pint-sized glass jar or bottle. Pour hot water over. Cap when cooled and store in refrigerator.

Use as you food any hot sauce.