First Attempt at Hot Sauce

This is my first attempt at making homemade hot sauce. I'm not really pleased with the smell of this sauce, but the flavor is OK. I am a big fan of verde, or green, sauces, which is why I decided to make this one. Before making this, I did some research on making sauces, and found some recipes. This verde sauce is based on a basic Tabasco-style sauce recipe, but I used 100% serrrano peppers instead of red peppers. I threw in some onion and garlic for flavor, but in the end, I think I could have tampered with flavors much more.

Being a rookie at this, I didn't want to risk screwing the whole thing up. The entire process, from start to final bottling took about 2 weeks. I will be trying a different recipe soon, one not so potent. The serranos are freaking hot peppers, but the sauce smells very earthy and "vegetabley." There's no other term to describe it. Here's the recipe if you'd like to see what I did:

• 1 Pound Serrano Peppers
• 2 cups distilled white vinegar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup chopped white onion
• 5 Cloves garlic, chopped

Put all ingredients into a sauce pan and bring to a simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool. In a food processor or blender, puree until smooth and place in a glass jar. Allow to steep for 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

Remove from fridge, and strain the sauce completely through a medium mesh strainer. Use a spatula to press down on the sold matter, to complete extract the liquid.

Put the liquid sauce in bottles and store in the fridge.