Blueberry Hot Sauce

I have been reading Deep Run Roots, by Vivian Howard and felt inspired by her Blueberry Barbecue Sauce recipe. If you haven’t read her book yet, go out right now and get it! It is the best cookbook I have read in a very long time. It reads more like a food storybook full of cherished ingredients and cooking methods mixed in with novel ideas.

Vivian’s Blueberry chapter is one of my favorites, and I’m already salivating over what I can do once my little home garden blueberry crop comes in!

I’ve planted some new pepper plants and pulled off some baby cowhorns so the plants can concentrate on growing up a little before handling a bounty of heavy peppers. I didn’t want to throw them away so I combined them with some of last fall’s dried peppers and some blueberries from the grocery store to make a tart, fiery hot sauce!

For the recipe, make the following substitutions to the first step in this recipe for Homemade Hot Sauce:

1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Small handful of assorted stemmed hot peppers (red or yellow are better for color); or several dried hot peppers (I used a couple of baby cowhorns and a couple of dried dragon cayenne peppers)

Juice of half a lemon

Small handful of fresh parsley or basil

Vidalia or other sweet onion – to your taste, I added a thumb sized chunk

Chop this mixture coarsely in the food processor and transfer to a jar. Cover loosely and let sit for 24 hours.

The next day, add 1 cup distilled white vinegar to the mixture. Cover loosely again and let it cure on your kitchen counter or windowsill for 7 days.

When it’s ready, strain it twice through a fine mesh sieve, stir in a teaspoon or two of honey, bottle it and store it in the refrigerator.

Use this hot sauce the same way you would use any other. It provides a nice hot bite to any dish. I like adding a shake or two to my barbecue sauce and salsa, but as I write I’m envisioning a hot blueberry pepper jelly!