Hot sauce has been a cherished dinner table staple for hundreds of years. The condiment can be made from nearly any pepper on the planet and therefore there are sauces available for just about anyone’s palette. No two sauces made from different hot peppers will taste the same so discovering your favorite can be a tasty journey. Once you do find your favorite, you can keep your addiction cheap by making the sauce yourself.

Peppers are the most important part of the sauce making. Different results are yielded from using different types of peppers. Poblanos and Jalapenos should be used for people who like milder sauces. Serrano and Habanero peppers will be more appreciated by those with more adventurous taste buds.

The rest of the ingredients can be gathered after the peppers that will be used have been chosen. One to two and a half pounds of the chosen peppers will be needed, depending on how mild or hot you wish your sauce to be. You’ll also need an onion, tomato sauce, and crushed red peppers. For taste, garlic and vinegar will be needed as well.

To start, chop your onion into penny sized chunks. You will be mixing them in a blender soon, so they do not have to be super tiny. Mince the clove of fresh garlic and put these two ingredients aside for the time being.

It is now time to mix the onions and garlic into the tomato sauce. Chop the peppers into smaller pieces and add them to mixture as well. Remember that the quantity of peppers is directly correlated to the hot sauce’s intensity. It’s also a good idea to wear rubber gloves while handling them to prevent getting any on your skin or in your eyes. Add the chopped peppers to your tomato sauce concoction.

In a blender, mix the ingredients until there are no large lumps. Pour the contents into a cooking pot and heat over the stove until the mixture begins to boil. After adding vinegar, remove the pot from heat and stir thoroughly.

You will have to store the sauce in a clean jar or large bottle with an airtight top. Cleaned out ketchup jars will suffice or you can also buy new bottles from a retail store. Once your hot sauce is bottled up it can be stored easily and used often. Hot sauce is delicious on just about any kind of food. Everything from sausage to vegetables can be flavored up with the perfect hot sauce.

Remember that when choosing peppers to keep your heat tolerance in mind. Do your homework and find out which peppers are too hot for you and which are just right. You can even try small samples of various peppers before you begin cooking so you’ll know ahead of time exactly what kind of heat you can stand. Even if you enjoy the taste of Habanero’s, don’t go overboard with how many you use. And lastly, make sure your newly made sauce is properly stored to prevent it from drying out or accidentally leaking onto open skin or other foods.

Winky Pepperbottom is an expert author who fanatically writes about hot sauce especially red hot sauce .