Fatalii Guava Hot Sauce

Did you know that while Fall is apple season in New York, it’s guava season down south?

This recipe was inspired by my cooking buddy, the creative pepper genius David Zheutlin, who is co-founder and sauce master at Trop Flavor Co, as well as a middle school history teacher and compost slinger at The Brooklyn Youth Sports Club garden in New Lots.

This recipe calls for two tropical fruits: guava and pineapple. But if you can’t find guava, you could substitute another sweet and floral fruit like mango or peaches. Frozen is fine.

It also calls for rum and brown sugar. Wowza. Tasty stuff. If you don’t imbibe, you can leave out the rum.

If you’re in NYC, a great place to get cool peppers is the Union Square Greenmarket. Out of season and for tropical fruits my favorite is Calderon Produce Market in Bushwick.

 WARNING: always use latex gloves when handling hot peppers and hot sauce. These babies can BURN your skin!!

This recipe makes about 3x 5-oz bottles of hot sauce. You can use old alcohol bottles or jam jars too.

INGREDIENTS

8 Fatalii, scotch bonnet, habanero, or manzano hot peppers
1/2 cup pineapple, chopped into 1-inch cubes
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup guava pulp, with seeds removed (6 guavas)
3/4 cup white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup water
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon lime juice (about 1 limes worth)
1 ounce of dark rum
1 tablespoon salt

DIRECTIONS

  1. Turn the oven on to a high broil, and on a sheet tray, lay out the first 4 ingredients: onion, hot peppers, and pineapple.

  2. Broil for about 10 minutes or until they’re all slightly blistered and soft, and peppers are bursting, turning halfway through.

  3. Transfer contents to a blender and add the rest of the ingredients: guava, lime juice, rum, vinegar, water, salt and pulse until desired texture is reached.

  4. Fill bottles or jars with a funnel and cap.

  5. Refrigerate when cool.

  6. It will last in your fridge for at least 6-months.

Laena McCarthy