Mesquañero - Our Most Popular Hot Sauce Recipe

We’ve had our share of side-hustles at Ozark Akerz over the years. From partnering with Raleigh Brewing Company to sell Ozark Outlaw, a small batch beer made with our organically raised jalapeño peppers to crafting Christmas ornaments out of black walnut shells and brewing our popular Mesquañero™ hot pepper sauce.

Even people who didn't like hot sauce became converts after trying a sample of our mesquite smoked habanero pepper sauce. The funny thing is Mesquañero™ was a mistake! We forgot to add Ghost Jolokia peppers to one batch of pepper sauce and Mesquañero™ was born. It became our bestselling pepper sauce.

Customers continue to ask for it, but we have to disappoint them. We would love to continue brewing Mesquañero™, but it’s very labor intensive and we no longer have access to a local commercial kitchen, so we've decided to discontinue it.

It's not the end of Mesquañero™ though. We've decided to let it live on through you by revealing the recipe so you can brew it at home and share our bestselling pepper sauce with others.If you decide to share the recipe with friends and family or on social media, please credit Ozark Akerz Regenerative Farm. Thank you for helping us keep the recipe alive and smokin'!

You'll need a food processor or blender to make the hot pepper sauce.

Ingredients
Base liquid:  

• 2 cups of distilled white vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons Kosher salt.

Peppers:

• Enough bell peppers to make 1.5 cups of finely chopped peppers. Using a combination of yellow, red and orange peppers will give a more complex flavor.
• Enough habeñero peppers to make 1 teaspoon of finely chopped peppers.

Don’t worry about smoking too many peppers for this recipe, you can use leftovers to season dishes or make a mesquite flavored salsa.
 
Instructions and Recipe
Cut bell peppers in half and remove seeds.
 
Soak mesquite chips before use. Put mesquite on hot coals and add whole habanero peppers and bell peppers (cut in half) to grill. Cook until soft with some blackening.
 
Finely chop all bell peppers in a food processor or blender to create bell pepper mix. Remove chopped bell peppers to a bowl.
 
Add and finely chop habeñeros in food processor/blender. Remove chopped habeñeros to a bowl.
 
Add the following to food processor/blender and mix thoroughly.

• 2 cups base liquid
• 1-1/2 cup of bell pepper mix
• 1 tsp finely chopped habaneros (we found that this made the tastiest sauce, but you can add more depending on your pain tolerance, it may not be as tasty though)

 
After blending thoroughly, put through a strainer to remove solids. You can use the leftover pepper solids (affectionately known as gubbins) to season food or salsa.

Transfer the strained liquid to mason jar(s)

Although not part of the original recipe, you can mix it up by adding fresh and finely chopped garlic to a batch.

Enjoy!
Sue & Mike

You may also like:
Pineywoods Beef Jerky Recipe
Bacon-wrapped Smoked Radishes

There are quite a few 'Pepper Festivals' this time of year, here are just a few in North Carolina:

• September 12, 2015: NC Hotsauce Contest, Oxford, NC. North Carolina’s finest hot sauces and barbecue sauces, along with breweries and wineries, spice up Oxford's historical streets.

• September 27, 2015: 8th Annual Pepper Festival, Chapel Hill, NC. Enjoy the music and revelry and fill up on delicious pepper-themed dishes.

If you're not based in NC, click on your country to find local Pepper Festivals: USA, UK, Canada. Australia, you'll have to wait until March for your celebrations to begin!

Personalized Labels for our Hot Sauce

We are harvesting peppers in preparation for brewing our farm raised hot sauce later this month. We use Habenero and Jolokia Ghost (aka. Naga Jolokia) peppers to add a real kick to the sauce. The Jolokia Ghost pepper originates from India and is one of the hottest on record. It measures over 1 million Scoville Units, in comparison Tabasco sauce measures 3500 Scoville Units. Don't let that scare you, we use a very small amount in each batch compared to bell peppers, just enough to add some heat and some great flavor!

This year we are adding a personal touch by offering custom labels. Customers can add personalized text to a variety of labels that were designed by Farmer Mike. For more examples of available label templates, visit our Facebook page or visit our Hot Sauce page for pricing and more details.

The sample labels above can be customized with your own text at the top and bottom of the label

Why not get in the spirit of the season by listening to your favorite Red Hot Chilipeppers songs at their website. Some of our favorites include Higher Ground, Warped, Suck My Kiss, Give It Away and Can't Stop.

Farm On!
Sue & Mike