Plums are in season straight into the fall and are wonderfully juicy when they are their freshest. Fall is our favourite time of year because we love to make the most out of the harvest. This Habañero Plum Hot Sauce answers the call.
We don’t make it a secret that we love sauces. When it comes to hot sauce, we want the flavours to shine and not be overpowered by the heat. Try a little of this Habañero Plum Hot Sauce with some Creamy Roasted Garlic Hummus on some flatbread, some pita or on crackers. It sparks the taste buds with a burst of flavours from the plums and limes. A little kick of heat complements these flavours and gently mellows.
Benefits of Hot Peppers
There is some evidence that hot peppers are natural stimulants for both energy and metabolism. Some studies have linked them to lower blood fat levels as well as a reduction in blood pressure and atherosclerosis. They contain a compound called capsaicin, which helps increase blood flow in the brain, digestive system and skin. If you like life a little spicy, include some hot peppers in your diet daily!
The great thing about homemade hot sauces like this Habañero Plum Hot Sauce is that you can adjust the heat to suit your taste. Peppers’ heat has a rating in Scoville Units or SHU. The habanero pepper rates at 325,000 SHU. You can read about the the origin of the Scoville Scale here at Pepperseeds.eu.
Preparation Tips for this Habañero Plum Hot Sauce
We recommend that you wear a pair of latex or non-latex gloves to handle the habanero peppers while you are preparing them. This will prevent painful stinging.
We dry-roast the spices in a small heavy cast iron pan. The smaller heavier pan will distribute the heat and contain the spices. We also pre-heat the pan over medium heat so that the spices begin to roast straight away. Be sure to shake the pan or stir the spices continuously to prevent over-roasting or burning. In the same manner that properly roasted spices will enhance the flavour of your sauce, burnt spices can ruin it. Roast the spices through rather than just heat them on the surface. Better to do this low and slow than quickly over high heat.
Once the spices become fragrant or just begin to darken, remove them from the pan immediately and let cool before grinding in a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder. We use a small electric coffee grinder.
Try some of this Habañero Plum Hot Sauce with Creamy Roasted Garlic Hummus and some pita wedges or flatbread or on crackers. It is also a great condiment on a sandwich stacked with Baked Tempeh Bacon Strips or on Vegan Mexican Stuffed Peppers. Like hot sauce? Try out this Mango Lime Hot Sauce for a different, yet equally refreshing flavour.
Let us know if you try it out. We would love to know how you’d rate the heat! Leave a comment and a rating and don’t forget to tag us @plantedandpicked on Instagram and hashtag it #plantedandpicked. Eat with friends and family as much as you can.
Ingredients
- 3 cups peeled and roughly chopped plums
- 1 tbsp coriander toasted and ground or 2 tsp ground
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 5 habañero peppers seeded and chopped
- ¾ cups cider vinegar divided
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 cup lime juice freshly squeezed
- ¼ cup chopped mint
Instructions
- Peel plums and remove pits and discard. Chop flesh coarsely and set aside.
- Place corriander seed in a heavy pan pre-heated over medium heat and toast, stirring to prevent burning. Remove seed from heat when aromatic and let cool slightly before grinding them with a mortar and pestle or in a spice mill or small coffee grinder. Alternatively, you may certainly use prepared ground corriander. Set aside.
- Sauté seeded and chopped habañero peppers and minced garlic in one third of the cider vinegar (¼ cup as per original recipe) over medium heat in a heavy non-reactive pot for approximately 10 minutes or until aromatics are fragrant. Stir frequently to prevent sticking, adding a little extra cider vinegar, as required.
- Add prepared plums, ground corriander, the remaining cider vinegar (½ cup as per original recipe), water and sea salt to pan and continue to simmer gently for 30 minutes to reduce.
- Remove from heat and cool slightly before processing together with lime juice and chopped mint in a high-powered blender to purée ingredients.
- Place in bottles or jars and store in refrigerator.
I modified the recipe as I didn’t have Italian plums, so used Red plums that I had tons of. I also couldn’t remember how many Habeneros were required so I used 4 instead of 5 as recipe called for. The flavor was more mild with the red plumbs, and sauce turned out red instead of the gorgeous yellow as shown in recipe (disappointment – but on me). My main issue is the thickness. The sauce is quite runny and you couldn’t really zig zag it across bread, etc.
Any ideas why it was so thin? And suggestions about ways to thicken?
It’s quite possible that the plums may have been more juicy than the one’s we have used, but truth be told, I have also made this once when it turned out more runny. Perhaps we’ll modify the recipe, to hold off on adding any water until after the sauce has been processed. It could be added only if necessary, to thin it out. Thank you, indeed, Francesca, for the helpful information.
Xanthan gum is a great way to thicken sauces, it also prevents separation. I use it in my fermented hot sauces (tobasco like recipes) to make them a little thicker.
A little xanthan gum goes a long way
I am wondering if there is any reason why this recipe cannot be canned to keep the sauce for a longer time?
Hello Cynthia, you most certainly could can it so that it needn’t be kept in that fridge.
Thanks for your quick response. Can I double the recipe without changing any thing?
Hello Cynthia, you can double it by simply doubling the ingredients. The only change to the instructions, which is unrelated to the doubling, is that you will not let it cool before putting in hot sterilized jars. We would use any standard canning container rather than ‘hot sauce bottles’, as they may not seal properly. Good luck. We’ve got a couple of other hot sauce recipes on the site. Sandra and I are planning to make our Jerk Style Peach Hot Sauce this weekend as peaches are in season here and I love this sauce too!
Wow, even double the habaneros? I’ll give it a try. going to do a small recipe tonight and if we like it, I will make double tomorrow. Too many plums this year. Cant waste them. Do you have a link that would take me to a recipe that you like for plum jam….skins on…no pectin. If so please provide it to me.
thanks a million
Cynthia
Hi Cynthia, you’re simply doubling everything. It will taste exactly the same, no worries. Sorry, we haven’t made plum jam and can’t make a recommendation. Let us know if you find one you like!
No reply on the last message so i will add some comments here. Made the Hot sauce. Wonderful. just enough habaneros to make it spicy but not too hot to cover the tastes of other ingredients. I added 1/2 cup of sugar and a little cumin. Found it help make the sauce more interesting. Used it last night on Creton and crackers and this morning on an omelette. Wow. So yummy. The recipe made 3 8 oz. bottles and one big..16 oz bottle. Will make another batch this week and double the recipe.
Yum Yum.
Made a batch of plum jelly with ginger. I combined 2 recipes and made 11 jars (8 oz.) of jelly. So yummy. Let me know if you want the recipe.
Adding cumin sounds interesting, we may just have to try that! Sounds like you have quite a load of plums! Your plum and ginger jam sounds wonderful.
Are the plums measured in a cup and then peeled and chopped or are they chopped and then measured in a cup? Are the pits still in when they are measured? How big are the plums and how much space is left between the plums when they are in the measuring cup? Or how much do 3 cups of chopped / pre-chopped plums weigh?
These are great questions Balerion! The 3 cup measure is for peeled and chopped plums i.e. Peel and roughly chop enough plums (discard pits) to make 3 cups of peeled/chopped plums. Unfortunately we did not weight the chopped plums. We’ll update the post to make sure the 3 cup measure is clearer. Thank you and hope you love the sauce!
This was a great way to use my left over plums and my freshly picked habaneros. I did cut the lime juice in half as I did not have enough fresh squuezed. It is a really nice balance of sweet, heat and acidity, The mint is key. The sauce will be a great addition to grilled chicken or pork tacos.
We’re so glad you liked it Tom and thank’s so much for the rating! We always have one batch of hot sauce in the fridge. Right now, it’s our Jerk Style Peach Hot Sauce. However, with plums available, I feel like making another batch of this plum hot sauce as well. Hope to see you around here more!
I don’t think plums have a strong enough flavor to make up for the vinegar. It tasted like sweet spicy vinegar sauce.
Hi Todd, thanks for your feedback. That’s unfortunate that it didn’t turn out for you. We did not have the same result. Perhaps it was the variety or ripeness of the plums that made the difference. We also use raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar vinegar. We would be interested in knowing if your plums were completely ripe or if there were any changes or substitutions you may have made to the recipe.