The Caribbean Pepper Sauce is a staple in West Indian households. My mom always had a bottle of pepper sauce on hand and it would accompany every meal. Let’s me be clear-this is not to be confused with the milder hot sauce, this is liquid fire in a bottle.

Pepper-1 (2)While my mom uses wiri wiri pepper in her sauce, I used scotch bonnet as it is more readily available here in Atlanta. She also kept her sauce pretty simple by using just a few ingredients but the possibilities are endless.

Pepper-1-3Various fruits and vegetables such as mangoes, pineapple, carrots or bilimbi not only reduces the heat but adds flavor. I made two versions-a standard sauce and a mango pepper sauce.

Pepper-1-2How do these sauces differ? The standard sauce will have a lot more heat; this sauce is also a base that you can customize to your liking. For the mango pepper sauce, I added ripe mangoes and a tiny bit of sugar which made it a bit more mellow by reducing the heat of the peppers.

Caribbean Pepper Sauce

Do you make your own pepper sauce? Does your family have their own special blend?

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Hot Pepper Sauce
10 oz Scotch Bonnet Peppers, cleaned and stems removed
¼ cup white distilled vinegar
4 cloves garlic
1 tbsp yellow mustard
1 tbsp salt
Place all ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a clean jar to store.

Mango Pepper Sauce
1 cup pepper sauce
1 cup ripe mango chunks
1/8 tsp turmeric
1 tsp granulated sugar
Place mango chunks, pepper sauce, turmeric, and sugar in a blender and blend until smooth. Store in a clean jar.