November 2024
Red Jalapeño-Honey Hot Sauce Recipe. X-Mas Tamal Update.
Hello friends,
Ooohhhhhhh!! Back to Substack.
I have been a bit quiet as of late, missing a few farmer’s markets and cancelling a few pop-ups. I fractured my foot in October and I am still recovering from this injury, so I have been taking it easy. I am reminding myself to slow down and get rest.
If you follow us on Instagram, you’ve probably seen that we are still out and about, albeit in a limited capacity. This weekend is going to be very busy for us, and I hope to see a few of at our events/pickups. Come help us sell out early. On Friday, we’re releasing our Fall/Winter Hot Sauces at our kitchen (pre-order below) and we’ll be at West Coast Craft Fair Saturday and Sunday (more below).
X-MAS TAMALES
Eater SF said we make very good tamales, but decided to confuse everyone by posting the address to our friends’ shop, Tahona Mercado, where you can sometimes get our tamales.
But, I am the one true source of information. Pre-Orders will go live on 11/29. You will get a Newsletter reminder with a lil discount code and I encourage you Sign up for text reminders, click on “Never Miss a Sale”
Recipe: Red Jalapeño + Honey Hot Sauce
Yield about 2 L of spicy, tasty goodness. You can use green jalapeños or serranos, but your hot sauce will have a more vegetal/grassy profile rather than a floral and fruity palate.
Ingredients
550 g Vine Ripened Red Jalapeños (we get ours from Full Belly or Riverdog Farms)
85 g White onion, roughly chopped
40 g Garlic cloves
75 g Fermented Honey* (or your favorite honey)
25 ml grapeseed oil
500 ml Rice wine vinegar
1.5 L Water
30 g salt
2.5 g xanthan gum (optional)
To Prepare
Heat a 4 qt, heavy bottomed pot on med-low heat. Add oil and sauté onion & garlic until translucent, about 6-8 minutes. Add salt.
Increase heat to med-high, add jalapeño and sauté until barley softened, 4-5 minutes.
Add Rice wine vinegar and water, and bring to a vicious boil for about 3 minutes and then reduce to a simmer, cook for 20 minutes or so. Turn off heat. Once the mixture is at about 125 degrees, add honey and stir.
In a Vitamix, add the xanthan gum, and blend your chunky pepper mess in batches until fully blended. Strain through a fine mesh sieve. (Save the solids, dehydrate and use for a Michelda rime with salt and black lime powder). Chill to room temperature and keep refrigerated (although I bet it’s very safe at room temp since there’s quite a bit of vinegar) We add a tiny bit of xanthan just to prevent it from separating too much. It will settle over time, and unsettled food looks unappetizing, and unappetizing food doesn’t sell as well.
Now you have hot sauce. Adjust with vinegar and salt to your preferance. Did I mention I’m not a great recipe writer.
I occasionally ferment unpasteurized honey by adding about 5% water to it and forgetting about it. It gets a bit tart and has a softened, creamy mouthfeel. I briefly worked at Bar Tartine, where Nic Ball and Courtney Burns created the most incredible pantry and I am always inspired to find ways to extend and amplify flavors in our pantry. (Somewhat related: recently, I’ve been blending 1/2 a jar of our salsa macha with 1 tbsp water and then vigorously stirring it into a 1/2 gallon of honey, letting it sit on our shelf until I remember it’s there. Maybe, I’ll take a bit of this hot sauce, add it to honey, let it ferment, and them use that spicy honey in next years batch.
Friday 11/22- Pre-Order and Walk-Up Sales, Bolita, 2701 8th St. Berkeley Ca, 5:30pm - 7:00pm
Pre-Order HERE Hot Sauces!! Masa!! Salsas!!
Saturday 11/23- West Coast Craft Fair , 2 Marina Blvd, San Francisco 10:00-6:00pm
Pozole Verde de pollo. Tamal de brisket en salsa de pasilla. Crispy shrimp tacos. Crispy potato & poblano tacos. Winter Salad. Cafe de olla. Kiwi Agua Fresca. Salsas, Hot Sauce.
Sunday 11/24- West Coast Craft Fair , 2 Marina Blvd, San Francisco 10:00-6:00pm
Pozole Verde de pollo. Tamal de brisket en salsa de pasilla. Crispy shrimp tacos. Crispy potato & poblano tacos. Winter Salad. Cafe de olla. Kiwi Agua Fresca. Salsas, Hot Sauce.
Friday 12/13- Potter’s Studio Holiday Market Opening Party!! 1221 Eighth St, Berkeley 6:00-9:00pm
Saturday 12/14- Potter’s Studio Holiday Market, 1221 Eighth St, Berkeley 11:00-5:00pm
Sunday 12/15- Hammerling Winery Holiday Market, 1350 Fifth St, Berkeley 12:00-4:00pm
Thank you for supporting Bolita! We hope to see you soon and can’t wait to feed you!
Excited to have discovered your Substack today! I write a monthly newsletter featuring creative and community events in Sacramento, East Bay and SF, so I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for your pop-ups in the new year!