[NitpickLawyer]

> $12 dollars per bottle is crazy

Hot sauce is pretty easy to make if you're inclined to go that route. You only need a scale and a blender, and some basic kitchen skills. You get to explore a lot and control for flavour / heat with adding stuff to the mix. Plenty of good content on yt you can get inspiration from.

It's also something you can make into a hobby. You can go as low effort as buying fresh peppers from a market when in season, or start growing yourself. Growing can be anywhere from extremely low maintenance (i.e. just water them from time to time and leave them on a window sill) or get into advanced stuff like pruning, soil ph, cross pollination and all that stuff. Some peppers are prolific growers, and you get fresh peppers, pepper paste, chili flakes and sauce from a potentially low effort hobby. And they make some nice gifts as well.

[Barbing]

>leave them on a window sill

Ooooh anybody have a rec for the most idiot-proof hot thing to try to grow?

[mrguyorama]

These machines are pretty cool

https://scottsmiraclegro.com/en-us/aerogarden.html

They cost a bit but they are idiot proof. The company also sells materials at an Okay price to grow whatever seeds you want, and you can use standard hydroponic supplements rather than their name brand ones.

I got a kit with Basil and it grew more Basil by accident than I could use. I was ripping off leaves and throwing them into store brand pasta sauce. I had a single plant in one of the $100 growers.

Their "salsa" kit is cherry tomatoes and Jalapenos so maybe it won't work so well on other peppers, but they have a Banana pepper kit. Pepper growers might have nutrient and growing recommendations to better manage flavor and spice profiles.

[Barbing]

Ooh fancy commercial option, now that's very nice!

Might go on the Christmas list... :D

[Mistletoe]

Go for the gusto and do some Carolina Reapers. Mine grow truly amazing amounts of the hottest peppers you can imagine. I don’t even like hot food I just grow them for the heck of it and give them away dried. But be careful.

https://imgur.com/a/rS9jZM0

[Barbing]

Oh my, oh wow. Thank you!

[throwaway902984]

Rainbow tabasco required nothing but water, ime - if you have decent sun or a grow light.

These things: https://seedsbeeblooming.com/shop/ols/products/rainbow-tabas...

Can't vouch for that merchant though

[Barbing]

Great tip - thank you!

[relaxing]

Pepper plants are really easy to grow. Pick seeds that sound like they’ll yield the flavor you’re looking for.

[stef25]

Planted a few Jalapeno seeds in the soil in mom's greenhouse once and harvested buckets of chilies, more than I knew what to do with. Super rewarding.

[pnt12]

Counter-argument: we're talking about saving a handful of bucks for something that lasts months. Do it if you find it fun - I tried it and didn't like the work nor spice under my fingernails, at all.

My preferences in cooking are like software: high level is fun (cooking dishes), low level is annoying (growing or producing ingredients).

I also like making cocktails. A brief try with homemade coffee licqueurs was disappointing - knowing a couple of good brands, I can buy and enjoy them, no hassle. Closest to preparing ingredients I do is occasionally doing batches of "super juice", where you squeeze a bunch of limes and add some conservatives and enhancers (and water), that increase the yield, flavor and shelf life by a lot. Then it's really practical to just use the juice like a normal ingredient, versus having the cytrus available having to squeeze them and having more stuff to clean.

[hermitcrab]

>nor spice under my fingernails, at all.

Definitely wear gloves when chopping chillis!

[bigstrat2003]

Also, even if you wear gloves don't touch your eyes after you get done. Made that mistake as a teenager, never again.

[duttish]

I've tried getting started with this but my first attempt a habanero/mango sauce was _horrible_, must've used a slop recipe or something. Do you have a good base to recommend?