HOMEMADE BADASS SRIRACHA

MAKES ABOUT 4 CUPS

Personally, I can’t stand the taste of ketchup. Since the ’90s, I’ve been using sriracha instead. At Whole Foods Market, I developed a good, clean sriracha called Ninja Squirrel, named after my backyard pet, Zelda. It’s a high-flavor, low-sodium, plant-based, and non-GMO sauce, and it’s become a bestseller. According to Time magazine, even Hillary Clinton carries Ninja Squirrel sriracha in her bag while traveling! Here’s the version I make at home. The key is keeping the green chile tops for a grassy, floral aroma in the final sauce. —DEREK

4½ pounds fresh Fresno or red jalapeño chiles, rinsed

20 medium cloves garlic, peeled

¾ cup molasses sugar or coconut sugar (see Pro Tips)

¼ cup sea salt

1¼ cups distilled white vinegar

Caution: Chile fumes burn! Strap a bandana around your face and don’t touch the cut parts of the chiles. Or wear gloves when making this!

Use scissors to snip the stems from the chiles, but leave some of the green tops, which give the sriracha a grassy, floral aroma. Roughly chop the chiles and transfer to a food processor. Add the garlic, sugar, and salt and process until the mixture is pureed to the consistency of a smoothie, 30 seconds or so.

Pour the puree into a glass bowl or jar to ferment. I like glass so I can see the fermentation bubbles forming. You’ll get a bit more fermentation from a large bowl or jar with a lot of airspace, instead of a bowl that barely fits the total volume of the puree. Cover with plastic wrap or a lid and let ferment at room temperature for 3 to 4 days. Uncover and stir about once a day. I like to use a rubber spatula to make sure any bubble splatters get scraped from the inside of the bowl and mixed back into the puree, but that’s not strictly necessary. If you’ve ever fermented anything, you know it will start to get funky smelling. Not bad funky, but good funky!

When lots of bubbles have formed, after about 4 days depending on the temperature in your kitchen, transfer the mixture to a high-speed blender and add the vinegar. Blend until it’s as smooth as you can get it, 2 to 3 minutes. The seeds won’t blend, but everything else should be pretty smooth.

Use a fine-mesh strainer and rubber spatula to press and strain the mixture through the strainer into a small saucepot. Place the pot of smooth puree over medium heat and bring it to a boil. Lower the heat so that the mixture simmers and simmer gently until the mixture reduces in volume by almost half, about 10 minutes. Open the windows because those chile fumes will get airborne! When the sauce is done, it should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. I like my sriracha a bit thick so I can squirt it without it splashing too much. If you like it thinner, just simmer it for less time.

Remove from the heat and pour the sriracha into two pint-size Mason jars while it’s hot. Screw on the lids. The heat will create a vacuum, sucking down the lids and helping to seal the jars. Store them in the fridge, where the sriracha will keep for months.