In 6 weeks, we’ve gone from clear to red.

The colour of hot and spicy.

I like.

I like everything about the sauce.

The discovery.

The brewing.

And the resulting flavours.

Hot! Hot!! Hot!!!

I’ve done the unthinkable – tasted the liquid fire.

But first. From the very beginning.

When you open up the bottle, you ‘smell’ it – scent it almost, a flowery, distinctly pepper scent.

Then the taste test.

First up you get the gin. Clear. As crystal. Cold. Slightly bitter.

Then you get the heat. That spreads like a slow-burning fire. Creeping up and around on your tongue. And it lingers. With some pleasantness, if you like red. Hot. Chilies. Which I do.

I tasted it and I survived.

And then I began thinking of applications, and figured its distilled character would work well in a condiment of sorts. In this case, combined with June Plums, determined as I am to cook with my fruit, not just reserve them for out-of-hand- nibbling.

It’s a simple affair.

Everything goes in one pot: June plum flesh, tablespoonfuls of gin pepper sauce, sugar, salt, heat.

And the rest is history.

Served with some Suya Chicken, it brought a nice, slightly hot sauce to the table.

June Plum & Gin Pepper Sauce

Ingredients

1 cup pulp of June plums

3 tablespoons gin pepper sauce

3 tablespoons of sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pinch of Salt

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a small pan

Including the pepper sauce 🙂

Cook on medium heat.

Till the sauce reduces a bit, about 10 minutes.

Adjust seasoning to your taste.

Once ready, take off the heat, allow cool and refrigerate.

Serve with meats, fish and anything of your liking!