Spicy Pineapple Scotch Bonnet Sauce!

If you like spicy food- and I mean your mouth is so hot that you can almost breathe fire, you must enjoy a Jamaican dish cooked with a Scotch Bonnet pepper! This pepper is small and has a smooth, waxy touch. It is around 1.5 inches in size and is the shape of a bonnet – the source of its name. It has four globular ridges at the bottom and is seen in bright red, orange, yellow and green. It is the cousin to the habanero pepper, part of a variety from the Capsicum Chinese Chili plant. Scotch bonnet is Jamaican origin and most common in the Caribbean foods. It is measured to be around 445 000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU) while to show in reference- a jalapeno pepper is only around 1000-4000 SHU.

Surprisingly, these peppers have more health benefits than simply making the food taste good. There are phytochemicals in the peppers such as capcaicin and flavonoids which are antioxidants- helping the body to fight foreign agents so we can be healthy! You can purchase these bonnets for around $120 JMD/bag at Brooklyn Supermarket or 5 large ones for 100 JMD at the HWT stalls. The Scotch Bonnet is more fruitier and is paired with many tropical fruits in the Caribbean. Most recipes in Jamaica use the whole pepper in cooking, just wanting to add the flavour but not enough to slice it for its optimal heat. My colleagues at the office know that I love this flavour as they often smell it when I heat up my food for lunch. Miss Annie watches me while I squirm in pain with her famous statement “Tara- why you do this to yourself!? I can’t watch you no more”. Regardless of the spiciness- I can’t help but love the flavour.

Ms. Davis- a new addition to the CVC office has brought me the spiciest bonnet peppers I have ever had. Ms. Monica brought me a pickled scotch bonnet jar to bring home to my brother for Christmas and since then I have been thinking of different ways to bring this pepper home when it is time to leave Jamaica. I decided to use the peppers that were given to me to make a pineapple-pepper sauce meant as a dipping sauce or a marinating sauce. This recipe makes enough for a small bottle of 250 mL.

Time: 30 minute prep, 5 minute cook

Ingredients:

Half an onion

1 cup of finely chopped pineapples

15 scotch bonnets (variety of colours)

1 dash of black pepper

½ cup of lime juice/white vinegar

1 pair of gloves

1 empty easy-to-seal bottle

Method

1. Put on gloves. Chop all vegetables into finely diced pieces.

1. Toss all ingredients into blender

1. Puree for 2 minutes depending how saucy you want your sauce to be!

WEAR THE GLOVES. I cannot stress how important this is. I cook with scotch bonnet all the time and I didn’t think about wearing gloves. My hands were BURNING for HOURS. Nothing will get rid of the burning sensation. You can read remedies online about soap, dish water, oil, but I am telling you- it does not work. This is SPICY stuff. Make sure you WEAR GLOVES!!! Enjoy!