Hot Sauce, Not Salsa

It takes more time than you might imagine to produce one of my "Great Little Herb Books." First the writing, then the recipe-testing, then more recipe testing, then off for layout and design. Following that, weeks of review-edit-adjust, until it's ready for the printer. Finally, one of my 36 or 40 page books is ready to sell. While most of my books aren't large, they're packed full of information and recipes.

Make Your Own Hot Sauce, $6.95 + $2 postage.

Here's my newest book, Make Your Own Hot Sauce. If you don't count the years of growing peppers or making sauces, then I began this book last August. Throughout the fall I tinkered with my recipes, making gallons of hot sauce. In the middle of the process, when I was having friends test some of the sauces for flavor and heat, I learned something astounding. An awful lot of people don't know the difference between hot sauce, and salsa!

So in the beginning of the book, I explain that hot sauce is a seasoning you use by the drop to add heat and flavor. Salsa, on the other hand, is used for chip-dipping. You wouldn't likely use hot sauce as a dip! (See my book, Sensational Salsas from Apple to Zucchini, for lots of tasty salsa recipes).

The Hail Family at Bear Creek Farm, tested many of my sauces.

Some of my sauces went to friends at Bear Creek Farm in Osceola, MO. Some went to Kirk R. Brown in Pennsylvania, who did an amazing thing. He set out my assortment of hot sauces and had guests at a party rate them, then sent me the critiques!

Kirk R. Brown aka "John Bartram"

Renee Shepherd of Renees Garden Seed

Another friend, Renee Shepherd (reneesgarden.com), who loves hot food, was also a taste-tester. She gave excellent feed-back and I took that into account, as well.

Throughout January I was putting the finishing touches on the book. Then our book designer took over, the proofing and re-re-re-re-proofing took place, which is an agonizing process. Too many recipes, I had to cut a bunch of my favorites to keep the book smaller. Even then, I made it 40 pages instead of my normal 36 and switched to a thinner paper so it would fit within the covers. Finally, the book is on the presses and it will be ready about March 15.

Pleasantly surprising, the Hot Sauce book is already selling briskly, even before it's ready to ship! If you like hot sauce, I think you will enjoy my easy, tasty hot sauce recipes. You can order it on-line by March 8 on-line here. It will ship about March 15. Whether you grow your own hot peppers, or buy them at the farmers market or grocery, you'll have fun making your own hot sauces!