Hot sweet chile-garlic sauce - the new ketchup...

I cannot believe I haven't posted this recipe yet.  Made this sauce last fall with some of the last hot peppers from the garden and after opening the first jar, we decided to ration it so we wouldn't run out before we could make more this summer.  We're using it as a dipping sauce, like ketchup, for fried potatoes, meats and wraps like spring rolls (fresh or fried) plus brushing it on grilled vegetables and meats and any other way we might use a sauce with a little kick. 

My niece posted a FB photo of their homegrown chicken wings (photo above) prepared with this sauce. She wrote "decided we need the recipe. They were perfect." So here it is.

Hot Sweet Chile-Garlic Sauce
1 cup vinegar (5% acidity for canning - I use white or apple cider vinegar)
1 cup water (or fruit juice -- see note*)
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup minced garlic
1-1/2 cups hot red peppers, stemmed and seeded (save the seeds)

Briefly blend peppers in a food processor or blender so peppers are reduced to small bits but not liquified.  Drop seeds in and blend for a short burst or two at the end, just till seed clumps are broken into individual seeds.  Seeds should remain whole.

In a large, heavy saucepan, bring vinegar, water (or juice/fruit, if using), sugar and salt to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar and salt.  Reduce the heat and boil gently until the mixture thickens slightly, about 30 minutes.

Stir in the peppers and garlic.  Increase heat to medium-high and bring the sauce to a rolling boil.  Let it boil for several minutes, until temperature on a candy thermometer reads 230º or a drop of sauce in cold water forms a short thread.

Pour into canning jars (pints or smaller) and process 10 minutes in a BWB or store cooled jars in refrigerator where the sauce should keep well for at least a year.

*Note:  Excellent with pureed peaches or nectarines.  Maybe applesauce or plums?

Notes from 2011-09-29 batch:
Pureed nectarines left from batch of nectarine vinegar (made with 2 quarts white vinegar, 1 quart chopped nectarines, 1/2 cup sugar - let sit in cool, dark cabinet for 6-8 weeks, strain off fruit) subbed puree for water in recipe above.  Yield was 4 cups of pureed fruit so all ingredients, except sugar, were quadrupled.  To offset sweetness of fruit (even though vinegar-soaked), sugar used was closer to 6-3/4 cups than the 8 cups called for when recipe X4.  Peppers were a mix of hot red peppers including hot banana, cayenne, jalapeno and cherry peppers.

Yield for X4 was 5-1/4 pints so as recipe is written above it should yield around 2-1/4 cups sauce.

Adapted from The Joy of Pickling by Linda Ziedrich