Tobago Calypso Sauce

When Jeff was teaching at a university in Wisconsin, one of his former students was from the island of Tobago. She eventually returned home, and was able to invite a group over to see her island. This hot sauce was discovered during that trip, and differs from ‘typical’ North American hot sauces by its use of tropical fruit and mustard. Something else discovered on that trip was ‘seasoning peppers’ which are Scotch Bonnet / Habanero peppers lacking heat but still possessing a wonderful smoky – tropical fruit flavor. Tobagoans thought it amusing that we Ameicans tried to eat full strength Scotch Bonnets; the only way they used them was to put some heat into the following sauce. They would never consider using anything but mild seasoning peppers in their normal cooking. The problem was that at that time seasoning peppers were simply not available from any seed seller in North America. At lot has changed in the last 15 years, and now you can buy real seasoning pepper seed from the folks here at Baker Creek. We can’t think of any better way for you to use them, as well as any regular-strength Habaneros that you may grow in your garden.

This recipe will make a gallon of hot sauce. Thankfully it is simple to can and enjoy for years to come.

Note that you can make this as incendiary or mild as you want by altering the proportion of habanero / scotch bonnet to seasoning peppers. You just want to make sure to use a total of 1¾ pounds in all. We've gone somewhat middle of the road and rest assured this hot sauce is plenty hot enough for us.

5 cups cider vinegar, in all
¼ cup mustard powder
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon turmeric
1¼ pounds unripe papaya
1 pound seasoning peppers, seeded and chopped
¾ pound Scotch Bonnet / Habanero peppers, seeded and chopped
1 pound onion, chopped
1 head garlic, cloves separated, peeled, and minced
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons salt, or more to taste

Heat 3 cups of cider vinegar over medium-high heat until simmering. Whisk in mustard powder, flour and turmeric. Lower heat and simmer, uncovered, until thick – about 10 minutes. Set aside.

Remove seeds from the papaya. Peel half, and leave the skin on the remainder. Cut into ½” dice. Add remaining ingredients (including remaining 2 cups of vinegar) into a large pot and heat to boiling. Add in the mustard sauce, and simmer for 30 minutes until the papaya, peppers, and onion are very soft. Puree into a smooth sauce. Place into clean canning jars, seal, and process for 30 minutes in a hot water bath.

Tobago Calypso Sauce

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