Cornelian Cherry Hot Sauce – Fruity & Fiery
A fruity and fiery Cornelian cherry hot sauce made with fresh fruit, chilli, garlic and cider vinegar. Sweet, sour and seriously spicy.
This Cornelian Cherry Hot Sauce is an unusual fruit-based hot sauce that’s equal parts fruity, spicy, sour and sweet. Made with fresh Cornelian cherries, chilli, garlic and apple cider vinegar, it’s easy to adjust to your preferred heat level and makes a great homemade gift for hot sauce-loving friends.
I love chilli in pretty much all its forms. That probably comes partly from my time living in Southeast Asia, but also from growing up in the UK, where Indian curries and plenty of chilli have become firmly embedded in the food culture. I wanted my homemade cherry hot sauce to have a serious kick, so I used Carolina Reaper chillis in this batch, but you can easily tailor the heat to your own taste.
Ingredients for Cornelian Cherry Hot Sauce
- Cornelian cherries – Ripe cherries provide the fruity, distinctly tart base of the sauce; use dark-red, fully ripe fruit for a slightly sweeter flavour.
- Chilli – Provides the heat; choose your preferred fresh chilli depending on how spicy you want the finished sauce.
Go cautiously with very hot varieties, as using too much can introduce a noticeable bitterness as well as extra heat. - Apple cider vinegar – Adds acidity and sharpness, balancing the fruit and sugar while giving the sauce its sour edge.
- Garlic – Adds a savoury background that prevents the finished sauce from tasting simply like spicy fruit.
- Brown sugar – Balances the natural tartness of the Cornelian cherries and any bitterness from the chilli.
- Salt – Seasons the sauce and helps balance the sweetness, acidity and chilli heat.
- Water – Helps the cherries soften during cooking and can be used to adjust the finished sauce to a smooth, pourable consistency.
How to Make Spicy Cornelian Cherry Sauce
Cook the Cornelian cherries
Add the whole Cornelian cherries and water to a medium saucepan. Cover and cook over low heat for 15–20 minutes, stirring every few minutes. As the cherries soften, lightly mash them with a potato masher to fully break down the fruit. They’re ready when the skins have split and the cherries have collapsed into a thick pulp.
Remove the stones
Set a coarse sieve or colander over a bowl and add the cooked cherries. Use the back of a ladle to press and work the fruit through the holes until most of the pulp has passed through, leaving the stones and tougher skins behind. Scrape any pulp clinging to the underside of the colander into the bowl.
Prepare the chilli and garlic
Add the chilli and garlic to a small food processor and pulse until finely chopped. This is particularly useful when working with very hot chillies, as it avoids chopping them directly on a wooden cutting board where the chilli oils can linger. Wear gloves when handling particularly hot varieties and take care when opening the processor.
Tip: If you’re using a food processor for a very hot chilli such as a Carolina Reaper, keep your face back and avoid breathing in the vapour when you first remove the lid — the airborne chilli oils can be intense!
Add the chilli and seasonings
Return the Cornelian cherry pulp to a clean saucepan and add the chopped chilli, garlic, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar and salt. Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
Simmer the sauce
Cook uncovered for around 15 minutes, stirring occasionally so the sauce does not catch on the bottom of the pan. The chilli and garlic should be completely soft and the sauce should reduce slightly, but avoid cooking it until it becomes thick like ketchup.
Blend until smooth
Remove the pan from the heat and allow the sauce to stop steaming heavily before blending until smooth. If using particularly hot chillies, take care when blending and avoid breathing in the steam when removing the lid. Pass the hot sauce through a fine sieve to remove any bits of garlic or chilli seeds.
Adjust the flavour and consistency
Let a small spoonful cool before tasting, as the heat and acidity can seem stronger when the sauce is hot. Add a little more brown sugar if it tastes too sour or bitter, or a small pinch of salt if the flavour needs rounding out.
If the sauce is too thick to pour easily, stir in 10–20 ml water at a time until it reaches the consistency you want. It should flow from a hot sauce bottle with a gentle shake rather than needing to be squeezed out.
Bottle and store
Gently reheat the finished sauce, then transfer it to clean bottles or jars and leave to cool. Store the Cornelian Cherry Hot Sauce in the refrigerator and use clean utensils when serving.
More Cornelian Cherry Recipes
Cornelian Cherry Hot Sauce
Ingredients
- 500 g ripe Cornelian cherries
- 150 ml water plus extra as needed
- 1-2 fresh chillies of choice to taste
- 2 garlic cloves
- 100 ml apple cider vinegar
- 40 g soft brown sugar plus more to taste
- 1 tsp fine salt
Instructions
- Add the Cornelian cherries and 100 ml water to a medium saucepan. Cover and cook over low heat for 15–20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Lightly mash with a potato masher as they soften until the fruit has broken down into a thick pulp.
- Place a coarse sieve or colander over a bowl. Press the cooked cherries through using the back of a ladle, leaving the stones and tougher skins behind. Scrape the pulp from the underside of the colander.
- Add the chilli and garlic to a small food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Alternatively, finely chop by hand. Wear gloves when handling very hot chillies.
- Return the cherry pulp to a clean saucepan. Add the chilli and garlic, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar and salt. Stir over medium-low heat until the sugar has dissolved.
- Simmer uncovered for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the chilli and garlic are soft and the sauce has reduced slightly.
- Remove from the heat and carefully blend until smooth.
- Pass the blended sauce through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing it through with the back of a spoon or ladle.
- If the sauce is too thick, stir in water 10–20 ml at a time until it has a pourable hot-sauce consistency. Taste a cooled spoonful and add a little more brown sugar or salt if necessary.
- Gently reheat, transfer to clean bottles or jars and allow to cool. Refrigerate once cooled.
Notes
Cornelian Cherry Hot Sauce FAQs
You can use almost any fresh chilli depending on how much heat you want. Regular red chillies give a more approachable sauce, while habaneros or Carolina Reapers work well if you want something considerably hotter.
The sauce thickens as the fruit cooks down and will become slightly thicker again once chilled. After blending and straining, add 10–20 ml of water at a time until it pours easily from your bottle.
Very hot chillies can sometimes introduce a bitter edge, particularly when used generously. Fine-straining the sauce helps remove some of the chilli solids, while a little additional brown sugar and a pinch of salt can help balance the remaining bitterness.
Keep the finished sauce refrigerated in a clean, sealed bottle or jar. Because this homemade recipe hasn’t been tested as a shelf-stable hot sauce, don’t store it at room temperature or rely on hot-filling the bottles for preservation.
Yes. The chilli, vinegar, garlic and fruit flavours tend to become more integrated after the sauce has spent a day or two in the refrigerator. It’s worth tasting it again the following day before making any further adjustments.
Try it with halloumi, grilled vegetables, mushrooms, burgers, eggs or cheese, or use a small amount anywhere you’d normally reach for a hot sauce. The combination of tart fruit and chilli also works well alongside richer or fried foods.
