The Eggplant Parm Sauce - 2024
IN SHORT…
Off and on for about a decade Tim made The Pizza Sauce, a flavorful hot sauce intended to be put on pizza. This year - for the very first time - we decided to take The Pizza Sauce in a savory, smoky direction replete with eggplant, carrots and squash. While still great on pizza, this will be an excellent compliment to all manner of grilled vegetable and pasta dishes. It is also mild enough you can use it to spike a dip for crudités or as a building block for homemade ketchup.
This sauce was not pasteurized. While it has a very low pH - 3.7 - it should be kept in the refrigerator.
Common Allergens: Onion/Garlic, Fish
This sauce is not vegetarian. It contains a small amount of Red Boat Fish Sauce which is made from anchovies.
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Flaming Flare Fresno Peppers, Husky Cherry Tomatoes, Globe Eggplants, Fairytale Eggplants, San Marzano Tomatoes, Corno di Toro Peppers, Cowhorn Peppers, Mammoth Jalapeño Peppers, Kosher Salt, Aleppo Peppers, Sweet 100 Tomatoes, Sweet Onions, Gypsy Peppers, Tomato Paste, Butternut Squash, Carrots, Red Boat Fish Sauce, Acorn Squash, Garlic, Shallots, Campari Tomatoes, Red Onions, Spring Water, Leeks, Banyuls Vinegar, Columnar Basil, Red Wine Vinegar, Fish Peppers, Coconut Aminos, Parsley, Onion Powder, Oregano, Garlic Powder, Green Onions, Rosemary, Black Pepper, Demerara Sugar, Ascorbic Acid, Thyme, Xanthan Gum, Granulated Garlic
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All of the peppers and tomatoes along with the Fairtytale eggplants and most of the herbs were grown in Tim's garden about forty minutes northwest of Baltimore. Most of the other items came from Albright Farms in Baltimore County with a small number - including garlic and thyme - coming from Martin Farms, also in Baltimore County. A few specialty items came from other places including red wine vinegar from Castello di Volpaia in Chianti and fish sauce from Phú Quốc in Thailand.
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This sauce was blended from four batches, the first started in late July, the second in early August, the third in early October, and a final one in late October.
The peppers were destemmed, deseeded and had their placentas (“ribs”) removed. The eggplants were first grill roasted for flavor and then oven roasted to remove excess moisture. Some of the tomatoes and carrots were smoked over hickory wood, others oven roasted and others simply chopped up.
All of the ingredients were placed in vacuum sealed bags and gently fermented at 55°F for several weeks before being resting, and very slowly fermenting at 41°F until ready for blending.
The sauce was blended and pH adjusted with red wine vinegar in late December just prior to bottling.
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We really love this sauce. The only issue is that the eggplant flavor is subtle for a sauce named after Eggplant Parmesan. That is just kind of how things roll with fermentation, but perhaps we can figure out a way to bring some additional eggplant notes forward in 2025.
