Chili Pepper Water– Don’t leave home without it.

If you don’t wear fanny packs as I do, there’s a chance you can carry one of these bottles in your bag or manpurse and have it where ever you go.

A condiment is a substance that adds flavor to food, they say—Ketchup, mayo, or shoyu, for example. Chili pepper water is the only condiment that has managed, on many occasions, to be the sun in my solar system that is meal planning. I sometimes obsess about eating food like laulau or fried fish just as an excuse to silence a weird craving for that magical trifecta of flavors: spicy, salty, and sour. I look forward to eating lechón (roast pork) just so I can douse it with chili pepper water. In this sense, it seems that food is the condiment that adds flavor to the chili pepper water.

Not everyone puts chili pepper water on such a high pedestal, but they should! It’s like that friend you can take to the opera or even the Movie Museum, but also drink dirty Coronas at a taco truck parking lot while sitting in beach chairs. It isn’t like ketchup or that friend that goes only to baseball games. Your chili pepper water is easy and versatile. It adds depth to your favorite fancy or simple dishes. I like a small splash of it on my beef bourguignon, stew, or soup. I also love dipping everything in it from lumpia to French breakfast radish. I even love a splash of it in my tuna-egg sandwich.  

If you haven’t yet, why not consider inviting chili pepper water into your home? It’s such an easy food project that yields so much food joy. The recipe is simple and a lot of times, I don’t pay too much attention to the numbers attached to the ingredients. As long as the concoction has vinegar, salt, water, and chili peppers, the world of chili pepper water is your oyster.  Mmmmmm… oysters.

Check out the basic recipe below for inspiration! Shop our marketplace now for Hawaiian chili peppers grown by Da Farm in Waimanalo and for the freshest inventory for Sunday and Monday deliveries.

Hawaiian Chili Peppers
Da Farm
White Ginger
From Our Farmers
Shop Chili Pepper Water ingredients and more

Chili Pepper Water Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 cup water
  • 1/4 cup white vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon Hawaiian sea salt
  • Hawaiian chili peppers sliced (add anywhere from 3-10+ depending on your preference)
  • 2 cloves of garlic sliced and/or mashed
  • 2-3 fresh ginger slices (optional, I prefer mine without)
  • blackpepper

Instructions

  • Add the ingredients to a small pot and bring to a quick boil. Reduce the heat and let it simmer for 5 minutes.
  • Remove from heat, cool, then transfer to a container/bottle.
  • The longer the mixture marinates, the better the flavors develop. Give it a day or two if you can help yourself.