Trim the stems off of the peppers and discard them. Roughly chop the peppers and garlic cloves into chunks and place them into a food processor bowl with the sugar and salt; process until the peppers are finely chopped.

Add the chopped peppers and garlic mixture to a glass jar (a one-quart mason jar works well for this).

Cover the jar and let it set at room temperature. After two to three days you should notice bubbles in the jar.

At this point give the pepper mixture a quick stir every day for the next three to four days.

On the 6th or 7th day, transfer the mixture to a food processor, add the vinegar and process into a thick puree.

Use a mesh strainer and strain the puree over a saucepan by pressing the mixture down with a wooden spoon until all of the liquid has been extracted.

Discard the peppers and seeds in the strainer and heat the liquid in the pan over medium heat and simmer for about 10 minutes until the liquid begins to thicken.

NOTE: If you would like to keep the health benefits of fermentation, you can skip the next step and transfer the sriracha sauce into a jar and store it in the refrigerator or freezer. This sauce will be a bit thinner than the heated sauce but will taste the same.

This recipe is adapted from Serious Eats.