Fermented sauce complete

11 years ago

It has been awhile since I posted but I have been following you all from a distance. I finally finished my first batch of fermented hot sauce. It fermented for thirty days today and I got 5 of these jars. I also have another batch going. I couldn't be happier. It is extremely hot not sure how I will use it all.

Featured Answer

scott123456
Original Author

11 years ago

Ozzy, there are many ways you can go about fermenting peppers or a pepper mash. If you do some reading it can seem overwhelming but it is actually pretty simple and hard to mess up. Trust me I tried to screw it up several times lol. This is what I did

1. Washed peppers, cut off stem then freeze. Separate into colors. I just mixed reds and yellows but omitted chocolate. Also you do not want to use unripe green peppers

2. Months later put peppers in a big pot to thaw- no heat

3. Blend pepper up in blender with canning or pickling salt (3 Tablespoons of salt per 5 lbs of peppers). Add a little bottled water if needed, avoid tap water. You can also add other veggies at this time but I chose not to on this batch.

4. Poor back into pot and heat to 85 degrees then add powdered kefir. You do not have to do this part if you do not want too.

5. Poor mash into clean container with an airlock. You can try to weigh the mash down and add a 5% brine to cover the mash. My first attempt at this failed, the weights sunk to the bottom after a few days. I had to open it remove the weights and stir. I actually opened my airlock to stir every three days after that. Ideally, I shouldn't have done this and it defeated the purpose of the air lock but hey it turned out.

6. Wait thirty days

7. Put through food mill

8. Add xanthan gum (not necessary) but if you want to, put some of your hot mash in a blender. While it is blending and a small amount of xanthan gum. I used less than a 1/2 tsp in 5lbs of pepper mash. Then, mixed it back in with the rest of your mash. Be very careful, opening a blender with superhots inside is risky business.

9. Bottle your mash- many methods. Add vinegar and refrigerate, BwB can , ect. Just know that it is still fermenting and releasing gasses unless you boil it. Exploding bottles is a possibility.

You can also use a crock, a mason jar, open ferment, use whole peppers ect. This is just the way I did it.

This post was edited by scott123456 on Fri, Jan 16, 15 at 0:47

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Comments (15)

northeast_chileman
11 years ago
" It is extremely hot not sure how I will use it all."

Please forward unused sauce to:

NorthEast_ChileMan
666 Hot Pepper Ln.
Spicy City, USA

TIA!

This post was edited by northeast_chileman on Thu, Jan 15, 15 at 6:10
tomt226
11 years ago
Great color! Seems pretty thick though as it didn't run to the top when you're holding it sideways... ;-)
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tomt226
11 years ago
Great color! Seems pretty thick though as it didn't run to the top when you're holding it sideways... ;-)
seysonn
11 years ago
I also made a small amount of fermented hot sauce past fall. It is the best hot sauce I have ever made and tasted. Now my vinegar based ones are taking the back seat.

Seysonn
woohooman San Diego CA zone 10a
11 years ago
Good job Scott.

Vinegar based sauces have their fans, but, IMO, mashes are the way to go. Too simple too!

Kevin
scott123456
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks everyone! Yep I agree, fermentation is the way to go. Even if you are a fan of vinegar sauces and want to add vinegar later the flavor is well worth the extra effort. It is really simple and pretty hard to screw up. Plus, if you just freeze your peppers to ferment later, it gives you a break from processing crazy amounts of peppers. If anyone is on the fence, def give it a try you won't be disappointed.

This is more of a mash then a sauce I guess. I look at it more like a hot sauce concentrate to be used as is, or to make sauces later. I just removed the skins, pulp, and seeds. This made it less thick but prettier. Then I used xanthan gum to thicken it up and stop it from separating.
ozzy2001
11 years ago
Looks like Sriracha consistency. Looks good. I'm definitely going to give that a try this season.
ozzy2001
11 years ago
Also, what's a basic recipie for fermenting or a website that has some options?
woohooman San Diego CA zone 10a
11 years ago
ozzy: good reading here.

Kevin

Here is a link that might be useful: Fermenting Peppers 101
northeast_chileman
11 years ago
I haven't fermented peppers in years but this is a close recipe to what I used,> Tabasco Style Fermented Hot Sauce
ozzy2001
11 years ago
Lol thanks a lot woohoo. I couldn't stop reading that thread and here I am 2 hrs later. Man I can't wait to try that out now.
EricaBraun
11 years ago
Kevin,

Thanks for the link. That had some great info.
scott123456
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks woohoo. I remember reading that awhile back but couldnÃ¢ÂÂt remember where. I also had a lot of help from people on here and over at the harvest forum.

Things I did wrong on my first batch:
1) Added milk kefir in milk form instead of powdered form only
2) Used too heavy weights
3) Used too much salt
4) Used too much brine
5) Filled jar up too far- it blew the airlock out and made a mess
6) Opened the jar quite a bit
7) Heated pepper up too hot

I did all these things wrong and I still ended up being the best sauce/mash I have ever made.

P.S. My setup cost me a total of $12. This included an extra lid, extra airlock, and the kefir. Check out your local brewery shops if you want to do it the way I did. Some of the fermenting gadgets online are pretty expensive.
seysonn
11 years ago
Making hot sauce by Lacto Fermentation is exactly like making Sour Kraut or pickling cucumbers the same way. If you read the ingredients on a German/Old World style Kraut it is :

-- Cabbage, water, sea salt.
Actually you might not need water.
I have fermented cucumbers, green peppers (Jalapeno, HHW) , and Napa cabbage this way . I prefer this over vinegar base.

Seysonn