That looks really good. We grow Thai chilies every summer. Can you post the recipe?

1). The most important piece of hardware is an airlock of some sort that fits your fermenting container. I use mason jars with a beer/wine airlock. This is essential to preventing mold.

2). Use any peppers you like, from heatless Bell peppers to the hottest peppers on the market, or a combination of peppers for color, bulk, flavor, and heat. In my ferment, I used 700+ Thai chiles. Coarsely chop your peppers so you can see if there's any mold or pest inside; you can also remove some seeds at this time, which makes the sauce easier to process in the long run (I strain out seeds, so the fewer in the ferment the better).

3). You can make a hot sauce purely from peppers alone, but I like to add garlic at the very least. The flavors pair so well together. In this ferment, I added a lot of garlic and half a white onion. Coarsely chop the ingredients to increase surface area, and to make blending easier after the fermentation is finished.

4). The brine. I make my brine from 1 Tablespoon of sea salt per 1 cup of water. Many people will say to use distilled water, but I use tapwater and I've not had a problem. If your tapwater is really weird in some way, I'd recommend bottled water or distilled water. You can also use fancier salts if you like, such as pink Himalayan salt, but don't use iodized table salt.

5). Fill the jar, leaving about 1/2 to 3/4 inch headspace at the top. You need to make sure that your vegetable ingredients are under the surface of the liquid brine to prevent mold from forming, and this can be done with pickling weights, a ziplock filled with water, or other clean household items that will work. I wad up some plastic clingwrap and wedge the ingredients down. Then secure the airlock, making sure that the stem of the airlock is not in the brine directly.

6). Ferment for as long as you like. After 2 weeks, most of the fermentation will be finished, but you could keep going for several years if you want. When ready to process, strain the vegetables from the brine. Dump the vegetables into your bowl, then add *half* of the liquid brine to the bowl. The other half, add in white vinegar (or a vinegar of your liking). So, if you have 4 cups of brine, add in 2 cups of the salt brine, and 2 cups of the vinegar. You can save the rest of the brine for marinating, cooking, bloody mary's, or for using in your next ferment.

7). Blend everything smooth. I personally use an immersion blender, but people use traditional blenders, food processors, food mills, et cetera. At this point, you're essentially done. However, I go to the extra step of running the sauce through a sieve to remove as many seeds as possible - seeds are bitter, and I can't stand them, and I think they ruin the visual aesthetic of the sauce in the bottle.

8). Taste the sauce. Add more vinegar, more brine, citrus juice, spices. Get the flavor where you want it. To thicken the sauce, I slowly incorporate small amounts of Xanthan Gum while blending - a little goes a long way, so sprinkl

e in 1/8 of a teaspoon slowly, testing the consistency as you blend. To thicken a sauce, you could also simmer and cook down your sauce, or use a cornstarch slurry during the heating process.

9). Bottling. Use sanitized bottles, fill, cap, and you're good to go. If you have any concerns about the sauce, store in a refrigerator; otherwise, the sauce should have enough acid (vinegar) to be shelf/table stable.

Rdback, one of my friends has asked is she can design a label!

I said Go for it! I need a good name, though.

Josh

Thanks for the great directions!

We grow lots of peppers, and don't like to let them go to waste, so this is perfect for us. We have plenty of airlocks from our wine making. Can you explain what you use for a lid on the mason jar? Is that a canning lid that you cut a hole in?

I got the lid from a friend.

It's just a plastic disk with a hole cut into it and a rubber grommet in the hole to make the seal. There's also a thin rubber gasket around the outside of the plastic disk for a good seal when the mason ring is screwed on. I don't know if I have a good pic of the lid...this'll have to do. I'll get a better pic tomorrow.

Lynda,

I checked the lid this morning, and it had a brand name on it.

It turns out it's a resusable lid by Tattler.

Tattler canning supplies

Thanks for letting me know. I searched on it and found something that will work. I am looking forward to making my first batch in a few months.

Lynda, some people just put a rubber glove over the jar and the "hand" inflates as the gasses build up. So, there are a lot of ways to keep oxygen out of the jar. Most importantly, you want to make sure that the vegetable ingredients are under the salt brine at all times. If you do that, you won't have any mold grow.

I'm already planning my next sauce, I just wish I had more Thai chiles! I think I'm going to do a Kimchi ferment first, though, since it only takes a week at most before it's ready. Same basic process, but even easier (no airlock required).

Josh

Josh looks fantastic. I did some last year. I have bunch of smaller mason jars with airlock. I did a bunch of variations using Indian spices. They all came out unique in their own way and turned out great. I should do more. Did some kimchi a weeks back and now I am loaded with it.

How about "Oh My Josh" for your brand?

Tropic, I like that!

Josh