Hi all!
Moved this from "The Test Kitchen" -- I didn't know which made more sense. Sorry, new here
I am making some homemade sriracha sauce (delicious), and I've done it several times before with great results.
The usual process which worked in the past:
Finely chop chilis (I used fresnos), garlic, salt, sugar, toss into a glass jar, seal tight, and let sit for 2-3 days. Once a little bubbly, mix with vinegar, boil, and blend. Voila! Highly recommended.
This time, however, something went HORRIBLY wrong:
When I opened the jar after the fermentation period and dumped the chopped chilis into the pot, as it poured out, it was EXTREMELY viscous, like very thick mucous. Disgusting, really. (In the past, the texture had been the same as when the chilis/ingredients went into the jars, save for the natural separation of the liquids from the solids -- fresh and wet)
Possible explanations:
1) It was hotter in my kitchen as the sauce fermented this time around (around 80dgs F, vs 70-ish)
2) The jar was filled almost to the top this time, with very little or no air remaining (in previous batches there was an inch or two of space)
3) Maybe the jar had some kind of bacteria in it and wasn't clean/sanitized enough?
If anybody has any ideas as to why this horrible thing happened -- or, alternatively, if it's not that horrible and is completely natural -- PLEASE let me know! Also, if anybody knows what would actually cause that strange mucousy thickening... so so strage...
I'm going to be scaling this recipe up big time and before I buy pounds and pounds of ingredients and destroy them I'd love to have some idea of what happened.
Thank you SO SO much to anybody who can help!
Moved this from "The Test Kitchen" -- I didn't know which made more sense. Sorry, new here
I am making some homemade sriracha sauce (delicious), and I've done it several times before with great results.
The usual process which worked in the past:
Finely chop chilis (I used fresnos), garlic, salt, sugar, toss into a glass jar, seal tight, and let sit for 2-3 days. Once a little bubbly, mix with vinegar, boil, and blend. Voila! Highly recommended.
This time, however, something went HORRIBLY wrong:
When I opened the jar after the fermentation period and dumped the chopped chilis into the pot, as it poured out, it was EXTREMELY viscous, like very thick mucous. Disgusting, really. (In the past, the texture had been the same as when the chilis/ingredients went into the jars, save for the natural separation of the liquids from the solids -- fresh and wet)
Possible explanations:
1) It was hotter in my kitchen as the sauce fermented this time around (around 80dgs F, vs 70-ish)
2) The jar was filled almost to the top this time, with very little or no air remaining (in previous batches there was an inch or two of space)
3) Maybe the jar had some kind of bacteria in it and wasn't clean/sanitized enough?
If anybody has any ideas as to why this horrible thing happened -- or, alternatively, if it's not that horrible and is completely natural -- PLEASE let me know! Also, if anybody knows what would actually cause that strange mucousy thickening... so so strage...
I'm going to be scaling this recipe up big time and before I buy pounds and pounds of ingredients and destroy them I'd love to have some idea of what happened.
Thank you SO SO much to anybody who can help!