initial questions...

[hoibot]

been scouring around the site and have found some fantastic information, but i'm in search of a bit more. didn't find anything directly related to them in search, but if they're out there, my apologies for asking again.

1) are there any established ratio of onion/carrot/garlic to amount of peppers, or is this strictly personal preference?

2) any issues with pureeing ingredients prior to fermentation?

3) haven't seen any in my searches so far that include dried peppers, have you folks had success using them in hot sauces?

4) for fermented sauces, do you still boil them prior to bottling?

thanks in advance!

 

[salsalady]

Welcome hoibot.

If you haven't already, check out Fermenting 101 and Hot Sauce101.

1- not set ratios, all up to you
2- puree before, after, or not at all, up to you
3- lots of sauce makers use dried chiles
4- I defer to Rocketman and Fermenting 101 for that answer~

Have Fun!

 

[RocketMan]

Welcome houbot

Salsa Lady is a great source of information and When she speaks about sauce making I listen so for 1 to 3 you can take those answers to the bank.

4. Boiled, blended and hot packed into bottles as the boss would say means sauce, otherwise it's called Salsa.

 

[salsalady]

back at #4- unless you are doing a commercally approved and licensed process... Hot Pack as described in the Fermenting 101 and Making Hot Sauce101threads.

Sauce-v-salsa is a whole other question. For food safety, follow established guidelines.


And Rocketman is the resident guru of fermentation...of the capsicum variety.....

wheebz and others are there for the alcoholic fermentation questions.




We have MANY really talented folks here, don't we?

 

[hoibot]

thanks much for the responses! i hope i can add in some of my experiences with alcoholic fermentations, that's what got me started into fermentation to begin with!

thanks again.

 

[Lucky Dog Hot Sauce]

Hobby batches at home I puree in a Cuisinart prior to cooking. I believe I get a more evenly cooked batch from this. When pasteurizing, I like having the confidence that every bit in the pot is cooking exactly the same amount - I don't like the idea of an errant large chunk of something that doesn't cook all the way through somehow tainting a batch.

So yeah - for uniformity of cooking I puree the carrot, peppers, garlic, fruits, veggies, etc.

my production batches are not pureed prior to cooking. That said, the sauce is put through a screen grinder while still at 200 degrees, so the uniformity of cooking is achieved regardless.