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fermenting Newest Ferment - Easy and Fun!

SmokenFire

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Here is the ferment I finished yesterday.
 
Recipe step by step:
 
You need:
 
1 half gallon (64oz) mason jar, airlock, large mouth band and,
 
1 pound red ripe jalas or fresnos or hungarian finger hots (this batch done w jalapenos) - stemmed
8 ounces habaneros - stemmed
1 pound carrots - trimmed
1 pound onions - quartered
6 ounces of garlic cloves - skinned
40 grams of canning or pickling salt (my scale does both grams and ounces.  40 grams = 1.41 ounces)
 
1. Trim and stem your ingredients.  Be smart and wear gloves.  I use our meat scissors to stem the peppers and cut them into smaller pieces.
2, Throw everything into the food processor and press play (note this recipe amount requires 2 batches in normal sized food processor)
3. Add salt while machine is running
4. Pour out mash into large bowl and mix well - look for any larger chunks and grind em up fine
5. Spoon into sanitized jar and seal with airlock
6. Wait about 4 weeks.  Monitor mash throughout that time period to make sure its doing all the right things.
 
Total time needed: About 10 minutes to stem and trim, about 10 minutes to process and jar.  Zero to kickass in 20 minutes!
 
Provided everything went right* this fermented mash can then be moved to the fridge as is after 4 weeks.  You can spoon pure lovely joy outta the jar for however long it takes you to finish it OR you can take the whole batch and cook/food mill/cook/blend/bottle into hot sauce as so many around here like to do (myself included).  This recipe usually makes about 70 or so ounces, which will fill one 1/2 gallon mason jar all the way with a little left over to enjoy until the batch is ready.  Enjoy!
 
Photos:
 
The players:
 
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the blended mash after food processor:
 
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jarred up and ready to chill:
 
i422jb.jpg

 
In four or so weeks this will be a complex and wonderful product with nice immediate hit of heat followed by some sweetness from the carrot and savory from the garlic and onion - with a good lasting burn.  I'd say non chile heads will think this is just about fire, whereas we'd call it a 4 or 5 on a ten point scale.  Feel free to substitute your favorite peppers but try to keep the ratios roughly the same as the recipe is well balanced as is.  
 
*Save yourself some frustration and read up on the fermenting thread before you start in order to keep your ferments from going south.  The info here on THP helped me immensely when I was first starting out.  Always use common sense and good sanitation along with your eyes and nose!
 
OCD Chilehead said:
Sounds like something I could do. Could one use frozen pods, or is this a fresh pods only project? How can one get and accurate ph test on ferments. Test strips?
Thanks for the info. The pics are cool as well.
I've done 5 ferments from just frozen pods with no problems and couldn't tell the difference after processing.
Don't think you'll have any problems. Just follow SmokenFire's guidelines and you should be more than happy! :)
 
oldsalty said:
I've done 5 ferments from just frozen pods with no problems and couldn't tell the difference after processing.
Don't think you'll have any problems. Just follow SmokenFire's guidelines and you should be more than happy! :)
Thanks. I use frozen pods for sauce. I figured since it gets broken down just like sauce it wouldn't be a issue. If I have fresh pods I'll use them. Need to buy an airlock.

Thanks again guys
 
Pimon said:
Wondering if onion color matters -- I plan to use red.  Also wondering what the result would be using c. frutescens (tabasco) peppers exclusively.  Will attempt, and will post results.  Stay tuned...
 
Onion color does not matter, I've used red onions before with great results.  All tabasco batches are tasty indeed!  :)
 
wayright said:
I've been wanting to try a ferment,,ordered airlocks a couple days ago and I really dig the salt only ferment
 
My question is,,can i add peppers as they ripen? or do I need to have them all at the start of my ferment?
 
 
Thanks in advance
 
Kevin
 
Kevin - Generally I'll wait till I have the roughly 1900 grams of peppers and then I ferment them all at one time - I've no experience with adding fresh peppers as they ripen.  What I'd suggest is to cut the volume in half (950 grams peppers, 25 grams salt) rather than adding as they ripen as I worry that the later additions wouldn't fully ferment.
 
Smaller batches will allow you to work with what you've got coming in ripe at any given time.  Cut the jar size down to a quart - the same fermenting lids will work with quarts and wide mouth pint size jars.  
 
Hope this helps - please do follow up with pics of your starts!  :)
 
SmokenFire, I'm going to try a ferment one last time since I have such an over loaded freezer of peppers. I will follow your recipe from the 1st post, but use different peppers. Some questions:

Would you consider the finished sauce to be salty?

Is kahm yeast fairly common with your ferments? You talk about putting the ferment in the fridge at a certain point, and taking uncooked sauce straight from the jar. If your ferment developed kahm yeast, would you simply spoon off the yeast before putting the jar in the fridge? Or, would you cook the particular sauce since it had developed the kahm yeast?
 
You only sanitize the jar, right?
 
Roguejim said:
SmokenFire, I'm going to try a ferment one last time since I have such an over loaded freezer of peppers. I will follow your recipe from the 1st post, but use different peppers. Some questions:

Would you consider the finished sauce to be salty?  
 
The Finished sauce is salty yes, not overly though and there's an equal amount of umami to it.  I taste and add honey/sugar/agave at the end just before bottling for balance, so that's what I'd suggest when you use to make it.  When something is salty you can bring up sweet/sour/hot/umami to balance.  My 1st recipe listed here is basically my take on sriacha.   :)

Is kahm yeast fairly common with your ferments?  
 
Not common at all.
 
You talk about putting the ferment in the fridge at a certain point, and taking uncooked sauce straight from the jar. If your ferment developed kahm yeast, would you simply spoon off the yeast before putting the jar in the fridge? Or, would you cook the particular sauce since it had developed the kahm yeast?  
 
Whenever I make this particular first recipe at home I always spoon out a little of the raw ferment into a container for the fridge.  <-- That stuff is then used to 'seed' other ferments, gets dolloped into soups/stews, and is used to kick up some dressings and other sauces.  I like the more complex character they develop over time and how much it brings up/out flavors in other dishes, but I don't have the time to let these ferments roll too long - I need to step up my equipment!  
 
If any ferment of mine develops kham yeast I wait till the appointed time (usually around 3-4 weeks but some much longer) and then I pull, scrape the yeast and use the ferment, and have consumed both cooked and uncooked ferments that had shown kham yeast.  Having said that, you should know by now that I'm a crazy, sometimes boorish lout with a penchant for beer, weird shit and most things hot.  If you'd feel better cooking a ferment that had kham yeast by all means do so.   ;)    
 
You only sanitize the jar, right?
 
Correct.  I bake them now cause the dish washer takes forever (thanks SL!) and then I use a no rinse sanitizer on the air lock parts and the lids/bands.  The peppers/carrot are rinsed and chopped, the garlic and onion are chopped, then everything gets pulverized with salt being added as it spins.  Right out into a bowl and then spooned into the jar - maybe 20 or 30 minutes work.  
 
RJ - 
 
Thanks for your questions.  Let me know if you have any more, and I'm glad you're giving fermentation another go!    
 
Roguejim said:
Why bake the jars when you could use the sanitizing solution?
 
 
Pretty sure the baking "sterilizes" the jar, while the solution would only "sanitize" it.  That is what I was able to find when I was looking into this awhile back.  According to what I read on it, each provides a different purpose.  Hopefully Dru can give a definitive answer.
 
Kevin that looks excellent! Really excited for you dude. I normally give this recipe about 3-4 weeks before processing, but with several batches you'll be able to let one or two roll for a while. Looking forward to your results bud. :)

And I'd love to see an all pube version of this Hogleg! Please make sure to post photos of your process.
 
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