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fermenting A C.pubescens-only ferment.

Roguejim said:
Beyond soap and water, do you use any commercial sanitizers, or even, bleach? 
I wash then put all the glassware, lids etc in boiling water for 30 minutes before I use them. The blender I use has a glass blending jar, so that plus the blade assembly gets boiling water for 30 minutes, too.  Other than that, nothing. 
 
It looks to me like that faster you can get the Lacto working, the fewer issues you have. I have a small bottle of pepper mash that has had Lacto going for 6-7 weeks, so it`s full of bacteria. I use that to inoculate new fermentations and give them a head start. The small bottle was initially inoculated with the contents from a capsule of Cultrelle Priobiotic. It`s Lactobacillus GG, which is actually Lactobacillus rhamnosus. 
 
Nigel said:
I wash then put all the glassware, lids etc in boiling water for 30 minutes before I use them. The blender I use has a glass blending jar, so that plus the blade assembly gets boiling water for 30 minutes, too.  Other than that, nothing. 
 
It looks to me like that faster you can get the Lacto working, the fewer issues you have. I have a small bottle of pepper mash that has had Lacto going for 6-7 weeks, so it`s full of bacteria. I use that to inoculate new fermentations and give them a head start. The small bottle was initially inoculated with the contents from a capsule of Cultrelle Priobiotic. It`s Lactobacillus GG, which is actually Lactobacillus rhamnosus. 
 
Thanks, but can you translate the last two sentences for us "commoners"? 
 
Do you buy your lacto, commercially?
 
Sorry, Jim.
 
The Lactobacillus I started with was the dry stuff out of a capsule of Culturelle Probiotic. It contains a species of Lactobacillus called Lactobacillus rhamnosus. This species is more tolerant of acidic conditions than others. 
 
I took about 100ml of pepper mash and threw in the contents of one capsule, mixed it up by shaking a lot and left the bottle of pepper mash plus capsule contents at room temp (about 75°F) for 6 weeks, nearer 7 now, actually. I shake it up every 4 or 5 days. That is the starter culture of L.rhamnosus. 
 
For each ferment I set up I use roughly 2 ml of the starter culture per pint of mash and just add it using a sterile syringe. It`s probably a few million bacteria, so gives a good head start. 
 
Ok, another sauce processed today! 
 
The ferment was extremely sour, pH 3.1 or so, so it shows you how much sugar is in these types of peppers. 
 
To make the sauce a little sweeter I added the pulp of around 10 pink guavas (seeds sieved out), which ended up being close to 16oz.  I find that the flavors of Guavas go very well indeed with C.pubescens. I used pink ones to keep the sauce colour, reflecting the use of Red Rocotos and Orange Manzanos.
 
 
 
JJJessee said:
Does the pH remain low enough that no heat processing or refrigeration is required?
That is a very good question and I do not know the answer. 
 
I did cook this sauce. Simmered for around 15-20 minutes, then cooled and the guava added, then simmered for another 10 minutes or so. I also used a boiling water bath to sterilize the jars, then put the full jars in while it was still boiling for 15 minutes. There was at least 2" of water over the top of all the jars.
 
My goodness!  For someone who said he had trouble with fermented sauces, you must have discovered the magic secret.  I'm still skittish after my first failure, but your recent success is giving me courage! 
 
Actually if you'd been using woozies I'd say that hot packing them would have been fine. Since you used the Mason jars though I believe you were right to hot water bath them so they'd draw a vacuume and seal. You won't need to worry so much when you open jar number 6. We'll, if you still have jar number 6. Mine go out to friends and family so fast I of term don't even have bottle number 2 left :) but that's a good thing. I love to see other living my sauce.

Rogue, we'll get you through a ferment brother, no worries :)
 
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