Hey friends, it's been a long time since my last post but I'm back!!! Last year I grew a ton of peppers from seeds I bought from AjiJoe. I needed to make some room in my deep freezer so today I made three mashes for fermentation. I used hickory smoke on the garlic and red & green peppers (the former was mostly cayenne while the latter was a mix of all kinds of random unripened peppers I picked last fall right before the first snowfall. I didn't take any proper measurements (except for the 5+% brine*) but here's my list of ingredients:
I didn't put much fruit in; just enough to kickstart the fermentation process. Likewise, there's only 2 tbsp of Basalmic vinegar in the green sauce (it was a last minute decision). I am particularly excited about the Haby-Wasabi sauce. I put in 8 teaspoons of wasabi powder and a huge chunk of ginger. I also put in some cumin in the red sauce. I'll leave them in my basement for 6-12 weeks and then use lime juice/vinegar to get the ph right before bottling. Or maybe I'll (finally) shell out the cash for a pressure canner and heating element (since I have a glass-top stove).
*How well do you stir in your salt water brine? I stirred in my whey really well but I didn't do a very good job stirring in my brine. I just sorta poured it on top, gave it a quick stir with a spoon, inserted weights, and topped off with more brine. I'm afraid the brine didn't really get fully stirred into the bottom of the mash. Is this going to be a problem?
** I caramelized the onions using butter. Is that OK? Will the butter do anything bad during the fermentation process? I just thought about this and now I'm in a panic!!
I didn't put much fruit in; just enough to kickstart the fermentation process. Likewise, there's only 2 tbsp of Basalmic vinegar in the green sauce (it was a last minute decision). I am particularly excited about the Haby-Wasabi sauce. I put in 8 teaspoons of wasabi powder and a huge chunk of ginger. I also put in some cumin in the red sauce. I'll leave them in my basement for 6-12 weeks and then use lime juice/vinegar to get the ph right before bottling. Or maybe I'll (finally) shell out the cash for a pressure canner and heating element (since I have a glass-top stove).
*How well do you stir in your salt water brine? I stirred in my whey really well but I didn't do a very good job stirring in my brine. I just sorta poured it on top, gave it a quick stir with a spoon, inserted weights, and topped off with more brine. I'm afraid the brine didn't really get fully stirred into the bottom of the mash. Is this going to be a problem?
** I caramelized the onions using butter. Is that OK? Will the butter do anything bad during the fermentation process? I just thought about this and now I'm in a panic!!
