Here are some process photos of my recent fermented sauce trials. First of all I need to do better at documenting my process with photos!
[SIZE=12.8px]This is 91 days in to a ferment of ripe jalapenos, red aji somethings, carrot, onion, garlic, roast capsicum (blackened skin removed), sea salt and filtered water. Blended and placed in 2 mason jars, plastic lid with air locks.[/SIZE]
Both jars had a darker layer at the top, I opened the left jar first and it smelled fantastic, so I poured in in to the pot. The bottle on the right though, had an unpleasant smell, kinda reminded me of the smell of a pile of grass clippings after it had been sitting in the sun for a couple of weeks. So I poured this one in the bin. The smell improved towards the bottom of the jar, but I chucked it anyway.
[SIZE=12.8px]Bubbling away for 10 minutes. I then shoved a stick blender in there, and put it back over the flame with a little more filtered water for another 10 minutes before pouring through a silicon funnel in to 2 bottles. [/SIZE]
I also made a non fermented sauce with nearly identical ingredients as a comparison right after bottling this one, but only took a photo of the bottled sauce. I added some lime juice to this fresh sauce to give a bit of acidity to the flavour. I also strained out the fibrous matter, and added a tiny bit of Xanthan gum.
Several learnings on this day last week:
1- I need to lift my process photo game.
2- I cooked the fermented sauce too long, it's very thick, has a bit of a chutney feel to it. Which is a great flavour, but maybe too much so.
3- not acidic enough after 90 days, need to either ferment longer or add more acid during processing if I wish to upscale this sauce.
4- the plastic lids don't give a proper air tight seal. I've looked around some photos on here since, and most airlocks are in one of the metal 2 part lids, which have a good seal.
5- Use bigger jars. Fermented sauce is delicious!
6- A tiny bit of Xanthan gum has a huge effect
I prepared another ferment on the same day, using brain strains in place of the jalapenos. Might post that one later.
Thanks for looking, I appreciate any and all advice!
Andy
[SIZE=12.8px]This is 91 days in to a ferment of ripe jalapenos, red aji somethings, carrot, onion, garlic, roast capsicum (blackened skin removed), sea salt and filtered water. Blended and placed in 2 mason jars, plastic lid with air locks.[/SIZE]
Both jars had a darker layer at the top, I opened the left jar first and it smelled fantastic, so I poured in in to the pot. The bottle on the right though, had an unpleasant smell, kinda reminded me of the smell of a pile of grass clippings after it had been sitting in the sun for a couple of weeks. So I poured this one in the bin. The smell improved towards the bottom of the jar, but I chucked it anyway.
[SIZE=12.8px]Bubbling away for 10 minutes. I then shoved a stick blender in there, and put it back over the flame with a little more filtered water for another 10 minutes before pouring through a silicon funnel in to 2 bottles. [/SIZE]
I also made a non fermented sauce with nearly identical ingredients as a comparison right after bottling this one, but only took a photo of the bottled sauce. I added some lime juice to this fresh sauce to give a bit of acidity to the flavour. I also strained out the fibrous matter, and added a tiny bit of Xanthan gum.
Several learnings on this day last week:
1- I need to lift my process photo game.
2- I cooked the fermented sauce too long, it's very thick, has a bit of a chutney feel to it. Which is a great flavour, but maybe too much so.
3- not acidic enough after 90 days, need to either ferment longer or add more acid during processing if I wish to upscale this sauce.
4- the plastic lids don't give a proper air tight seal. I've looked around some photos on here since, and most airlocks are in one of the metal 2 part lids, which have a good seal.
5- Use bigger jars. Fermented sauce is delicious!
6- A tiny bit of Xanthan gum has a huge effect
I prepared another ferment on the same day, using brain strains in place of the jalapenos. Might post that one later.
Thanks for looking, I appreciate any and all advice!
Andy
