Recent content by -Pablo-

    Sandor Katz is also a whacky-doodle weirdo who despite having written a few popular books on fermentation, doesn't have any formalized food safety education.  Most commercial providers sell in the range of 10-15% to err on the safe side (losing a shipping container of mash to spoilage is not...

Sure why not.  :)

I agree with Chuck Wagon.  In my experience, there's not enough CO2 released from lactic acid fermentation to require the use of an airlock.  In ethanol fermentation (for things like beer/wine) much much more CO2 is usually released so it makes sense to use an airlock for that, but not so much...

Several reasons.  But the two that I find most desireable are 1) the development of lactic acid which tends to compliment acetic acid (vinegar) quite nicely in sauces and 2) the development of pectin which is a natural thickening agent which prevents your sauces from separating after...

How dried out were the pods after the smoker treatment? Did they still retain any residual moisture, or were they completely dried out? Did you add extra brine to the mix, or did you just press out the moisture from the pods/vegetables? I'm curious how well fermenting a completely dried pod...

Sure, the end product is definitely safer, under the LARGE ASSUMPTION proper lactic acid fermentation processes are being followed, and no contaminants are introduced during post-processing. ;) Also, the Wild Fermentation guys you cited are largely a bunch of whackos. /yes, I own and have...

Much of this has to do with local process authority guidelines for food prep/sales. It's fine and all if you want to grow bacteria for your own concoctions but when you start getting into production/distribution, unless you do extensive lab tests on each and every batch to ensure you're only...

Just a thought, try using smoked paprika instead. You'll retain the red color, it won't add hardly anything to the heat, and you'll get a good smokey flavor from it. I've tried using liquid smoke before with awful results. Liquid smoke tends to overpower whatever you put it in even in super...

White is usually indicative of Kahm yeast and is harmless. Blue...? Not so sure about that.

Red serranos hands down. They make for an incredible base when they're fermented. 7-pot Douglah are good too, but pretty hot to use as a base.

You still got any of those bands? :)

Yes. :rofl:

It's $8. $5 is shipping. :/ And yeah, i've looked into some co-packers too, but again I run into the problem of having to pay to ship mash to them, and then having to pay to ship/warehouse the final product. With the price of oil being what it is, shipping has gone through the roof. I got...

Pablo's Phoenix. It's not exactly huge quantities, not like the big guys at least. I mostly sell online, but also am working on retail. There's a local restaurant chain called Tako Sushi that carries it right now, but I'm going to scale up ops at the beginning of next year and push for more...

Well, I'm not sure entirely. Right now I only have about 100 lbs of a Cayenne/Serrano mash blend on hand that'll get me through maybe 40-50 cases of sauce. I don't know how fresh pod weight translates into mash weight though. I guess I'd also need to invest in a commercial-grade macerator to...