fermenting Adding flavors after fermentation?

[jmido8]

Hi everyone, this is my first time making a sriracha sauce and after starting to ferment the sauce, I decided I really want a sauce with a bit of a fruity taste. I'd love to add some mango or apples after it's done fermenting and run it through the blender before straining the sauce. Would this be fine? Would it kill the shelf life since I didn't ferment the sauce with the fruits?
 
Right now my sauce is 2 big red bell peppers, 15 red serrano peppers, 10 green serrano peppers, 10 ghost peppers, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup white sugar, 2 tsp salt and a splash of water. It's been fermenting for about 1 week now. Tomorrow I plan to throw it all into a blender with some vinegar and lime juice and then give it a good pure before straining out the liquids and cooking the sauce some to add some cornstarch and thicken it up. I would love to use xanthan gum or something to thicken so I don't have to cook it but I live in China and have had zero luck finding it. The closest thing I can find is cornstarch or bean starch, both of which need to be mixed with some water and cooked.
 
 
Any tips on what I should be doing? And if I have my portions correct?
 
I have watched a lot of videos on youtube and looked up several recipes for sriracha sauces and they all seem to have opposing ideas. Some people add the vinegar before fermenting, some add it after, some cook the sauce after, some say dont cook. I really want to add a fruity flavor without completely ruining the shelf life, but it is pretty hard for me to get ghost peppers here and making another batch won't be possible for another month or 2.
 
Thanks!

 

[SmokenFire]

Hi jmido8, and welcome to THP!  I would let your ferment run until done and then I'd take out small amounts (say 1/2 cup at a time) and then mix in your fruit at time of use.  That way you can experiment to see what fruits taste best in combination with your ferment AND you don't change the pH of the original ferment and compromise shelf life.  
 
I don't tend to use much fruit when fermenting because the fermentation process alters the taste significantly imo - mangoes don't come out of the ferment tasting much like mangoes because all their sugars have been eaten up during fermentation.  Also I don't use any starch to thicken, rather I cook down over low heat until the sauce has reached the consistency I like.
 
You will find many many different recipes for sriracha on the internet, but my advice is to find a recipe you like and that's easy to complete and then experiment with it over time as you come to know your tastes and preferences.  Good luck and post pics!!