fermenting Adding fresh ingredients while processing my ferment

[Sizzle Lips]

May be a silly question....I have a Jalapeno ferment with pineapple,mango,garlic that is about 100 days and I want process it....my question is can I add other fresh fruit and ingredients  into this sauce while cooking it it down.....I figure I should be able too as long as I can keep the ph down ...so I still have a long shelf life before opening.I would like to try using a bit of orange juice or necter in  this sauce as well as a little more fresh pineapple....thoughts on this anyone........after all I am calling this sauce Tropical Jalapeno.

 

[SmokenFire]

Oh hell ya you can add all sorts of things to your fermented mash to finish your sauce.  Same normal rules apply; keep your pH low and balance the finished sauce with salt/sour/sweet just prior to hot fill/hold.
 
Rare is it that ANY ferment of mine is not added to before it's bottled.  Even all pepper ferments get 'touched up' with salt/turbinado sugar/lime juice, garlic, onion, etc etc to balance flavors before I bottle them up.  I ferment to add a depth of flavor and acidic shelf stability and then finish with other ingredients to balance at the end.  

 

[Sizzle Lips]

Thanks SmokenFire....this is the answer I was looking or hoped  for....I just thought that adding fresh to the fermented mash was going to undo all my work....this will really make it  easier for me to reach the flavor I am trying to achieve.

 

[salsalady]

++ to SmokenFire.   
 
Personally, I don't care for a really heavy fermented flavor, it's just a personal preference, not a big deal.  A combination we really like is to make a ferment with ripe (red) peppers (jalapeno and bell for this recipe), onions, garlic, apple/pears/carrots, ferment for 30-45 days and then process with the same amount of the same FRESH ingredients.  It makes a really good balance of flavors.  The 50:50 ratio I use really reduces the fermented flavor, but it's still there. 
 
Just adding a bit of This~Or~That won't change the fermented flavor you worked so hard on and that so many people enjoy.  The acids and sweets just tweak it a bit.  There's tons of ingredients that can be added to a finished ferment just to give it a little something extra or different.  As long as it all gets properly boiled up and bottled, it's all good! 
 
You can also take a small bit out of the main batch, add a smidge of whatever to see if that's the direction you want the sauce to go in before dumping a whole bunch of whatever in the main pot. 
 
Good Luck, Have Fun and Post Pics!
 
SL

 

[D3monic]

Sounds like it will be a nice sauce

 

[Sizzle Lips]

Thanks for your answers Guys and Gals....Some of my ferments do carry that strong ferment flavor right through to the finished sauce....something I am not really sure I like.
I just want to be able to knock that flavor down a bit on certain sauces....thanks for the quick responses.

 

[Valleyman]

May be a silly question....I have a Jalapeno ferment with pineapple,mango,garlic that is about 100 days and I want process it....my question is can I add other fresh fruit and ingredients  into this sauce while cooking it it down.....I figure I should be able too as long as I can keep the ph down ...so I still have a long shelf life before opening.I would like to try using a bit of orange juice or necter in  this sauce as well as a little more fresh pineapple....thoughts on this anyone........after all I am calling this sauce Tropical Jalapeno.

Thanks for asking the question and thanks to you chefs to enlighten us greenhorns. I also have a few ferments from last season and I'm starting to think about finishing. Thanks!