fermenting Carribean Red/Hab Ferment

[hoibot]

I've been harvesting peppers from my organe hab and Caribbean red plants for a few months now and stashing them away in the freezer for when the time strikes to make my second batch. well, tonight was the night to kick things off with the harvest. my first sauce was made with similar ingredients and mango and turned out really well, so i thought i'd stick with the tropical/Caribbean theme and substitute pineapple for mango in this one. 
 
ingredients:
 
3/4 pound mixed caribbean red/orange hab (50:50), chopped
1/2 pineapple, chopped
3 carrots, shredded
1 yellow sweet onion, sliced
1 head garlic, peeled, smashed
 
Prepared the ingredients and layered them in the jar (a la Rocketman - thanks for the inspiration!). Mixed up a 5% salt brine with distilled water and kosher salt prior to filling the jar and used it to cover the ingredients. Slapped the airlock on and will see how it progresses.
 
I'll probably let this go for a month or so and see where we're at (i'm down to my last bottle of sauce #1!). Still have a gallon bag full of these peppers, so more ferments to come!
 
edit: see picture in post #3

 

[oboesushi]

I don't really care for the taste of orange habs, but they do go well with tropical fruit.

 

[hoibot]

there was a little liquid in the airlock the other day, so i opened the lid to release the pressure and there was a little liquid on the weight, so i dabbed my finger in there... got a little on my lips as i was tasting it. holy cow it's hot! obviously the other flavors aren't fully infused in that little sample, but i've got high hopes! it smells amazing, nice garlicky punch, followed by some pineapple and the red hots.
 
here's a pic of it since I messed up posting it in the first post (half gallon jar):
 

 
it's been going a little over a week now and still pretty active. i'll probably go for 30 days on this one.

I don't really care for the taste of orange habs, but they do go well with tropical fruit.

 
yes, they do. the only proper sauce I've made was only orange habs with mango and they married beautifully. i think the flavor of the Caribbean reds will dominate the pepper profile. 

 

[oboesushi]

That looks like it is going to be delicious.  Good luck!

 

[laynlow]

Looks good.    Keep us updated.

 

[hoibot]

After reading more about fermentation and forgetting that it can suck out all the sweetness from an ingredient, I decided to split the difference and process this hot sauce at 20 days. found some time the other night to get it done.
 
1) Check pH, which was 3.3. Good to go.
 
2) Dump contents into a pot and boil for ~10 minutes, then simmer for 45 minutes, during which time I used a potato masher to start breaking down the pineapple and garlic.
 

 
3) Blend sauce, put through medium food mill plate to get the seeds that didn't puree, back on the stove for a 30-45 minute simmer.
 

 
4) Bring to 190 for last 15 mins of simmer, then bottle/invert. Here they are after sitting inverted for 15 minutes or so.
 

 
This pic doesn't do the color justice, it looks like carrot sauce, really a nice color. The heat is great, the flavor isn't very sweet at all, but you can still taste the pineapple and the garlic, maybe a hint of onion, and whatever flavor characteristics are provided by the fermentation.
 
The only thing I'm unhappy about with this sauce is that I overprocessed it and it got too thick. I didn't want to add vinegar in fear that it would change the flavors, and I didn't consider adding water, but I probably had some room with the pH to add some back toward the end.
 
Is it absolutely necessary to do two 30-45 minute simmers with the sauce? I think next time I may do the initial simmer before pureeing, then only bring to 190 for the 10-15 minutes before bottling to try and prevent it from getting too thick... Or maybe do it with a lid on next time?
 
Thanks for looking!