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CuraSauce

Wancho

Wancho

Hi,

Done a lot of reading on this forum and now I started my fermented hot sauce. I dubbed it CuraSauce because it's made with fresh ingredients from my island Curacao.

Bought 4 pounds of local peppers. They are habanero/ scotch bonnet type peppers, bright red, very hot, very fragrant. Cost about $ 1,50 per pound.
Bought a small tub of fresh made local yoghurt and got some whey out of it, filtering with a towel.
Made a brine with sea salt from Bonaire. Okay it's not from Curacao, but that island island is just 30 miles away from us.
Deseeded most of the peppers, put them in a blender with just enough brine to get a consistency that its just 'pourable'.
Added the whey to this pepper puree and poured it in a plastic juice bottle. Also I added a small pich of glucose just to make the Lactobacilli happy.

Put the bottle in a closet and the waiting started. Temps here are around 88 F so two days later it was bubbling away very happily. And i mean VERY happily. May also be because I pureed the peppers very finely and they were very red and ripe. I had to let the CO2 gas out about 3 times daily. Just twisted the cap just enough to let the pressure out. After each pressure release I shook the bottle violently to ensure proper mixing. The released gas has a very nice aroma by the way.

Now, a week later the bubbling has subsided. I guess I will have to wait another 3 weeks to let it ripen.

I don't know what will be the next step yep....

IMG-20120818-00170.jpg
 
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Wow!!!!! week of fast fermenting is great---3 times a day to release the co2 is like a jet on steroids. Mine in Wisconsin (north center of US) is like a freight train coming into the yard. I Did a gallon a few weeks ago and they are just barely working with a little tiny bit of juice overflow.
It might be due to your heat and the pulverizing of the flesh---I just cut mine into slices that are about 1/2 inch (1 cm or more) and stuff them into a jar with vinegar and water and salt. They go real slow and the sugar is not really useful in fermenting the peppers; it only makes alcohol, and does not increase the lacto-fermentation.

As to what is next---Might I suggest cutting the pepper sauce with pureed Carrots and Onions and Garlic? That seems the most prevalent ingredients in here; or also Mago or papaya make a good sauce as well I hear. Anyway GREAT looking sauce and let us know how it tastes after you open it up.

P.S. With your active fermentation it will not probably be any problem but I always fill my containers up to the top. That way no "bad" bacteria can get in and I just soak up the overflow with a paper towel. You should not close the lid tight or like RocketMan says you might go boom.
 
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Balac said:
Wow!!!!! week of fast fermenting is great---3 times a day to release the co2 is like a jet on steroids. Mine in Wisconsin (north center of US) is like a freight train coming into the yard. I Did a gallon a few weeks ago and they are just barely working with a little tiny bit of juice overflow.
It might be due to your heat and the pulverizing of the flesh---I just cut mine into slices that are about 1/2 inch (1 cm or more) and stuff them into a jar with vinegar and water and salt. They go real slow and the sugar is not really useful in fermenting the peppers; it only makes alcohol, and does not increase the lacto-fermentation.

As to what is next---Might I suggest cutting the pepper sauce with pureed Carrots and Onions and Garlic? That seems the most prevalent ingredients in here; or also Mago or papaya make a good sauce as well I hear. Anyway GREAT looking sauce and let us know how it tastes after you open it up.
Click to expand...

peaches too!
 
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Hi Balac!

Pulled this from Wikipedia:
---------------------------------------------------------
Many lactobacilli are unusual in that they operate using homofermentative metabolism (that is, they produce only lactic acid from sugars in contrast to heterofermentative lactobacilli which can produce either alcohol or lactic acid from sugars)---------------------------------------------------------
And:
---------------------------------------------------------
Dairy yogurt is produced using a culture of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus
---------------------------------------------------------

So that would mean that the lactobacilli in the whey are most probably unable to produce alcohol from the sugar(s). My hypothesis was that by adding the glucose at start, the lactobacilli from the whey would have food available right away so they can produce lactic acid and CO2 as soon as possible, thereby creating a hostile environment for other unwanted critters, also as soon as possible.

But this is only theory.

And about adding onion/ carrots.....I want this hot sauce to be as clean as possible. Just pure fermented pepper flavor. I want it to be compatible with as much food as possible, because I will be putting it on almost everything I eat. Yes, I am an addict :D

So, what I think I'm gonna do is pass the contents of that bottle trough a very fine sieve to get a tabasco like sauce. Then correct the flavors with salt and some vinegar, depending on how it tastes of course.

Yes I wil surely keep you posted about the flavour of this sauce.

Hey PexPeppers!
As I told Balac, I want to keep this sauce as clean as possible. By using peaches, it can not name it CuraSauce anymore.

I DO have this mango tree full with ripening mangoes in my garden though......
 
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LOL no. I don't have lychees, starfruit nor kiwis in my garden. Just mangoes, bananas and a little lime tree. My neighbours do have a Kenepa - tree in their garden which is a close relative of the lychee but it is a pain getting enough pulp from them. And it is a bit too hot here for growing kiwifruit. ;)
 
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Wancho said:
LOL no. I don't have lychees, starfruit nor kiwis in my garden. Just mangoes, bananas and a little lime tree. My neighbours do have a Kenepa -tree in their garden which is a close relative of the lychee but it is a pain getting enough pulp from them. And it is a bit too hot here for growing kiwifruit. ;)
Click to expand...

i would definitely try the kenepa out just for shits and giggles, but in a separate batch
 
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Day 19. Have not shaked the bottle for a few days and the ferment is starting to separate.
-Coarse particles up top.
-Clear liquid under the top level
-Very fine red suspension on the bottom
As you can see, it is still bubbling, albeit not as vigorously as before.
I can seriously NOT wait till day 30. But I'm doing my best.....
IMG_0380.jpg
 
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The ferment has a nice rich color...........I can see the expansion in the mix from the 1st photo to the last...

If you have a way to check the ph when completed but before strained, I'd like to Know, just out of curiosity since you pureed the peppers into a liquid mash........cool!

Greg
 
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Wancho
Thanks for the info---it is great to know and I missed that.
---------------------------------------------------------
Many lactobacilli are unusual in that they operate using homofermentative metabolism (that is, they produce only lactic acid from sugars in contrast to heterofermentative lactobacilli which can produce either alcohol or lactic acid from sugars)--------------------------------------------------------- :dance:

My last Gallon jug of pepper fermentation bubbled out about 1/2 pint of liquid before I noticed it and now I have a white scuss on the peppers on the outer edge of the top---where the peppers meet the liquid. That has happened to me before and the scum and peppers are no good. I will have to thrash the top and too bad because that was were I put some real hot ones.
I stopped the contamination by topping it up with vinegar.
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:455]
 
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Balac said:
Wancho
Thanks for the info---it is great to know and I missed that.
---------------------------------------------------------
Many lactobacilli are unusual in that they operate using homofermentative metabolism (that is, they produce only lactic acid from sugars in contrast to heterofermentative lactobacilli which can produce either alcohol or lactic acid from sugars)--------------------------------------------------------- :dance:

My last Gallon jug of pepper fermentation bubbled out about 1/2 pint of liquid before I noticed it and now I have a white scuss on the peppers on the outer edge of the top---where the peppers meet the liquid. That has happened to me before and the scum and peppers are no good. I will have to thrash the top and too bad because that was were I put some real hot ones.
I stopped the contamination by topping it up with vinegar.
Click to expand...

Yes Balac. That is why i prefer using the 'manual gas release' method. E.g. no water lock, but manually release pressure once in a while. This way i can shake my ferment to ensure that the top layer cannot build up yeasts or molds. Vigorously shaking a container with a water lock is not a good idea....

Another way would utilize the best of both worlds:
-start with a closed vessel WITHOUT water lock
-keep shaking once in a while so the top layer can get no yeast or mold
-when fermentation starts replace lid with a lid with water lock
-the fermentation will produce CO2 so the air above the ferment will not contain oxygen anymore: no mold or fungus can grow on the surface anymore

Pepperhead said:
Looks great! I visited Curacao and Bonaire a few years ago when I was in the military, as well as Aruba. Beautiful islands.
Click to expand...

Thanks Mr. Pepperhead. They are beautiful islands indeed! Its a shame that our corrupt government is messing things up though. But hey this is not a politics forum.
 
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Wancho I have to disagee with you on one item:

-the fermentation will produce CO2 so the air above the ferment will not contain oxygen anymore: no mold or fungus can grow on the surface anymore

As the Picture above shows Bad Boogers grow On CO2 air spaces----Some times they do not grow but I had that happen before so it is not unusual. I do not know the Bacteria but it does not introduce any off falvor to the rest of the peppers and I throw the offending slimed peppers away.

I ferment with no space in the fluids to the top and crack the lid so overflow can perculate out of the jar----So there is nothing in that jar but CO2.
 
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Balac said:
Wancho I have to disagee with you on one item:

-the fermentation will produce CO2 so the air above the ferment will not contain oxygen anymore: no mold or fungus can grow on the surface anymore

As the Picture above shows Bad Boogers grow On CO2 air spaces----Some times they do not grow but I had that happen before so it is not unusual. I do not know the Bacteria but it does not introduce any off falvor to the rest of the peppers and I throw the offending slimed peppers away.

I ferment with no space in the fluids to the top and crack the lid so overflow can perculate out of the jar----So there is nothing in that jar but CO2.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, guess it's back to the drawing board for me then :eek:
 
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This sauce has been teasing me long enough now. It has been fermenting about 26 days and patience is not one of my virtues. So to the kitchen we go!

Nice color eh?
IMG_0381.jpg


Strainer and bowl ready!

IMG_0382.jpg


Strain strain!

IMG_0383.jpg


Looks and smell tabasco-ish

IMG_0384.jpg


Pulp stays behind

IMG_0385.jpg


Mixed the sauce with some vinegar. Some people don't like the taste of vinegar. I do! pH is around 2.8. Corrected the taste with salt. Bottled in two old but clean soy bottles. Voila! This sauce tastes a lot like tabasco. But it's WAY hotter. And tabasco tastes a bit rounder. Maybe because they age it for 3 years and i did just under a month. I will check how this sauce ripens in the fridge.
IMG_0386.jpg
 
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