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fermenting Fermented Pepper Mash

C

charlesNYC

Ok so i'm throughly confused on this subject.
Some people boil their blended peppers before setting them up to ferment, other don't because it kills the fermenting bacteria.
Some say just add salt, others say add enough to create a protective coating on top of the pepper concentrate.
Some say use an airtight jar, others say a loosely fitting peanut butter jar so that air escapes.

How do you do it?
I trust everyone here far more than all those geniuses in Gardenweb.
 
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Well I am starting to get a pretty nice amount of hooch. I keep pouring it off into a small glass every time I see a nice amount sitting on top. I do have a couple questions just to make sure things go right from here. My brother being as weird as he is thought he would just try a bit on his finger last night when I was showing him my experiment. Well he said it tasted like flour which made me think of this first question.
1) Before using this hooch in with the peppers should I use a coffee filter or something to keep from the small amounts of flour and stuff from being poured into the jar?
2) In case I want to let the peppers ferment longer than 6 weeks do I just make and add more hooch to the pepper mash?
3) Should the water I use with the mash still be distilled or can it be tap?
 
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1) I do not strain. Just dip a little out of the jar and put it in with the mash. I do not seperate it from the flour mixture either. It needs to be in there to get a good makeup of the beneficial bacteria in it. When it is ready it will be very dark in color. Mine is almost black.

2) It is only a starter. You are only trying to get a jump start on the good stuff before the bad stuff starts to grow. It will take about a week or so then the Ph will start dropping as the bacteria is feeding on the mash. Once they are there, there is no need to add more. The longer you let it sit the smoother the flavor will be.

3) I use distilled as the chance of the bad bacteria is lower than in tap water. The first time I tried to make the sourdough starter, I used tap water and it started to mold and get a funky smell. This did not happen with distilled. Once again, just trying to get a jump start on the good stuff.

Trust me when I say that when you get the final product, you will find it worth the trouble. I still haven't started anymore yet, hopefully tonight, but I did boil down and bottle one of the jars that had caribbean red habs and it was just fantastic. Not as hot as I thought it would be, but still a good bite to it and a very smooth flavor. Well worth the effort. I will be starting 1 will fatalii/devil tongue mixture, as well as will a mixture of red chinenses (caribbean red, trinidad congo, maybe some 7's, naga's, etc.) Will post when I get it done. I will include pics of the finished sauce, the hooch, and so on to give a good tutorial of how I do it, which may not be the best way, but it does work and tastes great.

jacob
 
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Well maybe I should pour the descent amount of hooch I have collected, back on top of the dough to develop into a better starter than. What I have now is kind of a light brown / dark tan color. Would it be ok just to take a small amount of the dough to put into the small glass with the hooch so I don't worry about the hooch soaking back into the dough or am I better off pouring the hooch back into the jar? Thanks for all the info.
 
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In the long run, it would probably be better to stir it back into the dough as that is where all the bacteria is. As it sits it will seperate back out though. For me, it only takes till the morning and it is seperated again.

jacob
 
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Well last night I dumped the hooch I collected, back into the jar and mixed it all up real good. The small amount I already saw starting to form before I did that though did look slightly darker then what I had collected so hopefully that is a sign of whats to come. Perhaps come this weekend or beginning of next week I will have some darker hooch to work with and can get started on this before another frost comes. :D

Just as a side note, with some of the research I have done on fermentation I have come across some other methods including making the mash and adding a nice thick layer of salt on top and I think some other stuff. Is anyone familiar with this method and have any good results with it? I figure maybe next year ill try the salt method to and see how that works.
 
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A week should be enough to get it started real good. I have started a new batch and will be posting in a new thread here in a minute.

The salt method is the more traditional method. Add salt to about 10-15% of peppers by weight add a layer of salt to the top to keep the nasties out. The salt inhibits bad bacterial growth while the lacto-bacteria get started. Me being paranoid, like to use the starter to help ensure success.
 
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See after posting this I did A LOT more research. It seem Tabasco mixes the salt in with the mash then puts it into the wooden barrels. You think thats all, nope its not. Then they put the wooden top of the barrel on and add a nice thick layer of salt on top of that and even covering the bung hole. This allows for no mold to form, gasses to escape, and no fruit flies or other nasties to get in. I was thinking about trying this method. So I would take and make a mash adding 10%-15% salt by weight then maybe add one layer of salt (part of the 10%-15%) on top of everything and then seal the jar up and let it age. Once complete then add the vinegar once its ready to bottle. Through my research I read someone say that garlic can not be fermented. Should I just do peppers only then once I have a nice tasting fermented sauce THEN add garlic, vinegar, and whatever else at the end?
 
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I haven't read that about the garlic. But a quick google search came up with a few discussions for fermented garlic, so I think it is possible. On the other hand, I know the lactobacillus converts sugars to lactic acid, so if the garlic doesn't have a lot of sugars that may be right. So, the lactobacillus may or may not be able to convert the garlic, but the overall sauce still has a very low Ph with the garlic added in the beginning, which will keep it from spoiling. Making mash gives me a consistancy I can't get by cooking a fresh sauce, and has a great smooth flavor, but for me the greatest advantage of the mash is not to use the vinegar. If I add everything in the beginning, I get a Ph around 3.3 - 3.6 so I don't have to. If you add it later, it will affect the ph and vinegar is necessary. Ultimately you make it to your tastes, so if you like the taste of vinegar, go ahead and add it.


jacob
 
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Well I took the plunge. I have taken all 69 of my second harvest Cayenne's and have blended them all up and dumped about 95% into one jar and the other 5% into another jar. To the jar that had the most I added some water and about 1.5tbsp of the hooch. I then shook it up REAL GOOD and it has been sitting since Saturday. My second jar I decided to make it a pepper/salt mixture and try out the tobasco method. So after mixing it wish salt I then added a nice layer of salt on top of the mash and sealed the jar TIGHT. I have noticed a few minor things in the fuller jar like tiny bubbles everywhere, but I am not sure if that's from the crazy shaking I did or the fermentation at work. Anyway I will try to keep you all posted.
 
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If you have tiny bubbles after a couple of days then I would say it is working and you are off to a good start. I give mine a soft spin every couple of days to release the bubbles. Good luck! After this, you will be addicted to this method. I don't think I will make any more fresh sauce.

jacob
 
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I also prefer the smoothness of a fermented pepper mash hot sauce as it has become my favorite method this year. I have not tried your hooch method but will start some as soon as I get some distilled, I'm just adding back some already fermented mash to each new batch. This is one of the better threads on fermentation period and hope more people discover this old way of food preservation. Good read.
 
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Well I have a great amount of tiny bubbles so maybe I will give it a spin to release them. I will also see about doing some weekly photos to see how everything progresses.
 
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Well I took some pictures already and there is some interesting stuff going on. I even check on the jars today and found the same things happened but this time there was some spillage. Anyway Here is what I found to be happening...

This is how I found the bottle (twice now) Seems odd that the solids would rise up above the liquid like that. Could there be enough gas in the liquid to push the solids up like that? I am assuming not because if there was enough to even do that I should get a nice huge "PSSSSHT" when I open the jar right? I mean I am getting just a small amount of release but nothing big.
IMG00601-20101019-2253.jpg


So I gave it good shakin and this is what it looks like after.
IMG00602-20101019-2254.jpg


Then the salt one. This one I noticed today (this pic is not from today) that there is liquid forming on top and salt is dissolving so I am thinking I should add more salt on top.
IMG00600-20101019-2252.jpg
 
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Canning jars don't seal on their own, so you are releasing some gas because of that. That's probably why you don't hear a big puff of air when you open. How much hooch did you put in to start? That looks like the lactobacteria is quite active. I had 1 jar do that so far. Had to shake it up everyday for about a week or so then it stopped and went back to the small bubbles. Don't think mine did it quite as bad as yours, but it did come up to the top. You could also put it is the fridge to slow down the lactobacteria so it doesn't froth up like that again. It will still ferment at the lower temps, but a little slower rate.

jacob
 
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very cool stuff, I'm planning a green pepper mash out of the peppers I'll be forced to harvest next week. We'll see how that turns out. I think the smoothening of the flavor will make for a decent hot sauce even though I'm not that much of a fan of green peppers.
 
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thank you for this thread! you guys really seem to know what you're talking about. i read the entire thing and i feel pretty confident and i can start making my own fermented hot sauce. i have one question though, i couldn't find pickling/canning salt at my grocery store so can i use kosher salt instead?

thanks again!
 
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Kosher, when talking about salt, just means that the salt grains are a certain shape, the shape used to "kosher" meat. These are excellent for using to salt things during cooking because they don't contain iodine, which can have an odd flavour and they are shaped to stick and dissolve as opposed to table salt which rolls off and doesn't dissolve quickly. Kosher salt works just fine.
 
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Well my sauce is starting to look real nice and smooth already. I do have a smaller 3rd batch of cayenne's I will be picking soon and I just had a couple questions for when I do pick them.
1) It looks like there is enough room in the jar, but can I just take the third batch,throw them in a blender, then into the jar? Should I mix some of what is in the jar in the blender just to make the blending easier?
2)I may try to hold myself back and let this age for a year. If/When I were to start next years batch could I take maybe a tbsp or so of this sauce to start the new ones since it has the bacteria in it or should I really start a new batch of hooch?
 
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1) I wouldn't. I would start a new batch with the next set of peppers. Not sure it would hurt it, just set back the fermentation process. If it will sit for a year, probably doesn't matter much.

2)The hooch is just a booster for the good bacteria. Anything with the same level of good bacteria will do the same. Kefir, fresh sourkraut juice, or a reserve from this batch of sauce all do the same thing just at different speeds. So, yes it will work, but depending on the amount of bacteria in the finished sauce, it may or may not be faster than the hooch.

jacob
 
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yogourmet freeze-dried-kefir-starter works great and is no problems compared to hooch.

The box is about $5 and contains 6 packs of 5 grams each. Each pack could start 10 ferments or more. When the ferment is going strong you can take a little fermenting juice out for the next batch.

most health food stores sell this kefir starter. or you can get it on the internet.

you only need a little bit to get it going.
 
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