CB,Did you cook the final Hab product down ? "The Ferment" for me is a base or cushion to the final sauce. There are many varieties of the Habaneros available to grow or purchase. I use all kinds especially the Caribbean Reds and the Trinidad Congos. I now have a Jamaican Red which I've been searching for some time now. I like to use lower acid fruits within the hot sauce making such as the Papaya. Also when it comes to adding vinegar I always have a few gallons on cane vinegar with different peppers infusing inside. A sauce should have a complex flavor and scent........like a nose to a glass of fine wine. I give a batch of hot sauce a good month before opening the bottles to let the flavors dance. I made a few cases of my "Hot Papaya"...a combo of red and orange habs with other ingredients. Right out of the gate the sauce seemed bright and acidic....ha they all do (ph 3.7) but after bottling them and letting time do its thing the sauce became mellow tasting with the Papaya and Tamarind shining through. I bought a bag of "pork rinds"...the fried whatcha-macallit-things today a vending machine...yikes. I opened up a bottle of that sauce (1 month old) and the flavor kicked the arse on the rinds.Bottom line...don't give up on a hab based sauce ...give it time to gel GregMy last batch came out pretty good. I didn’t open the jar at any point throughout fermentation and I’m happy with the result. I used all habaneros with carrots, ginger, onion, garlic and a few raisins. I let it ferment for about 30 days. I think next time I’ll go longer. I’m pretty happy with it considering it’s my first successful batch, especially compared to my batch that got spoiled due to opening it during fermentation. I think maybe I’m just not in love with an all habanero based hot sauce. Any opinions on this? Anyway, that’s my last batch until next year around this time. It’s painful to think but I can’t even start to think about growing until another 2-3 months. Thanks again for all the helpful feedback!
CB,Did you cook the final Hab product down ? "The Ferment" for me is a base or cushion to the final sauce. There are many varieties of the Habaneros available to grow or purchase. I use all kinds especially the Caribbean Reds and the Trinidad Congos. I now have a Jamaican Red which I've been searching for some time now. I like to use lower acid fruits within the hot sauce making such as the Papaya. Also when it comes to adding vinegar I always have a few gallons on cane vinegar with different peppers infusing inside. A sauce should have a complex flavor and scent........like a nose to a glass of fine wine. I give a batch of hot sauce a good month before opening the bottles to let the flavors dance. I made a few cases of my "Hot Papaya"...a combo of red and orange habs with other ingredients. Right out of the gate the sauce seemed bright and acidic....ha they all do (ph 3.7) but after bottling them and letting time do its thing the sauce became mellow tasting with the Papaya and Tamarind shining through. I bought a bag of "pork rinds"...the fried whatcha-macallit-things today a vending machine...yikes. I opened up a bottle of that sauce (1 month old) and the flavor kicked the arse on the rinds.Bottom line...don't give up on a hab based sauce ...give it time to gel Greg
Hi Kalitarios and welcome to THP!
I took a look at the pic in your gallery. That white stuff growing on top looks like a kahm yeast. It is one of the things that can creep into a fermentation jar and won't hurt anything. When your ready to process the mash into a sauce just scrape it off and throw it away. Otherwise looks good.
Magic in the making and yes
You can ferment smoked pods. These went 4 hours at 110 degreesF over Apple wood. Now, they're going in to the fermentation jar with some onion, garlic and carrots for about 45 days.
Love this thread have been trying to finish reading it for days. Thanks RM and CM for making it and others for making it lively! I have a couple of questions;
I have a lot of peppers in my freezer and would love to utilize them for fermentation to clean out the freezer for this season. I will probably smoke some of the pod varieties for flavor and the moisture content (from the freezer) will be reduced. I did not want to smoke all of the pods though.
I smoke mine for 4 hours at about 110 degreesF. That way my peppers are not dried out any. In fact there is usually alot of juice on the peppers and theyre a bit softer.
1. Is the excess moisture content from frozen pods at more risk for introducing mold?
Not a problem at all. Just make sure that they're completely thawed out before adding them to the jar and that your salt ratio, 2% by weight should be fine, is good.
2. Should I cook some of it off before puting in the jar?
Some people like to blanch then to kill off anything bad on the skin and some dont. I never have.
My family absolutely can not stand being in the house when I do any deseeding, cutting up quantities of hot peppers, boiling for puree's, or making jams. I hear lots of grumbling all the time. Of course I try to do these things with an empty house and fans on to clear it out.
3. Does the fermintation process produce a smell in anyway comparable, either on the counter or in the fridge later on?
When the co2 reaches a level that it starts to blow off there is a little smell but it's a nice pleasent, well to me it is, kind of fresh/pickled pepper smell. There's none of the Cap fumes in there at all so won't burn eyes, etc...
Thanks Mike