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tutorial Fermenting Peppers 101

Pjar said:
Hello. I am new to fermenting pepper sauce, but have fermented other veggies. I have a sauce going noe with habaneros,ginger ,garlic,onion ,carrots,and lime juice. It is on its 10th day and making lots of bubbles. This is really just to try to approximate a sauce I once bought that had a hint of lime in it that was wonderful. Should I wait much longer to try it before adding lime zest a little at a time to get measurements right?
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Is the sauce you're looking to replicate fermented? If so I can only guess that the company that makes it would ferment it to completion which I think would take a month minimum (though it all depends on what's in there). And then there's aging which can take weeks to years....
 
If it's not fermented and/or aged, I don't see why you couldn't stop the ferment now and add the lime zest. Of course that would beg the question of why you fermented in the first place :)
 
Just don't open the container, add lime zest, then try and continue fermentation. People do that but people also drive drunk and without seatbelts. OK the consequences aren't nearly as bad but it will increase your risk of of contaminating the ferment and there's no reason to do it.
 
Since I don't have any tried-and-true sauce recipes, I was thinking that this year I would ferment each of my pepper varieties by themselves.
Then experiment with recipes with the already fermented peppers.
 
Is this a dumb strategy?
 
Only if you think you'll need to tame the heat. 
 
mitchNC said:
Since I don't have any tried-and-true sauce recipes, I was thinking that this year I would ferment each of my pepper varieties by themselves.
Then experiment with recipes with the already fermented peppers.
 
Is this a dumb strategy?
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Not to my knowledge.  I don't know what chili varieties you're talking about so I made the assumption you might be growing some super hots or something like that.
 
mitchNC said:
Does fermentation reduce the heat a lot?
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Wow, that should be hot enough to hurt. Just made a batch with just tobasco peppers. Just peppers ,salt and garlic. Good taste but xanthan gum needed due to separation in bottle
 
mitchNC said:
Does fermentation reduce the heat a lot?
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PtMD989 said:
My fermented sauce mellowed out a bit. Either that or my tolerance went up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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In theory, the amount of capsaicin should be the same at the start and at the finish of fermentation.  Capsaicin doesn't go away through fermentation.  Other factors in the process and in the final mixing/processing of the sauce may make it seem hotter or less hot.  Adding other ingredients that contain sugars will dampen the heat a bit.   
 
@PtMD~  I would venture to guess your tolerance went up, which is a good thing~~~
 
i bet this has been answered already, but i didn't see it after reading the first several pages.
 
so for 6-8% salt by weight for a typical ferment, which weight is that referring to? just the vegetables? mash liquid? complete jar contents?
 
also, if i'm using whey from yogurt, what is an acceptable range of whey content for the mash liquid? ty
 
I have used 3% for the most part for my ferments but have seen increased initial fermentation activity adding more salt so certainly 4% will work but at 6-8% you're getting kinda salty for my tastes.  You may like it that way and I suppose that would be fine fermentation-wise.
I weigh the final mash ingredients.  I smoke them all before fermentation and then weigh them as the smoking lowers the weight by evaporation.  That is the weight by which I calculate the percentage of salt.  That salt is mixed into x amount of water depending on that weight, and then added to the mash.
 
 
ok, i just made a batch. hope it comes out good.
 
120g smoked reapers (8% of net weight)
350g smoked orange bell pepper
600g onion
15g garlic
370g water
120g whey
62g salt (4% of net weight)
 
liquid content ended up being 30%
 
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Can I ferment peppers after freezing/thawing?
 
I'm starting to get ripe peppers here and there.  Not enough to do anything with.
I was hoping to freeze them as they come, then later thaw them and ferment them for sauce.
 
With this work?  
 
You can do that. The book "the complete chili pepper" describes cutting them up in food processor or chopping them finely and freezing in ice trays and then double bagging after frozen.
 
mitchNC said:
Can I ferment peppers after freezing/thawing?
 
I'm starting to get ripe peppers here and there.  Not enough to do anything with.
I was hoping to freeze them as they come, then later thaw them and ferment them for sauce.
 
With this work?  
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Yes.
 
If storage space is an issue, then look at grinding and freezing the fresh peppers.  If you have temporary room in the freezer, just wash/trim/cut in half, throw the chiles in a zipper freezer bag.  Add more as the peppers ripen.  When you have enough, start the ferment.
 
Be aware that when the chiles defrost, they will drop a LOT of water.  This is all good chile pepper juice and should be used in the fermentation.  The peppers will also be very soft, so you should be able to just throw them into the fermentation without having to chop them up further. 
 
Have Fun!
 
SL
 
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