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fermenting Fermenting.... powders?

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Pharthan

So, I thought to myself, I want to make a good cayenne sauce, but due to season and general difficulty finding them, I thought to order some dried cayenne peppers and try that.
While looking, a nice big jar of cayenne powder showed up in the amazon order. So I thought to myself... why not ferment that? Would it even be doable? Am I crazy?
The answer is probably "yes, you're crazy and this won't work," but I kind of want to try. I'm thinking of perhaps trying to make a paste out of it first to make a mash, then add a brine.

The biggest problem I see is that caking agents may interfere, as well as preservatives, but with a whey starter, who knows? I don't, and the curiosity is starting to well up, so unless someone tells me I might make a portal to Hell while executing this plan, I might try it against all other advice. Even if it fails, it will be fun.

So, I guess, here it goes...
.... for science.
 
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Pharthan said:
I wound up going for dried cayenne pepper flakes, cayenne powder, sweet onion, and garlic, with a yeast starter. At least one of the jars has been active since day 2.
 
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Pharthan, could you tell us which yeast strain (or blend) you used?
 
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The idea of a fermented red pepper flake sauce is amazing, I'm definitely gonna have to try this. Since it's so simple, I feel like you could get more exotic with the (yeast?) starters.
 
Speaking of which, aren't vegetable ferments usually done by bacteria, not yeasts? I wouldn't expect a fermented hot sauce to be made from baker's yeast, at least...
 
-Pimental
 
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Bou said:
 
Pharthan, could you tell us which yeast strain (or blend) you used?
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Sorry for the delay, I never saw that there was a response here.
I just used wild yeast if I remember correctly, it was a while ago. If I did anything it was a more typical baker's yeast, though I've stopped doing that, for the exact reason Pimental said. It didn't help or hurt, wild yeast/Lactobacillus is enough.

One suggestion I will give is to add more filler material, like carrots and onions. The sauce is pretty spicy (good for chili-heads, way too hot for normal people).
 
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There is no reason to introduce any yeast into a lacto ferment. Adding some veggies to a dried pepper ferment however is more than likely beneficial. Ive used some cabbage in a Korean pepper flake ferment and it works great. Imagine kimchi hot sauce because that is exactly what it is. Pucker sour and not a drop of vinegar is needed if kept in the fridge. It will keep for 2+ years just like kimchi will keep for at least 2 years no problem.
 
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ShowMeDaSauce said:
There is no reason to introduce any yeast into a lacto ferment. Adding some veggies to a dried pepper ferment however is more than likely beneficial. Ive used some cabbage in a Korean pepper flake ferment and it works great. Imagine kimchi hot sauce because that is exactly what it is. Pucker sour and not a drop of vinegar is needed if kept in the fridge. It will keep for 2+ years just like kimchi will keep for at least 2 years no problem.
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Yup.

This was one of my earliest ferments, so I was experimenting. It didn’t help and didn’t hurt. I’ve stopped since then and just go lacto.

I was primarily concerned about not having enough fresher veggies; the few onions and garlic I had were probably enough.


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Lacto likes the sugar in the veggies. So additional sugar is all you might want to add. I dried some Tekne Dolmasi in strips to mix with other powders. Ive done the same this with certain ripe jalapeno. Both were VERY sweet so they were probably high in sugar. Just to be safe and to avoid unknown bacteria getting into the mix i would re-hydrate things like that in really HOT water before adding it to a ferment. Steamed would probably be even better.
 
Beets and carrots are both good sources of additional sugars. Beets add extra color if you want it too. I add carrot shreds to pretty much all my kimchi and kraut. I often added it to vinegar based chinense sauces too. It adds texture as well as a mild flavor.
 
One thing to consider is many commercial powders are dried with heat so you need a better source of lacto bacteria. Fresh uncooked veggies or a culture of some kind. Farm House Cultures sells fresh probiotic drinks and kraut if you dont want to bother with making your own or paying the big bucks for lacto starters like Caldwells.
 
https://www.farmhouseculture.com/
 
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