Visited my grandfolks a couple days ago, and they've got a bumper crop of banana peppers going. So, I managed to scoop up a nice bag to bring home and try out my first fermentation before my Cayenne, Habanero, and Thai peppers finish ripening. I love pickled banana pepper rings, so my goal is to create some tasty fermented banana pepper rings to use on pizza, sandwiches, etc.
1. I started with a gallon jug of distilled water. Poured some out and weighed it at 3530 grams. Figured less ~60 grams (for gallon jug container weight) = 3470 grams. Thus 125 grams of added salt would create a 3.6% solution (somewhat arbitrary, bit I think it should be okay) I don't want them too salty, but also obviously not salty enough. I used finely ground Himalayan pink salt.
2. Next I sanitized my equipment. With mason jars and weights submerged in a large pot, once the water came to a rolling boil I left them in for 15 minutes. For the plastic/silicon caps and seals, I prepared a 70/30 mixture of 99.9% pure isopropanol / distilled water in a spray bottle, sprayed them down thoroughly, let them sit for 15 minutes, and wiped dry with a clean paper towel.
3. Finally, once the jars cooled, I thoroughly soaked and washed my peppers before chopping them into rings (no gloves, but thoroughly washed hands) and tossing into the jars. I filled up to the neck of the wide mouth mason jars, then added the brine, then added the weights and pressed them down so there was maybe a little less than 1" between the water line and lid. I removed seeds that floated to the top, but I'm not sure yet if that's entirely necessary. Screwed the caps on and inserted the bubbler air locks (bottoms not touching the water inside) and added water to them.
4. They're currently stored in my workshop of all places because it is a constant 68-71 degrees F and <45 rH regardless of what's going on outside at any time. I'm going to put these in a box tomorrow so there's no light reaching them and hopefully that will be about right. I plan to let these go for 3 weeks.
Some things I discovered today:
Next time I will wear sterile gloves. For one, it's another sanitation control. For two, my hand actually felt warm for awhile after handling these supposedly docile/not so hot peppers. But, once you're handling 40 or 50 peppers, the hot wax or resin they produce can really start to creep into your skin I think. And I thought I was invincible to them given my experiences with eating sauces made from much stronger super hots. Not so it seems!
Also, I want to use Star San next time. Nothing glamorous about it, I just think it's another sanitation control. I've used isopropyl alcohol for years, mainly for electronics actually, but also in a lot of other ways to sanitize things. It works, but it is actually pretty harmful if ingested. This is no issue if you let it all evaporate (which it does so freely and pretty quickly), but the Star San I think is a much friendlier yet hopefully effective last step..right before you assemble everything, give a little spritz of Star San and let it dry. That's my intention right now for next time at least.
Keep y'all posted!
1. I started with a gallon jug of distilled water. Poured some out and weighed it at 3530 grams. Figured less ~60 grams (for gallon jug container weight) = 3470 grams. Thus 125 grams of added salt would create a 3.6% solution (somewhat arbitrary, bit I think it should be okay) I don't want them too salty, but also obviously not salty enough. I used finely ground Himalayan pink salt.
2. Next I sanitized my equipment. With mason jars and weights submerged in a large pot, once the water came to a rolling boil I left them in for 15 minutes. For the plastic/silicon caps and seals, I prepared a 70/30 mixture of 99.9% pure isopropanol / distilled water in a spray bottle, sprayed them down thoroughly, let them sit for 15 minutes, and wiped dry with a clean paper towel.
3. Finally, once the jars cooled, I thoroughly soaked and washed my peppers before chopping them into rings (no gloves, but thoroughly washed hands) and tossing into the jars. I filled up to the neck of the wide mouth mason jars, then added the brine, then added the weights and pressed them down so there was maybe a little less than 1" between the water line and lid. I removed seeds that floated to the top, but I'm not sure yet if that's entirely necessary. Screwed the caps on and inserted the bubbler air locks (bottoms not touching the water inside) and added water to them.
4. They're currently stored in my workshop of all places because it is a constant 68-71 degrees F and <45 rH regardless of what's going on outside at any time. I'm going to put these in a box tomorrow so there's no light reaching them and hopefully that will be about right. I plan to let these go for 3 weeks.
Some things I discovered today:
Next time I will wear sterile gloves. For one, it's another sanitation control. For two, my hand actually felt warm for awhile after handling these supposedly docile/not so hot peppers. But, once you're handling 40 or 50 peppers, the hot wax or resin they produce can really start to creep into your skin I think. And I thought I was invincible to them given my experiences with eating sauces made from much stronger super hots. Not so it seems!
Also, I want to use Star San next time. Nothing glamorous about it, I just think it's another sanitation control. I've used isopropyl alcohol for years, mainly for electronics actually, but also in a lot of other ways to sanitize things. It works, but it is actually pretty harmful if ingested. This is no issue if you let it all evaporate (which it does so freely and pretty quickly), but the Star San I think is a much friendlier yet hopefully effective last step..right before you assemble everything, give a little spritz of Star San and let it dry. That's my intention right now for next time at least.
Keep y'all posted!
