Hey all, last week I put up a jalapeno mash and thought I'd post about it.
I tried a mash in July and it flopped mostly because I didn't use enough brine. I've learned more since then so here's another go at it. Last time I used kefir as a starter which worked OK but this time I had some live sauerkraut on hand so I used that.
I read in a thread about sour dough starters somewhere that adding pineapple juice to reduce the pH gives the lactobacillus a head start on the competing mirco organisms. It turns out that it didn't even affect the taste. They used the juice to give a starting pH of 4.
OK, about my mash.
I am fermenting it in a 1.5L wide mouth mason jar with the lid loose enough to let gas expel. I processed about 1.5 lbs (guessing) in my food chopper and combined it with 2 tbsp of pickling salt, mixing well and giving it 15-20 minutes to extract water from the peppers.
I prepared some extra brine. In a pot I boiled 1L of water with 2 tbsp of pickling salt then let it cool to near room temperature (I did this before to give it time to cool).
I also added 2 tbsp of sugar to my pepper mixture. My theory here is to give the lactobacillus some extra food to eat since there's not a lot of sugar in the peppers. I transfered the peppers / salt / sugar mixture into my mason jar. The brine was definately not enough to cover the peppers. I then added some pineapple juice (guessing - maybe 1/4 or 1/3 a cup) and some of my brine until everything was fully submerged. Some pepper pieces did float on top. I also added what brine I could spare from the sauerkraut I made a couple months ago. The sauerkraut brine will be my starter since it contains live lactobacillus, and lactic acid to reduce the starting pH.
I left it at room temperature in my kitchen and it only took 3-4 days to start fermenting and bubbling happily. It should only take 3 or 4 weeks to ferment out most of the sugars and I'm hoping it will come out nice and acidic (low pH). Aim for a pH of less than 4 for food safety! I think this one will be much lower.
After this one's done my plan it to cook it to stop any fermentation / biological process, soften it up, and possibly strain it for a super smooth sauce. It should not taste sweet at all, something I haven't been liking in my recent fresh sauces; it will be somewhat tart.
Here it is today, 7 days into it. The bubbles push much of the peppers to the top (the separation you see). Every day now I give it a swirl to let them settle. In the past I've used something to weigh them down (keeping them submerged) but there's enough brine now I am not worried of anything growing on top.
I tried a mash in July and it flopped mostly because I didn't use enough brine. I've learned more since then so here's another go at it. Last time I used kefir as a starter which worked OK but this time I had some live sauerkraut on hand so I used that.
I read in a thread about sour dough starters somewhere that adding pineapple juice to reduce the pH gives the lactobacillus a head start on the competing mirco organisms. It turns out that it didn't even affect the taste. They used the juice to give a starting pH of 4.
OK, about my mash.
I am fermenting it in a 1.5L wide mouth mason jar with the lid loose enough to let gas expel. I processed about 1.5 lbs (guessing) in my food chopper and combined it with 2 tbsp of pickling salt, mixing well and giving it 15-20 minutes to extract water from the peppers.
I prepared some extra brine. In a pot I boiled 1L of water with 2 tbsp of pickling salt then let it cool to near room temperature (I did this before to give it time to cool).
I also added 2 tbsp of sugar to my pepper mixture. My theory here is to give the lactobacillus some extra food to eat since there's not a lot of sugar in the peppers. I transfered the peppers / salt / sugar mixture into my mason jar. The brine was definately not enough to cover the peppers. I then added some pineapple juice (guessing - maybe 1/4 or 1/3 a cup) and some of my brine until everything was fully submerged. Some pepper pieces did float on top. I also added what brine I could spare from the sauerkraut I made a couple months ago. The sauerkraut brine will be my starter since it contains live lactobacillus, and lactic acid to reduce the starting pH.
I left it at room temperature in my kitchen and it only took 3-4 days to start fermenting and bubbling happily. It should only take 3 or 4 weeks to ferment out most of the sugars and I'm hoping it will come out nice and acidic (low pH). Aim for a pH of less than 4 for food safety! I think this one will be much lower.
After this one's done my plan it to cook it to stop any fermentation / biological process, soften it up, and possibly strain it for a super smooth sauce. It should not taste sweet at all, something I haven't been liking in my recent fresh sauces; it will be somewhat tart.
Here it is today, 7 days into it. The bubbles push much of the peppers to the top (the separation you see). Every day now I give it a swirl to let them settle. In the past I've used something to weigh them down (keeping them submerged) but there's enough brine now I am not worried of anything growing on top.
