fermenting Mixing ingredients before or after ferment

[impending_bending]

A question for the gurus:
Suppose I ferment 'A' and 'B' separately (to completion) then mix them together and blend to a very liquid consistency. Would this differ from the result of mixing them together to begin with (in exactly the same quantities), fermenting (to completion again -- thats what she said), and blending to the same liquid consistency? I gather from all sorts of other posts that it would, but why? How does this work exactly?

 

[RocketMan]

Whether you ferment it all as one big fermentation or ferment it seperately will probably make no difference once they're combined. Here's why I say this. First, the lacto bacteria are going to have the same effect on the ingredients regardless of where they are. That's providing your using the same strain in both jars. Second, I've put it into practice when I had to make a double batch of a sauce for a friend wedding and when tasted seperatly and after combining by several people there was no change in taste.

Hope this helps

 

[hoibot]

i agree with RM, same fermentation microorganism and similar resulting flavor from the fermentation. and if you end up blending it all together, i doubt the taste would be significantly different from what it would have been fermenting it all together.

 

[salsalady]

fermenting separately will give you the option to mix the 2 to your taste. 
 
I'm assuming each will have different ingredients or will be different peppers.  Not knowing how they will taste after fermentation, fermenting separately will allow you to do small bowl mixing of the 2 to get the flavor/heat/whatever you want.  Keep accurate records and when you have the flavor you like, you can replicate that in the next ferment batch all in one. 
 
Say you have one mix of cayennes and one mix of jalapenos.  After mixing the ferments to the ratio you like, say you discover your favorite blend is 75% jalapeno and 25% cayennes, next time you do the ferment you can just use 75% jal peppers and 25% cayennes in the ferment and you are good to go! 

 

[impending_bending]

Thats what I thought... except I keep seeing people insisting that the flavors will "meld" or "blend" etc. with age; the implication being that the ingredients must be together for a long time for this to happen. It always confused me and I never understood why. The world makes sense again, thanks folks.