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fermenting New Sauce Question - Been Fermenting Since July 4!

SmokenFire

SmokenFire

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Hello Forum,

Thanks to the excellent information contained herein I began my quest to make my own fermented hot sauce. This summer as my first peppers were coming in I took some of my jalapeno, cayenne, mariachi, trinidad and serrano peppers and put them in a food processor with some salt, sugar, garlic, onion and carrots.

After that I took whey reserved from cheese that I made and inoculated the mash. Then I jarred the batch and stuck it in a dark place.

Here is the result:

http://imageshack.us.../hotsaucel.jpg/

I've been waiting and watching and wondering if this is really working! The mash bubbled well for a long time, but isn't doing much that I can discern now. The jar was full when I started and has reduced significantly over the past six months. Is it 'done' fermenting?

If so - My question(s):

Now what?

Do I put the mash through a food mill or a strainer?

Do I cook it down?

Do I thin it with vinegar?

Or some permutation of all the above?

Any info, opinions, tips or tricks are welcome. Thanks to the posters here who have made this journey fun and food safe for all the novices out there like me. :)

Note: When I try to upload the pic it says 'you are not allowed to use that extension'. Sorry - first time poster here...
 
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Scoville DeVille said:
Might be worth a read...

http://thehotpepper....nt-even-edible/

If this isn't helpful, try a search.

Oh. and welcome to THP!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the quick reply Scovie! I've read most of what Rocket and Salsa Lady (and Kat) have posted. Thus far it seems after ferment methods are 'to taste' - as in what ever one feels like. I was trying to make sure what I've got is ok to proceed with and find out why cooking/dilution with vinegar or lime juice, etc was necessary. Is the mash just too hot or unbalanced to bottle after straining?
 
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Hi SmonenFire, welcome to THP! I'm on my mo Ike right and I'll post in later and give you a good answer but the short answer is just dump it in a pot and start processing by what is later out in Hot Sauce Making 101 and Fermenting 101 threads. Proper sanitation is mandatory to be safe and follow the hot pack procedures to the letter if you want a safe bottle of sauce.

Cheers,
RM
 
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You can always adjust the sauce after ferment.. I asked Kat that same question.. it a matter of taste, not sweet enough add some honey, too thick add a little water,, I sent Kat those peppers she did the ferment with.. I haven't bottled up my bhut ferment yet so hopefully i have similar results. as far as the lime juice/vinegar you need that to keep any bad stuff from growing.. unless your doing refrigerator sauces.. I have processed the last 2 gallons this way..
remove any white yeast off the top. You can run it thru the food mill if you want to filter out any remaining seeds you missed before you start the first boil. I put batches into the blender to liquify it. then into the big glass pot to heat up to a boil. that should kill any lingering yeast.. then a second time to the blender to get it to a nice smooth consistency. Do a taste test.. last heat up boil for a few min then into sterilized jars or bottles. just to be sure its all good I boil the filled jars again in a water bath for 10 min.. remove and cool.
 
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Ok, good stuff getting passed along here.
The first thing your going to want to do before adding a bunch of acid you may not need is to check the Ph. So long as it's below 4.0 you don't need to add any unless it's a part of the flavor profile your going for. Second, if you want any degree of sweetness in your sauce your going to have to add it during the processing. Remember that the lacto consume all the sugars in the ferment so even if you had say raisins, peaches and pears in there, it's not going to come out sweet. I prefer to use natural sweetners, Honey, Agave, Maple Syrups are great ones and will add to the over all flavor profile not just sweeten it up.

and again, make sure you follow proper procedures to hot pack your sauce as outlined by Salsa Lady in the Hot Sauce making 101.

Have fun and keep it spicy
RM
 
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OK great info guys. I'll go back over the other threads, but this is pretty much what I was looking for. Many thanks!
 
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UPDATE:

I cooked the sauce down today, ran it through the food mill and then reduced it by half. I started with a smidge less than 1/2 gallon fermenting mash and ended up with a little over 10oz of sauce (before lime juice/vinegar additions). Is that about right? There was quite a bit after the food mill but it was very thin so I reduced it quite a bit...

Pics coming - I'm still having trouble uploading.
 
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Update Two:

I don't know if I didn't ferment correctly or what but the sauce doesn't taste very good; its sour and salty. Plenty hot - just very out of balance. Anyone care to post a recipe that they've had success with? I've got enough roasted/smoked/fresh peppers in the freezer to do a couple more ferments.
 
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whoa
64 oz down to 10 oz? umm no thats not enough it should be maybe 64 down to 50 or so if you like thick sauce.. If you started with 1/2 a gallon you should have gotten at least 5-6 10 oz bottles or more as far as how to correct it.. well you could convert it to a fridge sauce.. just add additional stuff like fruit or sweet peppers .. puree them and add them in to get the correct mix for your taste. that might balance your current sauce.. or if you want to start over i will find my recipe and send it to you..
 
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Thanks Howwardsnm1.

I took the previously food processed mash and cooked it at a rolling boil for ten minutes. Then I put it through a food mill. Then I took the nearly water thin left overs and cooked that down for about 20 mins - thus the net 10 - 12 oz left over. It remained very thin - and days later still has what I consider to be an off taste. I believe I didn't put enough salt in the ferment or I somehow screwed it up during the reduction. In any case I've got some kimchi started so I will start another ferment with some more peppers and a bit of that as a starter.

ANY fermented hot sauce recipes would be greatly appreciated :)
 
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If you find that your sauce is too thin and or it takes far too long to reduce (boil down). You can always do like I do, and add NO water when you ferment! :)

I THINK this is the post that I made that shows the consistency when I put it thru the food mill.I almost never add water unless it's just prior to simmering. Even then it's just a tad. I would rather add FLAVOR at every step if I can. I like lime juice as a liquid/acidifier.

http://thehotpepper.com/topic/33585-seriously-the-best-sauce-i-have-ever-tasted/#entry681850

Kat
 
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