No-Salt Mash

The Hot Pepper

The Hot Pepper

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I've hard of no-salt mashes but there is very limited info.

I wonder if the secret to no-salt fermentation is doing it in the refrigerator. Will it ferment chilled? You could do a lacto-fermentation with kefir starter or other starter but if you leave out salt you still risk botulism. If it ferments refrigerated, you could make the mash in the fridge, and then process it (can it) when it's done.

Thoughts?
 
I've used different starters and I don't think there would be botulism risk as long as the fermentation produces enough acidity.
 
So pretty much you can do it safely w/o salt or vinegar, just peppers and a starter?
 
I'm no expert, anything I've fermented so far I've used salt and starters, but what about wine? Is salt used in it?
Right now I'm in the midst of learning to make Kimchi as well as fermented sausage and I plan to use salt and a starter
 
Pippy, mash is a base for hot sauce. When you see "Aged Peppers" as an ingredient, it's mash (fermented)... aged, like wine. Tabasco sauce is made from mash. Salt on tabasco peppers, fermentation, then the vinegar is added. Bam, sauce. Get it?
 
From what I have read on making mash, I think the reason for the salt is to extract the moisture out of the peppers, which creates a liquid that covers the peppers and creates a barrier to keep out the bad bacteria until the lacto-bacteria gets going and lowers the Ph to a safe level. Correct?

I have read of using the kefir grains and sourdough hooch to get the process started quickly, like in 2 days or so. If you boil the peppers for a couple of minutes to kill off the bad bacteria that is already on the peppers then use the starter to get the good bacteria going, then you should get the Ph down quick enough to keep the bad bacteria out.

Can't find the page I read this on, but there was a guy on another forum who did this regularly in quart canning jars. He also used enough water to cover the peppers in the jars. I will be trying this next year. Not sure if it is exactly NO-salt, but it should be low salt and the finished sauce would need little to no vinegar depending on the final Ph of the mash, which is why I want to try it. Love the taste of peppers, not so much vinegar.

Maybe this is it?
jacob
 
Thanks. As a sauce maker (at home) I want to try mash, so hopefully this thread will progress with some good info. I also like the idea of low salt and vinegar in the end so you can concentrate on flavors. And aged peppers have a robust flavor.
 
The norm is room temperature and how long is like wine. From when it stops fermenting (maybe a month) to about three years on average.

I would like to know if you can do it refrigerated to cut down on salt or use no salt, or how a no-salt mash is accomplished.
 
As far as I know, it is fermented at room temperature out of direct light. Basically the fermentation "eats" all the sugar out of the peppers. That is where I need more information. I have read it takes about 6 weeks to do, but I am not sure of how to tell when the fermentation has stopped on its own. Unless you use a set up similar to brewing beer with the gas bubbling up through a water lock. Don't know the proper name so hopefully you know what I am talking about. Of course, once you get the Ph down, you can then boil the mash and that will stop the fermentation process.

jacob
 
I'm not sure how germane this is, but dad use to make a bunch of wines - strawberry, grape, cherry, dandelion. He made a "mash" type of stuff, that is, mashed the mentioned and soaked in water without salt for a week or two. I don't remember him adding anything else, but he may have. Once he had a bunch of concentrated "juice," he added the water, yeast, sugar, etc., and fermented the stuff until it stopped bubbling, then racked it off.

Okay, I'll go hide in my GH now!

Mike
 
Very interesting topic as I also thought salt was needed like the tobasco sauce process. I have a few gallon jugs of salted mash in different stages of fermentation and about to do some experimenting. I know Scoville was talking about his homemade mash sauces but I expect he is just hibernating for the winter. Like THP I am very interested on the subject of mash making as a way of preserving our harvest like day of old. I want the secret Mayan recipe of El Yucateco XXXtra, just really prefer the flavor of a aged peppper sauce. My mash has changed texture and is much more slushy just not done fermenting quite yet by seeing air pocket on the side of the jug every couple days. I'm thinking I can use some of this years salty mash as a starter next time. Please speak up if you have any pro tips*
 
Certain things like grapes and cabbage apparently ferment easily, but I don't think peppers have the same amount of natural occurring lactobacillus which is why many people use kefir or other starters
 
POTAWIE said:
Certain things like grapes and cabbage apparently ferment easily, but I don't think peppers have the same amount of natural occurring lactobacillus which is why many people use kefir or other starters
Click to expand...

If you are using kefir, I would suggest that you should use kefir grains and not kefir liquid.
It is also important to wash kefir grains to remove any kefiran and use only grains. This way, Lacto Bascillus and yeast will be in exact proportions.

My 2 cents.

NJA
 
I am going to ask Jim Campbell to weigh in on this, I will fwd this thread to him and then post his response. I am now very curious too.


Edit: Ok emailed Jim. I will wait for his reply and then post it here.
 
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