At the end of the growing season, usually sometime in October around here, all the peppers ripen up at once. We use some hot peppers in our cooking but can not possibly use the dozens and dozens of peppers that ripen at the end of the season. Hot sauce is the answer after you use up and give away the majority.
Famous people have their name on hot sauce and the hot sauce at the store is quite pricey so why not make your own? Making your own anything allows you to have full control of the ingredients and also to adjust the flavor to your liking.
This hot sauce is made by fermentation which is the old way to do it and has probiotic qualities. It’s pretty simple as you make a salt water brine and put your peppers in it, let them ferment which preserves them and adds flavor, then puree and strain them.
Famous hot sauces are made this way and additionally they often age the sauce in oak barrels to develop more flavor. You can do the oak aging in your fridge by getting oak chips from wine making stores or websites.
I hope you will get a chance to try this as it is pretty easy.
Fermented hot sauce
Difficulty: Easy0
minutesFermented hot sauce is the way tabasco and many other sauces are made. The fermentation(bubbling) actually preserves it in a probiotic way. You do have to keep the sauce refrigerated to avoid spoilage unless you pasteurize it through canning.
In making hot sauce the type of peppers you choose will determine some of the heat and flavor. One of the biggest reasons why your sauce is hot or mild is how much pulp and seed you include. If you scrape out all the seeds and pulp you should be able to make a milder sauce. Also – wear rubber gloves when handling the peppers as it will stick to your skin for some time.
Ingredients
1 lb 1 hot peppers, jalapeno, serrano, fresno(ideally a red and hot kind)
1 qt 1 water
3 Tbs 3 kosher salt
Directions
- Wash peppers, weigh and measure out your ingredients.
- Mix salt and water until salt is dissolved.
- The peppers will start fermenting, bubbles will start forming and rising and the liquid will become cloudy. This is fine and you should slightly open the jar and release the gasses (burp the jar) every few days. The gasses will smell strong and can be quite strong and irritating on the eyes and nose due to heat so if you can do it outdoors it’s good. Fermenting goes on for 7-10 days up to 2 weeks. Once the bubbling stops you are ready for the next step.
- Trim the ends off the peppers and slice them in 1/2-1 inch slices and place in a 1 qt mason jar. When the jar is full, pour in the salt water brine until it fills up all the way. Tap the jar to make any air bubbles go up and top up with more liquid if needed. Close the jar and place on the counter in room temperature but out of the way of direct sunlight.
- When the fermenting is done, strain your peppers but save the liquid. Put the fermented peppers in a blender and add a little liquid to be able to puree it and liquify the sauce. If you want it thinner, add more of the liquid. Strain the sauce and put in a jar or squeeze bottle, keep the sauce in the refrigerator.
