Fermented hot sauce

[Tony C]

Glad I stumbled across this thread :) For full disclosure I am a chilli addict, been making my own chilli sauce/pastes for years, but never fermented.
Jarred up my first batch of fermented chillies last Sunday. I called at my local asian supermarket and bought 5 bags of chillies @£1 each, 3 Green finger and 2 Scotch bonnet, and a couple of bulbs of Garlic. 3/4 full 2 litre Kilner with brine at about 2.5%.
Not much happenning in the jar yet, but I plan to leave it for a while yet. Plan is for it to be jarred up and added to the "Made by us" basket we give as Xmas gifts to a select few.

Quick question on a similar vein though, anyone making Kimchi in the UK, what do you use for cabbage?

Cheers TC

 

[Tony C]

Nice! Looks like something from the Noma book. Buying a vacuum sealer is something that the devil on my shoulder keeps whispering about...

You can get a pretty good vacuum seal, by dipping a bag in water and sealing when all the air has been forced out

Cheers TC

 

[geigercntr]

Glad I stumbled across this thread :) For full disclosure I am a chilli addict, been making my own chilli sauce/pastes for years, but never fermented.
Jarred up my first batch of fermented chillies last Sunday. I called at my local asian supermarket and bought 5 bags of chillies @£1 each, 3 Green finger and 2 Scotch bonnet, and a couple of bulbs of Garlic. 3/4 full 2 litre Kilner with brine at about 2.5%.
Not much happenning in the jar yet, but I plan to leave it for a while yet. Plan is for it to be jarred up and added to the "Made by us" basket we give as Xmas gifts to a select few.

Sounds great, good luck with it!

Quick question on a similar vein though, anyone making Kimchi in the UK, what do you use for cabbage?

Not me, but I'd be keen to see if others are! I tried a couple of batches of sauerkraut over the summer (just with standard white and red cabbage), but temps were too high and it turned out a bit "unpleasant". Will try again over autumn/winter

You can get a pretty good vacuum seal, by dipping a bag in water and sealing when all the air has been forced out

That doesn't sound anywhere near shiny enough to appease the shoulder devil

 

[BeerCat]

Are lacto fermentations inhibited by cold tempereature. Mine dont seem to be doing much

Glad I stumbled across this thread :) For full disclosure I am a chilli addict, been making my own chilli sauce/pastes for years, but never fermented.
Jarred up my first batch of fermented chillies last Sunday. I called at my local asian supermarket and bought 5 bags of chillies @£1 each, 3 Green finger and 2 Scotch bonnet, and a couple of bulbs of Garlic. 3/4 full 2 litre Kilner with brine at about 2.5%.
Not much happenning in the jar yet, but I plan to leave it for a while yet. Plan is for it to be jarred up and added to the "Made by us" basket we give as Xmas gifts to a select few.

Quick question on a similar vein though, anyone making Kimchi in the UK, what do you use for cabbage?

Cheers TC

I was told Chinese cabbage but i have yet to try it. Was wondering if you can use the juice from commercial kimchi to get it going or perhaps its unnecessary. Pretty sure its not pasteurised.

 

[Keats]

Quick question on a similar vein though, anyone making Kimchi in the UK, what do you use for cabbage?

Cheers TC

Funnily enough I'm making some this weekend. Plan on using Chinese (napa) cabbage.

 

[Tony C]

Where do you buy Napa?
I have seen Youtube of people using Pakchoi for Kimchee, but am a little unsure unless i get first hand experience :)

 

[Keats]

Where do you buy Napa?
I have seen Youtube of people using Pakchoi for Kimchee, but am a little unsure unless i get first hand experience :)

There are a few international and Chinese supermarkets nearby that have it. I'm sure pak choi will work fine. I've had it in the past made with bog standard white cabbage.

 

[YeastFace]

I used Chinese Leaf in Kimchi just yesterday.

 

[Tony C]

This has been jarred since Sunday, should I be expecting more action?

 

[Keats]

Can’t really see much in your photo but I’m sure it is fine. When I made some hot sauce recently, it was about a week before I saw any bubbles. Even then, the bubbles were quite small and there weren’t a lot of them. The sauce turned out really good.

 

[BeerCat]

Can’t really see much in your photo but I’m sure it is fine. When I made some hot sauce recently, it was about a week before I saw any bubbles. Even then, the bubbles were quite small and there weren’t a lot of them. The sauce turned out really good.

How long did you leave it?

 

[Keats]

Two weeks.

 

[Tony C]

Mine has been 7 days, I haven't put añ airlock on the jar, so am not seeing any bubbles as such. I have taken the rubber washer off the lid, then I cut a piece of plastic from a takeaway container to the inner dimensions of the jar with holes punched in it. I put a small glass on top of the plastic and clipped the lid on the first bit with sheet of muslin making a seal.
When I move the jar, loads of bubbles are coming out of the chilli layers, so something is happening.
Will let you know how it turns out in a week or so

Cheers TC

 

[Mungri]

Just processed my second batch. A scotch bonnet and mango creation.
Managed to leave this one for 23 days.
Very hot as expected with a bit of sweetness from the mango (not much though).
Might add a bit of tomato purée to make it a bit sweeter.

 

[Hoddy]

So this is my first attempt at this rather interesting thing to try.
However I suspect one of my jars has developed a pellecle and is therefore ruined. Any experienced hot sauce fermenters able to pass judgement? I’ve taken a pic of the tops of both jars. One with and one without.

 

[druid1966]

I have only just started fermenting, but the one thing I read is that all the matter must be below the level of the brine...thus weights are used.

 

[Hoddy]

I have only just started fermenting, but the one thing I read is that all the matter must be below the level of the brine...thus weights are used.

Yeah I had been using the lid to push down and keep the contents submerged. I suspect that this hasn’t worked on the one jar.

 

[Hoddy]

Yeah I had been using the lid to push down and keep the contents submerged. I suspect that this hasn’t worked on the one jar.

and does this mean that the whole jar is ruined or just the stuff at the top that’s gone off?

 

[druid1966]

the other thing I read is......when in doubt...throw it out. There is a FB fermented hot sauce group. They know lots ( I know little ) I have my first ferment of onions carrots and celery going...Im just about to try it this weekend

 

[geigercntr]

@Hoddy yeah, I've had that on mine. It gets referred to as kahm yeast iirc. Some people leave it as is, others use a spoon to scoop it off the surface. If it's not a mould, it's not really a problem (a mould would have a fuzzy sort of appearance and could be different colour to the creamy white yeast)