Fermented hot sauce

[Dutto]

Just boiled and blitzed my two week fermented chillies (5% brine). Made about 400ml. At first taste of the brine (pre blitz) it didn't seem too sour, so I just added 5ml of my lactic acid for brewing.

Final product tastes super acidic now though! Bit worried now. Using cheap pH strips it's maybe between 2 and 3, but kind of inaccurate and hard to tell.

Will this harm me?! Or can I just eat and go easy on it?!

Er ... I presume that I have a particularly strong stomach because the Hot Sauce I made in February (please see Post #127) keeps getting stronger in the fridge; and is still fermenting. (As indicated by the Ketchup bottle being slightly pressurised when I use it.)

I use it very sparingly (needless to say) but it is absolutely superb as an accompaniment to "Cheese & Crackers"; but you need a strong cheese to enjoy it!

So, my advice is to just leave it in the fridge for a couple of months and see what happens.

PS

I have to ask. Why did you boil it?

My understanding is that the combination of a brine, followed by fermentation, removes anything really nasty so personally I don't bother! This includes a Kimchi as well. (Again please see Post #127.)

 

[Mrhandsome]

Er ... I presume that I have a particularly strong stomach because the Hot Sauce I made in February (please see Post #127) keeps getting stronger in the fridge; and is still fermenting. (As indicated by the Ketchup bottle being slightly pressurised when I use it.)

I use it very sparingly (needless to say) but it is absolutely superb as an accompaniment to "Cheese & Crackers"; but you need a strong cheese to enjoy it!

So, my advice is to just leave it in the fridge for a couple of months and see what happens.

PS

I have to ask. Why did you boil it?

My understanding is that the combination of a brine, followed by fermentation, removes anything really nasty so personally I don't bother! This includes a Kimchi as well. (Again please see Post #127.)

I was wondering that too. I thought fermenting your hot sauce made it good for you - like a probiotic, that's what I tell my wife as I slather it on everything! If you boil it you kill all the good bacteria.

 

[geigercntr]

I boil/heat (15 mins at ≥80°C) mine when there's some sweetness still hanging about that I don't want the microscopic freeloaders taking away. Particularly when there's a lot of fruit in there that I want to be able to taste

 

[MattHudds]

I boiled it as I read about it continuing to ferment, so my logic was boiling would 'lock it in'. I can see the error of my ways though - it would have been nice to claim it was a health food!

It'll take me a while to get through this, but I'll rectify next time!

 

[jceg316]

I've made fermented garlic sauce which has proven to be quite divisive. It has a huge garlic kick to it, nothing like hellmann's garlic mayo. If you like garlic I'd recommend giving it a go.

 

[Mrhandsome]

I've made fermented garlic sauce which has proven to be quite divisive. It has a huge garlic kick to it, nothing like hellmann's garlic mayo. If you like garlic I'd recommend giving it a go.

Go on....

 

[jceg316]

Go on....

I bought 2kgs of peeled garlic and fermented in a 3.5% brine. I actually experimented with a new method. Instead of holding everything down below the water level with weights, I stirred every day for the first couple of weeks. No kahm yeast, no mould, eventually it could "look after" itself and it fermented for 2 months without any issues. I'm gonna try this for my next hot sauce.

I placed the garlic cloves in a nutribullet with a few tbsp of brine and a few tbsp of olive oil and made an aioli. Still got a fair amount of garlic cloves left so will try blending with rosemary and thyme, maybe smoked paprika.

 

[Dutto]

I've made fermented garlic sauce which has proven to be quite divisive. It has a huge garlic kick to it, nothing like hellmann's garlic mayo. If you like garlic I'd recommend giving it a go.

In India they sell a brand of pickles and sauces called "Mother's". I can only assume that "Mother" is a raving sadist; especially with regard to the "Garlic Pickle" that is sold in her name!

I love it! It's not as sweet as Pataks Garlic Pickle (readily available in the UK), but it also has a "huge garlic kick" so I presume it is made in a similar manner to your own.

Recipe please!

 

[jceg316]

In India they sell a brand of pickles and sauces called "Mother's". I can only assume that "Mother" is a raving sadist; especially with regard to the "Garlic Pickle" that is sold in her name!

I love it! It's not as sweet as Pataks Garlic Pickle (readily available in the UK), but it also has a "huge garlic kick" so I presume it is made in a similar manner to your own.

Recipe please!

Maybe I'll turn the rest into chutney! Whilst I do enjoy Patak's chutneys, I do find them a bit sweet and aimed more at the mass market. I have had some other brands of garlic and chilli chutney, the kind of thing I've found at an Indian food shop sitting at the back of a shelf, and is almost inedible because of the strength of chilli and garlic. That's the stuff I love.

Fermenting garlic is pretty simple. Weigh out the peeled cloves and multiply that weight by 3.5% to get the amount of salt. E.g. 1kg of garlic would require 35g salt. Put the garlic and salt in a jar or crock. Weigh out enough water to cover the garlic completely but don't pour it in yet. Multiply the weight of the water by 3.5% to get the salt level, and dissolve the salt in the water. Pour salty water over garlic cloves so they are submerged. You can either use a weight to keep the garlic cloves submerged or stir them daily.

This is a good method for fermenting any kind of hard veg: beetroot, chillies, turnip etc. It's a little different for fermenting softer veg like cabbage.

 

[Hanglow]

I tried the vac pack method a few weeks ago. Thing is, I forgot about it, so it's been sitting around for at least a month in the vac pack, does anyone think this might be an issue? I can't think it would be. I'm probably going to blitz it up with some extra vinegar and sugar then probably pasteurise it anyway.

 

[Dutto]

I tried the vac pack method a few weeks ago. Thing is, I forgot about it, so it's been sitting around for at least a month in the vac pack, does anyone think this might be an issue? I can't think it would be. I'm probably going to blitz it up with some extra vinegar and sugar then probably pasteurise it anyway.

Whatever it is, it shouldn't be a problem. I've used Kimchi up to a month after starting it off. It's smelled and tasted okay and so far I've not suffered any digestive problems or died.

I do wonder why you would want to add more sugar though? All it will do is to make whatever it is ferment more.

Enjoy!

 

[Mrhandsome]

I've got some kimchi in the fridge I made months ago. As long as there's no mould on it it's good to eat.

 

[Nicks90]

I am soo going to put a fermented hot sauce on tomorrow.
But as I only have dried chilli's (which I will rehydrate), how do I go about adding the necessary yeast/bacteria to get it going? Would a spot of notty ale yeast do the trick or will the salty brine kill it?

 

[jceg316]

I am soo going to put a fermented hot sauce on tomorrow.
But as I only have dried chilli's (which I will rehydrate), how do I go about adding the necessary yeast/bacteria to get it going? Would a spot of notty ale yeast do the trick or will the salty brine kill it?

Do you have any other brine ferments? If so you can use the leftover juice from that. For this sort of hot sauce lactobacillus is needed.

This video goes into some detail of fermenting dried chillies I watched it a while ago and don't really remember it.

 

[marshbrewer]

Can I do a fermented hot sauce with (defrosted) frozen chillies? Perhaps by adding some none frozen carrots and garlic for their bugs to kick it off?

 

[Dutto]

Can I do a fermented hot sauce with (defrosted) frozen chillies? Perhaps by adding some none frozen carrots and garlic for their bugs to kick it off?

I don't see why not.

Also, I'm not sure that you would need the carrots! Freezing only slows down the deterioration of food it doesn't stop it entirely: hence the "Use By" dates on frozen foods.

 

[Arcs]

If you guys love Siracha sauce then you should try making a Kimchi - it's delicious!

 

[Hanglow]

It's a fermented chilli mash for hot sauce

I was going to add sugar to sweeten it, it won't ferment more as I'll pasteurise it.

I'm actually now thinking about leaving it to mature for a few more months now to see what happens to it, if anything


As for using frozen veg, I think most you buy are also par cooked to kill off any enzymes that will soften them even when frozen, so I suspect there would be very little LB on them unfortunately.

 

[-Bezza-]

I started off a sauce fermenting at the weekend. A halal butcher has opened, walking distance from my house, and they stock all sorts of spices and other ingredients (so that's curries sorted!). They then have massive boxes of various fresh chillies in the fridge - I've started with a mix of birds eye and something that looks like a "normal" green chilli, added in some carrot, ginger, garlic, blueberries and onion and will see how it goes. I have my eye on their Scotch Bonnet for next time, if all turns out well!!

I assume when the recipe says leave for 5-7 days, that's nonsense and I should leave it a lot longer to ferment? The cellar where it's sitting is probably only about 8 degrees at the moment.

 

[Hoddy]

I started off a sauce fermenting at the weekend. A halal butcher has opened, walking distance from my house, and they stock all sorts of spices and other ingredients (so that's curries sorted!). They then have massive boxes of various fresh chillies in the fridge - I've started with a mix of birds eye and something that looks like a "normal" green chilli, added in some carrot, ginger, garlic, blueberries and onion and will see how it goes. I have my eye on their Scotch Bonnet for next time, if all turns out well!!

I assume when the recipe says leave for 5-7 days, that's nonsense and I should leave it a lot longer to ferment? The cellar where it's sitting is probably only about 8 degrees at the moment.

That temp might be a bit cold for it to actually get going. I’ve always done room temp 20ish degrees. Duration I think your looking at 3-4 weeks min. Great news on the ingredient source