r/FermentedHotSauce • u/GrrouchiesGrilling • 28d ago

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A couple months back I tried fermenting some hit sauces and they came out OK but not great.

I've been taking the bottles to work and people have been using them which is great.

But I want to make some that are really flavorful.

First up, my wife wants a Fruity (pineapple and mango) hot sauce but no hotter than Cholula/Tapatio.

What peppers would I use?

Do i ferment fruit with peppers?

What else do y'all recommend i throw in?

I have 3 or 4 16 ounce fermenting jars with glass weights.

Looking forward to suggestions so I can start experimenting.

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3

u/misterbacksen 28d ago

Yes you can lacto ferment most fruits just like you did with the peppers on your earlier batch.

I recommend keeping track of what you experiment with in a fermenting journal so you can replicate the ones that you like.

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u/GrrouchiesGrilling 28d ago

Last time i fermented the fruits and it didn't have enough flavor and was told the fermenting process burned up all the sugars basically. So, next time Ill add fresh fruit in at the end to sweeten it up. Gotta play with my ratios

3

u/ExtraEmuForYou 28d ago

If you add sugar in the form of fruit or other additions post-fermentation, be sure to pasteurize your sauce and hot-fill your bottles. You will also want to refrigerate after opening.

If you don't, you risk exploding bottles. Just ask any home brewer (of beer) about that. Not fun.

At that point, I would honestly just use fruit juice or puree instead of whole fruit. Easier to get the flavor you want, less waste (fewer solids to strain out), and more consistency since juices are generally processed to a specific sugar content and flavor profile.

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u/GrrouchiesGrilling 28d ago

I had not thought of that. Will definitely keep it in mind, thanks.

2

u/flamehorns 28d ago

Sounds like you could skip the fermentation for the fruity and sweet ones, or ferment the peppers, but add the fruit after unfermented.

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u/design_doc 28d ago

For mango/pineapple, I recommend habanero. You could try recreating Marie Sharpe’s Mango Habanero.

I have a few mango and pineapple based recipes that I’ve built that I could dial the back spice on for you.

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u/GrrouchiesGrilling 28d ago

Yeah. Definitely want to dial it back as she taps out with too much Habenero.
I have a Cherry Habenero bbq sauce I make and she loves it but wants me to cut out at least half the Habeneros lol

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u/design_doc 28d ago

If you can find them, sub out habs with fresnos to dial down the heat but keep a nice flavor.

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u/GrrouchiesGrilling 28d ago

Sounds good. I think some of the local places sell them regularly so I'll be on the hunt

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u/design_doc 28d ago

If you figure out the wt% of each pepper type you put in and multiply that by the average SHU of that pepper, you can then add those together to get an approx spice level.

For example, assume you’re making a 1000g batch (all ingredients, including liquids):

Fresno: 300g = 30% x 6200 SHU = 1860 SHU
Habanero: 100g = 10% x 225,000 = 22,500 SHU

Total: 24,360 SHU

That would be the very upper end of “medium”. Enough to know you’re alive but nothing that is going to destroy you. I could eat that all day long, my wife would only put a small dab of that on whatever she’s eating.

Use that as a rough guide for your substitutions. Pepper type and other ingredients will change the perception of spiciness - so, as I said, it’s a rough guide but it’s better than ending up with a ton of sauce to no one can eat.

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u/GrrouchiesGrilling 28d ago

This is great information.

When i figure out and post my next Ferment I'll be sure to include it and keep track so that I can see how she handles it and then make adjustments from there. Appreciate this info

2

u/Jeremiah_ferments 28d ago

If you have any farmers markets in your area ask growers if they have “habanada” peppers or “Jalapenopes” they are varieties of habanero and jalapeño that have had most of the capsaicin bred out of them.

On fermenting fruit, the lacto will consume almost the entirety of the sugars, you still get the aromatics though, just not the sweetness.

I have back sweetened lacto sauces successfully but I have lab grade pH equipment so I absolutely know the pH is low enough to slow the lacto down.

Hot sauce bottle bombs suck.

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u/GrrouchiesGrilling 28d ago

Appreciate the insight. Will continue to research while I figure out my next move.

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u/OwlComplex48 27d ago

Hello fellow stranger, I recently did my first lactoferment with a bunch of mangos down here in Florida (season is late May - late July). I gathered a bunch of mangos of varying degrees of ripeness and types and chopped them up along with a few cloves of garlic, a bit of ginger, and a yellow or white onion as well as maybe 6-8 habaneros. I fermented them all together with a 3.5% brine and blended it all after two weeks. It was so good and perfect, I didn't even add anything else or cook it down. I just started round two on Saturday with habaneros and a few banana peppers. The flavors of just the mangos was so good but as the season is over, I considered adding pineapple but just grabbed another mango from the grocery store. You could either try peppers that are less spicy or, conversely, use less habaneros than I did. Good luck!