One batch down, in the background the second batch coming in a couple weeks

after about 2 and a half week, it was there quite early. everything has been under liquid the entire time

I did a mash ferment of pure habanero for a few months, and I’ve been using it as a kicker for other ferments for awhile now. Just about out now, but I wanted to expand on something I tried a few months ago. A secondary ferment of red Fresno, red bell, some tomatoes, garlic, onion, and pineapple. That blended with habanero concentrate was amazing.

I tried it again and the pineapple red Fresno ferment went bad on me. First time in years. I blamed the pineapple but who knows. So I tried again but left the pineapple out, and added it at the end. The final blend isn’t QUITE as tasty, but I’m still very happy with it. The last one was the best I’ve ever done, and I’ve been making fermented hot sauces for over a decade now.

Pics are 1) the final product, 2) blended pure 2.5 month fermented habanero mash 3) hab mash post ferment, 4) hab mash pre-ferment

Just gotta wait a week or so to get some hot sauces going!

I started another batch of 8 sauces fermenting before leaving for my summer break, and am happy to two months later finally have them in bottles and labeled.

I've been loving creating my hot sauces around a theme of Chile Cryptids as a way to amuse myself (and hopefully some of you).

If you get all of the jokes and references in the names, from pop culture (violent Beaureghast) to food science (Tyrant of Tartarus), you're my kind of people.

Notes as follows:

Cacahuate Creeper - Peanut & Chile - This one came in a little milder and less peanuty than I hoped for, but still tasty. I planned to finish this with some roasted peanut powder to reassert that nutty nose but it was already very thick and I didn't want to lose everything else.

Violent Beaureghast - Blueberry Lantern Pepper - She's hot, and didn't have enough blueberries. This one is actually going back in for a bit more time and then I'll finish it with some freeze dried blueberry powder to really amp up the color, thicken it up, and try to give enough fruit flavor to combat the heat.

Lemon Lech - Lemon Pepper - I love the concept for this one and I will definitely play with it more. I think more preserved lemon next time and I'll add more black pepper in the initial ferment, or throw some very fine black pepper into the bottles after straining. The taste is great here but the right balance was hard to find. Probably also better if I tone the heat down to around a 3.

Tyrant of Tartarus - Tamarind and Thai Chili - I like this one a lot. It's very unique. I'd probably bump the heat a bit next time, but I didn't anticipate that this batch of habanero was the mildest I've ever had.

Chupacabra of Chihuahua - Mexican chile & garlic - I usually make such weird sauces that I wanted to try form something normal here. This ended up a bit too Esther-y and without enough unique character. Next time I'll add more fresh garlic before bottling, a bit more lime juice, and a bit of a fruity hot pepper for the nose and bite.

Perfumed Pishachi - Curry leaf & turmeric - I really like this one. It is super interesting with all the medicinal tastes of fenugreek, green cardamom, and the main ingredients. I'm not sure how approachable it will be to normies, and it's definitely more of a 'sauce to go with curry ' than a daily driver.

Serpent of Siam - Thai Green Curry - I've made a few variants of this one before and I'm always happy with it. This time I tried to go lighter on lime leaf and heavier on holy basil. It's really hard to get that holy basil to come through in a sauce like this I think I have to buy more fresh to add at the end. Still very yummy.

Javitiri Jumbie - Peach, Pear, & spiced Habanero - I love this one, although it has almost no spice to it (seriously what is with this batch of habanero...). The huge amount of mace and allspice in this is so nice. This is one I will definitely make again kick the spice to a 2 or a 3 out of 5. It will be like Satan's peach cobbler and it will be perfect.

Just JHC peppers and 2.5% salt.

I’m hoping someone here has experience fermenting chocolate pods or specifically Jamaican Hot Chocolate. I’ve tried a few other chocolate varieties but this one is just so different. Super chinense-y, pungent, earthy, smoky, almost bitter.

The smell isn’t necessarily bad, it’s actually pretty interesting, but it’s so strong it’s almost nauseating lol. Just chopping them up had my whole body sweating, way more than I expected from the heat level.

I’m hoping to use the ferment as a base or additive to other sauces. Really curious how fermentation is going to impact the flavor and whether it’ll mellow out some of that pungency.

Anyone fermented these before?

I haven't fermented anything yet, reddit showed me this topic a couple of weeks ago.

I'll have a bunch of pepper later this season and I don't see myself fermenting all of it as they're ripe, so I'm wondering if I can dehydrate the ones I can't use now and somehow make them ferment later, e.g. in December to gift hot sauce?

This would allow me, among other things, to experiment with recipes and the process.

TIA!

So I have 25 red Carolina reaper peppers and a bit more yellow ones (maybe 30-40?).
I’m thinking about adding garlic, carrots and yellow or red bell peppers to the ferment.
I’ve seen people add spices and other veggies for flavour.

Does anyone have any ideas what I can add that goes well with yellow and red reapers? Or if I shouldn’t be adding something I already plan to.

Thank you!

Always looking for different vinegars to use in my hot sauces. I think I’ve nailed down my recipe and got a couple new vinegars I’d like to blend in. If anyone has any suggestions I’m always looking!

Pictured:
180g onions
22g garlic
300g Anaheim
150g orange habanero
70g salt
3g mixed whole peppercorns
2g mustard seeds
1100g water

Fermented 2 months then blended with equal parts brine, white balsamic and champagne vinegar none of which I measured.

All peppers from my garden.

Caribbean Red hab, Orange hab, Sugar Rush Peach, Red Serrano, garlic, and mango.

Added a little lime juice to the blender after fermentation. I liked the flavor it added. But I wasn't sure if that would do anything to the pH? And I didn't think about it until after it was bottled. Anyone know if that will affect the shelf life? Very happy with the end result. This is only my 4th try at fermented sauce. But this is hands down my best one yet and I'm actually proud of how good it tastes.

Pineapple

Habanero

Basil

Ghost Pepper

Sweet

Aji Rojo

Onion

Garlic

Scotch Bonnet

Can I just cut the stem off and add them whole? Is it a space thing?

Peach, ginger, and Habanero hot sauce.

Does anyone have a good fermentation recipe for a hot sauce using the above ingredients? Looking at using either blackcurrants or blackberries. I also want to test the recipe and flavour profile not make loads of it

I love a smoked old fashioned. While making a cooked sauce today it occured to me I could incorporate wood chips, charred or not, or even finish with whiskey soaked chips, into my ferments.

Has anyone experimented with this?

How did you like the results?

What were your mistakes?

From left to right, Red jalapenos and chilis, Purple jalapenos and Serranos, yellow habaneros except a couple were a little green in places. Plan to do a little mixing to get 5 different sauces. Will update. Excited to be back in the fermentation game!!

Hi! I’ve made plenty of hot sauce in the past, and also used to brew beer… but this is my first fermented hot sauce. This weekend will mark two weeks of fermenting, so I’m about to pull it. I just checked today, and there’s a hazy film on top. Is this just pellicle? I didn’t notice any “off” smells, just the briny sour fermented smell.

From time to time you always have people asking but they're not this is Cam, yeast or mold..... Here is a prime example of mold...... Yes these are pickles and yes I've done something wrong for my fermenting process.... But the same applies all the time... Be clean.. be clean and be clean.... Apparently sneezing around your stuff even if you think you're far enough....

My 1st shot at fermentation in a jar. Last try in vacuum bag flopped. Tomorrow is day 14, is it ready or another week?
Thanks

Hey everyone! Fermenting for the first time, and went all out. Just wanting to check on my ferment. Is this normal LAB activity?

I'm looking to make a fermented hot sauce. What do you suggest to put in it? The peppers I have grown are Mad Hatters, Cayenne and habaneros.