OT- Lacto Fermentation Fun- Peppers and Sriracha

lkapigian

Ozzie_Isaac said:

@Ikapigian one of my cherry tomato ferments has some crystals developing through my air lock.  This is a recent development.  Any idea what it is?  It actually smells amazing, like a well progressing ferment, but haven't seen crystals before?

Looks like Salt to me , not black or moldy , I wouldn’t worry about it 

nolaegghead

Eat some of it.   I suspect salt also, what else could it be?

Ozzie_Isaac

nolaegghead said:

Eat some of it.   I suspect salt also, what else could it be?

Tried some, and definitely salt, with some really fun funky flavor.  Now I need to figure out how to do that on a larger scale.

lkapigian

Ozzie_Isaac said:

nolaegghead said:

Eat some of it.   I suspect salt also, what else could it be?

Tried some, and definitely salt, with some really fun funky flavor.  Now I need to figure out how to do that on a larger scale.

@Ozzie_Isaac  , Take your brine when done , put in a non reactive container with a high surface area , let said brine evaporate 

fishlessman

lkapigian said:

Ozzie_Isaac said:

nolaegghead said:

Eat some of it.   I suspect salt also, what else could it be?

Tried some, and definitely salt, with some really fun funky flavor.  Now I need to figure out how to do that on a larger scale.

@Ozzie_Isaac  , Take your brine when done , put in a non reactive container with a high surface area , let said brine evaporate 

Is fermented salt marketed yet.  That would be an easy sell. Bloody marys with fermented salt sounds great....then the flavors, fermented scorpion salt....

Ozzie_Isaac

fishlessman said:

lkapigian said:

Ozzie_Isaac said:

nolaegghead said:

Eat some of it.   I suspect salt also, what else could it be?

Tried some, and definitely salt, with some really fun funky flavor.  Now I need to figure out how to do that on a larger scale.

@Ozzie_Isaac  , Take your brine when done , put in a non reactive container with a high surface area , let said brine evaporate 

Is fermented salt marketed yet.  That would be an easy sell. Bloody marys with fermented salt sounds great....then the flavors, fermented scorpion salt....

I use scorpion and carolina reapers in my ferments.  You might be on to something.

Ozzie_Isaac

Prepped a pepper ferment.  Very basic.  Peppers and salt.

I also ate my first cherry tomatoes.  5 weeks in.  Was an absolute flavor bomb with still a touch of fizz.  Made my mouth pucker up and water.  The onions are a bit on the mushy side for my taste, but still tasted good.  I think 3 weeks would have been better, but will still enjoy them.

For those wondering, my pH settled in at 3.99 for the tomatoes.

lkapigian

Looks killer @Ozzie_Isaac , I have found 3 weeks is perfect for my hot sauce but never had the onions mushy ( I do leave them pretty thick though ) Save That Brine! Has so many uses , excellent as a BBQ Spritz , use as a starter culture for other ferments , drink a little everyday for your “ gut health “ 

fishlessman

sounds good with the maters, been waiting to hear about them. always have to many cherry tomatoes in the summer

Botch

Ran across this video on creating/feeding a sourdough pizza poolish, and put it here as it involved LF.  NOTE:  The first minute of the video has nothing to do with poolish, but is useful.  
 
Instructions for easy starter: start by making a poolish, mix 90g water with .2g instant dry yeast, then mix with 90g flour. leave at room temp until it rises to a peak (starts to bubble and dip slightly) then feed another 90g each of flour and water, and repeat, twice. once the starter gets too big for your container start to discard. throw out all but 125 g of the starter and feed equal amounts of flour and water, leaving at room temp for 24 hours or until peak. do this for a for a week. after this you may keep in the frisge and discard and feed once weekly. by this time, and if you are making a batch a week, the discard should be to 150-160g and fed the same each, with the discard now being used for your dough. (300g). keeping 160 of starter and feeding it the same of each will ensure that you have about 30g of extra to help with waste from transferring to clean containers etc. the dough: 300g starter 560g water 950 ap flour 30g gluten 22g diastatic malt 20g salt 35g sugar 17g oil mix the starter and water together either in a mixer or in a bowl by hand. mix all the other ingredients together in another bowl leaving the salt and oil to the side for later. add the dry mixture to the wet mixture, knead together for about 5 or six minutes by hand or 3 or 4 minutes in the mixer on low. now add the salt and oil and knead until you pass a satisfactory window pane test. see part one of this video for more information here. rest at room fro 20 minutes then ball into desired ball sizes. transfer to the fridge for 24 to 48 hours. you should freeze any balls you don't think you'll use in the second 24 hours, after 24 hours in the fridge.
 
https://youtu.be/iyD_5Jq-qQY
 
He didn't leave a link to the San Francisco sourdough starter, I think this is it:
https://www.amazon.com/Cultures-Health-Francisco-Sourdough-Pancakes/dp/B00YVE3076/ref=sr_1_5?crid=3MLFL5N6P4UKK&keywords=san+francisco+sourdough+starter&qid=1677005232&s=grocery&sprefix=san+francisco%2Cgrocery%2C166&sr=1-5
 

Ozzie_Isaac

lkapigian said:

Looks killer @Ozzie_Isaac , I have found 3 weeks is perfect for my hot sauce but never had the onions mushy ( I do leave them pretty thick though ) Save That Brine! Has so many uses , excellent as a BBQ Spritz , use as a starter culture for other ferments , drink a little everyday for your “ gut health “ 

It is funny you mention "gut health".

I have been drinking kefer and eating lacto veggies for about 6 weeks now.  I have actually lost 12 pounds and feel tremendously better.  Not sure if they are linked, but that is really the only thing I have changed.  I also don't feel ravenously hungry at 10pm every night like I used too, so I guarantee my calorie intake has gone down just because of that.

lkapigian

Ozzie_Isaac said:

lkapigian said:

Looks killer @Ozzie_Isaac , I have found 3 weeks is perfect for my hot sauce but never had the onions mushy ( I do leave them pretty thick though ) Save That Brine! Has so many uses , excellent as a BBQ Spritz , use as a starter culture for other ferments , drink a little everyday for your “ gut health “ 

It is funny you mention "gut health".

I have been drinking kefer and eating lacto veggies for about 6 weeks now.  I have actually lost 12 pounds and feel tremendously better.  Not sure if they are linked, but that is really the only thing I have changed.  I also don't feel ravenously hungry at 10pm every night like I used too, so I guarantee my calorie intake has gone down just because of that.

I save brine just to take a swig out of daily 

lkapigian

Mash Ferment 

lkapigian

Started some Half Sour Pickles …4% brine , garlic, Bay , Mustard and Pepper Corn

lkapigian

Found some jalapeños hiding in the fridge, crammed in an old jar with some onions, 3% brine 

Botch

On European Ice Cream, Silage, happy cows, and big round bales of Hay.
 
When I was a little kid, I loved visiting my grandparents' and uncles' farms.  I remember my Uncle Duane showing me his silo, it was full up to about floor level (it was dug deep into the ground, along with the tall concrete silo above, and still in the process of being filled).  He had me stick my hand deep into it, and it was very warm, and smelled "neat"! (it was fermenting).  He warned me never to step out onto the silage, as I'd sink to the bottom and could never be recovered.  
 
Fast-forward 12 years.  My high school (Sioux Falls Washington!) won some local band competitions, and we were invited to play some festivals in Europe!  Two years of lottery tickets, car washes, and paid concerts later, we had enough money to go.  Here I'll only mention one tidbit, something we all discovered within just a couple days, was how GOOD the local ice cream was, light-years beyond our "Blue Bunny" **** from Sioux Falls.  Delicious!  
 
Tonight, I saw this from Adam Regusia:
 
https://youtu.be/yPj2uTuv2Rg
 
His favorite ice cream shop also uses milk from silage-fed cows, which is NOT homogenized.  Also learned that those big, cylindrical bales of hay I see throughout the midwest during harvest, are packed tight enough to encourage "fermenting" on the inside! (I did not know that); would love to sink my arm into one to see if it too is very warm, and smells neat.
 
They also make great memes, but that's another subject.
 

 
So, anyway, another way fermented stuff makes our lives better.  Search out your local independent ice cream shops, and ask some questions.  

lkapigian

I Botch said:

On European Ice Cream, Silage, happy cows, and big round bales of Hay.
 
When I was a little kid, I loved visiting my grandparents' and uncles' farms.  I remember my Uncle Duane showing me his silo, it was full up to about floor level (it was dug deep into the ground, along with the tall concrete silo above, and still in the process of being filled).  He had me stick my hand deep into it, and it was very warm, and smelled "neat"! (it was fermenting).  He warned me never to step out onto the silage, as I'd sink to the bottom and could never be recovered.  
 
Fast-forward 12 years.  My high school (Sioux Falls Washington!) won some local band competitions, and we were invited to play some festivals in Europe!  Two years of lottery tickets, car washes, and paid concerts later, we had enough money to go.  Here I'll only mention one tidbit, something we all discovered within just a couple days, was how GOOD the local ice cream was, light-years beyond our "Blue Bunny" **** from Sioux Falls.  Delicious!  
 
Tonight, I saw this from Adam Regusia:
 
https://youtu.be/yPj2uTuv2Rg
 
His favorite ice cream shop also uses milk from silage-fed cows, which is NOT homogenized.  Also learned that those big, cylindrical bales of hay I see throughout the midwest during harvest, are packed tight enough to encourage "fermenting" on the inside! (I did not know that); would love to sink my arm into one to see if it too is very warm, and smells neat.
 
They also make great memes, but that's another subject.
 

 
So, anyway, another way fermented stuff makes our lives better.  Search out your local independent ice cream shops, and ask some questions.  

Thanks for sharing @botch

lkapigian

A big batch of Sriracha starting , should make a killing since Rooster Sriracha is hard to come by right now 

poster

@lkapigian    What's your recipe if you care to share? I have yet to make anything close to having that tang that Sriracha has

lkapigian

poster said:

@lkapigian    What's your recipe if you care to share? I have yet to make anything close to having that tang that Sriracha has

@poster , no real measurements.. Fresno Peppers , Red Thai , totally eyeballed garlic and onion.. don’t fret measuring, but probably 75% pepper 25% garlic onion …. 3 % salt water brine for 3 weeks minimum… blend , strain … maybe 5% red wine vinegar, Xanthum gum to stabilize 

poster

Hmm maybe it's the red wine vinegar I'm missing. I do as above or very similar. It's always good,  but never similar to the rooster brand Sriracha. There's something I'm missing that I can't quite pick out

Botch

Isn't sriracha made from ripe jalapeños, rather than Fresno/Thai?  (although I have trouble tasting the differences between a lot of fresh chiles)

lkapigian

Botch said:

Isn't sriracha made from ripe jalapeños, rather than Fresno/Thai?  (although I have trouble tasting the differences between a lot of fresh chiles)

Fresno is just a further ripened " on the vine" jalapeno , sort of ( does have a thinner skin though ) but basically the same , I add the Thai's just because ..Tran Burned the guy growing Jalapenos for him a couple years ago ( lost over 20 million in a lawsuit) , now they scramble to get the Red Jalapenos and with the drought it is worse @poster I actually add a little apple cider vinegar, not red , though you could use any 

HeavyG

lkapigian said:

Botch said:

Isn't sriracha made from ripe jalapeños, rather than Fresno/Thai?  (although I have trouble tasting the differences between a lot of fresh chiles)

Fresno is just a further ripened " on the vine" jalapeno , sort of ( does have a thinner skin though ) but basically the same , I add the Thai's just because ..Tran Burned the guy growing Jalapenos for him a couple years ago ( lost over 20 million in a lawsuit) , now they scramble to get the Red Jalapenos and with the drought it is worse @poster I actually add a little apple cider vinegar, not red , though you could use any 

And the best part of the story is that in a final FU to Tran, the farm that grew all the peppers (Underwood Ranches) started making their own sriracha.

lkapigian

HeavyG said:

lkapigian said:

Botch said:

Isn't sriracha made from ripe jalapeños, rather than Fresno/Thai?  (although I have trouble tasting the differences between a lot of fresh chiles)

Fresno is just a further ripened " on the vine" jalapeno , sort of ( does have a thinner skin though ) but basically the same , I add the Thai's just because ..Tran Burned the guy growing Jalapenos for him a couple years ago ( lost over 20 million in a lawsuit) , now they scramble to get the Red Jalapenos and with the drought it is worse @poster I actually add a little apple cider vinegar, not red , though you could use any 

And the best part of the story is that in a final FU to Tran, the farm that grew all the peppers (Underwood Ranches) started making their own sriracha.

And he has a the good peppers 

Botch

Ragusea just did an interesting video on buttermilk (folks in the ME call it "kafir" which I thought I just saw a thread on, but couldn't find it).
 
https://youtu.be/xTiKv5-lJvM
 
I found this particularly interesting having made my own cream cheese about ten days ago (its still fine, and it may be fermenting more in the frig as it tastes better every time I spread some on toast; sorry Kraft).  
Along with a good amount of cream cheese the process also gave me about 3 cups of whey, but I didn't have a use for it, kept it in the frig and eventually poured it out.  Since the cream cheese "keeps" a bit and seems to improve with age, next time I'll make the cheese up-front, then use the whey in place of water in the bagel dough, that might improve the taste of the bagels.  

lkapigian

Botch said:

Ragusea just did an interesting video on buttermilk (folks in the ME call it "kafir" which I thought I just saw a thread on, but couldn't find it).
 
https://youtu.be/xTiKv5-lJvM
 
I found this particularly interesting having made my own cream cheese about ten days ago (its still fine, and it may be fermenting more in the frig as it tastes better every time I spread some on toast; sorry Kraft).  
Along with a good amount of cream cheese the process also gave me about 3 cups of whey, but I didn't have a use for it, kept it in the frig and eventually poured it out.  Since the cream cheese "keeps" a bit and seems to improve with age, next time I'll make the cheese up-front, then use the whey in place of water in the bagel dough, that might improve the taste of the bagels.  

Homemade Crema is amazing 

lkapigian

The commercial emersion blender makes the work so much easier 

BUFFALOMOOSE

@lkapigian awesome use of the briner bucket.  Did you put an airlock on the lid or just put the lid on loosely?

lkapigian

BUFFALOMOOSE said:

@lkapigian awesome use of the briner bucket.  Did you put an airlock on the lid or just put the lid on loosely?

@BUFFALOMOOSE just the lid, I’ve even been doing it just lowes paint buckets