OT- Lacto Fermentation Fun- Peppers and Sriracha

caliking

stv8r said:

caliking said:

Just a random note to add, re ambient room temps, since it impacts fermentation projects - was reading a blog or something by an Indian lady (about fermenting rice batter for dosas/idlis/appams etc), and she mentions adjustments to the protocol for folks who keeps their homes cooler i.e. "less than 80F". 

I laughed because our crib is usually 80F or more, but almost everyone I know keeps their house at frigid temps

I laughed at your use of "crib"  Seem to remember that term 20years ago

That’s about how far I usually lag behind current trends

lkapigian

3 pounds pickling cucumbers, smoked and dehydrated Thai and Serrano chili, garlic dill bay leaves and pickling spice ...cut the Bud End off the Cucs ..2% brine

caliking

@lkapigian - leaving the cukes whole?

lkapigian

caliking said:

@lkapigian - leaving the cukes whole?

@caliking yes I am, last time I quartered them, thought I’d try whole this time...they are pretty small

buzd504

lkapigian said:

3 pounds pickling cucumbers, smoked and dehydrated Thai and Serrano chili, garlic dill bay leaves and pickling spice ...cut the Bud End off the Cucs ..2% brine

Wow.  Looking forward to this one.

stv8r

Wow either those are some humongous garlic cloves or those are really tiny cucumbers?  Where do you find those?

lkapigian

stv8r said:

Wow either those are some humongous garlic cloves or those are really tiny cucumbers?  Where do you find those?

Regular cloves , tiny cucumbers @stv8r , thanks @buzd504 ..ive only done pickles once, not the greatest texture but not bad, however the taste was as good if not better than the best jarred pickle I've had 

blasting

Peppers are cheaper than I remember .79/lb jalapeno, .49/lb for hatch, .89/lb serrano.

All told, 23lbs to be processed.

  

lkapigian

blasting said:

Peppers are cheaper than I remember .79/lb jalapeno, .49/lb for hatch, .89/lb serrano.

All told, 23lbs to be processed.

  

Heck Ya @blasting !

blasting

I only had weights and lids to do three jars, so first I made a bunch of new wide mouth weights. 





There were a lot of hatch peppers, so I cold smoked 3 jars worth of them for 90 minutes.  They came out with a great smoky aroma, but we'll see if that comes through in the sauce.






After reading this thread, and a couple of books, I decided to keep the peppers separate.  Serrano, Hatch, Jalapeno, and Smoked Hatch.  My plan is to make a mash out of each - then work on small batch blends to learn what I like.






As I look at these 12 half gallon jars of peppers, I realize that once again I have failed at moderation.  This is my first attempt at hot sauce, so crossing fingers.

lkapigian

blasting said:

I only had weights and lids to do three jars, so first I made a bunch of new wide mouth weights. 





There were a lot of hatch peppers, so I cold smoked 3 jars worth of them for 90 minutes.  They came out with a great smoky aroma, but we'll see if that comes through in the sauce.






After reading this thread, and a couple of books, I decided to keep the peppers separate.  Serrano, Hatch, Jalapeno, and Smoked Hatch.  My plan is to make a mash out of each - then work on small batch blends to learn what I like.






As I look at these 12 half gallon jars of peppers, I realize that once again I have failed at moderation.  This is my first attempt at hot sauce, so crossing fingers.

Awesome @blasting!!

caliking

You’re all in, @blasting! 

Should be fun playing around with different sauce blends once all of that is ready.  

caliking

All signs are pointing towards me diving deeper into this

just read that harder veg like cukes are better if fermented in 5% brine.

Thoughts @lkapigian ?

blasting

@caliking

I think I'm going to do a few jars of cukes, so I'd be interested as well.

I've been burping my jars a couple times a day.  The smell is delicious - I can't get enough of it.  Hopefully the cloudiness is normal.

caliking

@blasting - i aint no expert, but I believe that level of turbidity is expected. That's about what the couple of jars I have done looked like.

stv8r

blasting said:

I only had weights and lids to do three jars, so first I made a bunch of new wide mouth weights. 





There were a lot of hatch peppers, so I cold smoked 3 jars worth of them for 90 minutes.  They came out with a great smoky aroma, but we'll see if that comes through in the sauce.






After reading this thread, and a couple of books, I decided to keep the peppers separate.  Serrano, Hatch, Jalapeno, and Smoked Hatch.  My plan is to make a mash out of each - then work on small batch blends to learn what I like.






As I look at these 12 half gallon jars of peppers, I realize that once again I have failed at moderation.  This is my first attempt at hot sauce, so crossing fingers.

I know what you mean.  I spent $50 plus to try this out.  My 3 weeks are up on  Sunday...can't wait to try the results

lkapigian

caliking said:

All signs are pointing towards me diving deeper into this

just read that harder veg like cukes are better if fermented in 5% brine.

Thoughts @lkapigian ?

@caliking I believe that there may be truth to that, my 2% cucs that I started 5 days ago are soft where the higher % I did was crunchie ...none the less , next time my picked are fermenting in the fridge or wait till winter 

bgebrent

Love this thread!

lkapigian

stv8r said:

blasting said:

I only had weights and lids to do three jars, so first I made a bunch of new wide mouth weights. 





There were a lot of hatch peppers, so I cold smoked 3 jars worth of them for 90 minutes.  They came out with a great smoky aroma, but we'll see if that comes through in the sauce.






After reading this thread, and a couple of books, I decided to keep the peppers separate.  Serrano, Hatch, Jalapeno, and Smoked Hatch.  My plan is to make a mash out of each - then work on small batch blends to learn what I like.






As I look at these 12 half gallon jars of peppers, I realize that once again I have failed at moderation.  This is my first attempt at hot sauce, so crossing fingers.

I know what you mean.  I spent $50 plus to try this out.  My 3 weeks are up on  Sunday...can't wait to try the results

@stv8r still a reasonably priced kitchen hobby

lkapigian

blasting said:

@caliking

I think I'm going to do a few jars of cukes, so I'd be interested as well.

I've been burping my jars a couple times a day.  The smell is delicious - I can't get enough of it.  Hopefully the cloudiness is normal.

Looks spot on @blasting ....I’m struggling with cuc’s so far so watching for someone to nail them

blasting

Looks like cukes like a low fermenting temp, and more salt.

lkapigian

blasting said:

Looks like cukes like a low fermenting temp, and more salt.

Thanks @blasting , going give that a try, these are good, break when you bend them...taste good but not proud enough to pass out

lkapigian

So you get an idea of the transformation in just 5 days

lkapigian

3 weeks, love the color of the Fresno's

20stone

caliking said:

Oh man. I somehow missed this thread. Thanks for (yet )another kitchen hobby

There’s a papaya hot sauce made in Aruba that we haven’t been able to find here. I’m going to take a crack at it, thanks to this thread. 

I’ll be back to bug you with questions after my stuff from Amazon arrives...

I know I’ve done my part to egg you on. 

theyolksonyou

Deeper down the hole I go

lkapigian

Awesome @theyolksonyou !

caliking

20stone said:

caliking said:

Oh man. I somehow missed this thread. Thanks for (yet )another kitchen hobby

There’s a papaya hot sauce made in Aruba that we haven’t been able to find here. I’m going to take a crack at it, thanks to this thread. 

I’ll be back to bug you with questions after my stuff from Amazon arrives...

I know I’ve done my part to egg you on. 

Yes. You struck right when I was contemplating buying bigger jars, etc. 



Rice beer. Should be ready in a week or two.

And thanks for the Katz book. 

theyolksonyou

Jalapeño, habanero, garlic, bay.  Away we go. 

blasting

theyolksonyou said:

Jalapeño, habanero, garlic, bay.  Away we go. 

I thought the bay leaf was for keeping things crisp?  Was I supposed to add bay leaf to my hot sauce ferments?

Nice jar btw.