OT- Lacto Fermentation Fun- Peppers and Sriracha

Eoin · November 2021

lkapigian said:

lkapigian said:

Been a few months , starting 3 mashes ..Serrano , Fresno’s and Jalapeño…3% solution, 5 liters each , 1 head of garlic and 2 yellow onions per each 5 liter , will be 3 or 4 weeks

3 weeks, bottled and ready to go…this stuff never gets old

Looks killer. I've moved my chilli plants to a warmer location to ripen and am planning some sauce.

Do you ever get issues with the fermentation continuing in the bottles? My last lot bubbled up, even in the fridge (just more slowly!).

lkapigian · November 2021

Eoin said:

lkapigian said:

lkapigian said:

Been a few months , starting 3 mashes ..Serrano , Fresno’s and Jalapeño…3% solution, 5 liters each , 1 head of garlic and 2 yellow onions per each 5 liter , will be 3 or 4 weeks

3 weeks, bottled and ready to go…this stuff never gets old

Looks killer. I've moved my chilli plants to a warmer location to ripen and am planning some sauce.

Do you ever get issues with the fermentation continuing in the bottles? My last lot bubbled up, even in the fridge (just more slowly!).

@Eoin , yes , it will continue to ferment well after bottling , just make sure you have enough head space when bottling . I have found 3-4 weeks it slows down a lot, unless there is a spike in temp….fermentation will end when all the food is gone

Eoin · November 2021

lkapigian said:

Eoin said:

lkapigian said:

lkapigian said:

Been a few months , starting 3 mashes ..Serrano , Fresno’s and Jalapeño…3% solution, 5 liters each , 1 head of garlic and 2 yellow onions per each 5 liter , will be 3 or 4 weeks

3 weeks, bottled and ready to go…this stuff never gets old

Looks killer. I've moved my chilli plants to a warmer location to ripen and am planning some sauce.

Do you ever get issues with the fermentation continuing in the bottles? My last lot bubbled up, even in the fridge (just more slowly!).

@Eoin , yes , it will continue to ferment well after bottling , just make sure you have enough head space when bottling . I have found 3-4 weeks it slows down a lot, unless there is a spike in temp….fermentation will end when all the food is gone

I think the problem was that I thickened it with xanthan gum, so the bubbles got trapped and it 'boiled over'.

lkapigian · November 2021

Eoin said:

lkapigian said:

Eoin said:

lkapigian said:

lkapigian said:

Been a few months , starting 3 mashes ..Serrano , Fresno’s and Jalapeño…3% solution, 5 liters each , 1 head of garlic and 2 yellow onions per each 5 liter , will be 3 or 4 weeks

3 weeks, bottled and ready to go…this stuff never gets old

Looks killer. I've moved my chilli plants to a warmer location to ripen and am planning some sauce.

Do you ever get issues with the fermentation continuing in the bottles? My last lot bubbled up, even in the fridge (just more slowly!).

@Eoin , yes , it will continue to ferment well after bottling , just make sure you have enough head space when bottling . I have found 3-4 weeks it slows down a lot, unless there is a spike in temp….fermentation will end when all the food is gone

I think the problem was that I thickened it with xanthan gum, so the bubbles got trapped and it 'boiled over'.

I use xanthan gum as well, a little goes a long long way

Eoin · November 2021

I've got some nice looking yellow chillies to ferment for hot sauce. Is it OK to smoke first and then ferment? My XL is running at a steady 160F to smoke / dry some hot chillies, I'm thinking to halve these and put in the Egg for an hour to pick up some smoke, then into a jar to ferment with 2% salt (adding raw garlic / onion).

lkapigian · November 2021

Eoin said:

I've got some nice looking yellow chillies to ferment for hot sauce. Is it OK to smoke first and then ferment? My XL is running at a steady 160F to smoke / dry some hot chillies, I'm thinking to halve these and put in the Egg for an hour to pick up some smoke, then into a jar to ferment with 2% salt (adding raw garlic / onion).

You can add some smoked to fresh to ferment , smoking the peppers can kill off the good bacteria , so I would not try and ferment all smoked,

Eoin · November 2021

lkapigian said:

Eoin said:

I've got some nice looking yellow chillies to ferment for hot sauce. Is it OK to smoke first and then ferment? My XL is running at a steady 160F to smoke / dry some hot chillies, I'm thinking to halve these and put in the Egg for an hour to pick up some smoke, then into a jar to ferment with 2% salt (adding raw garlic / onion).

You can add some smoked to fresh to ferment , smoking the peppers can kill off the good bacteria , so I would not try and ferment all smoked,

OK. I assume that the good bacteria can repopulate the smoked chillies once in the jar and fermetation is underway? I'm just interested in getting a bit of smoke into the sauce.

lkapigian · November 2021

Eoin said:

lkapigian said:

Eoin said:

I've got some nice looking yellow chillies to ferment for hot sauce. Is it OK to smoke first and then ferment? My XL is running at a steady 160F to smoke / dry some hot chillies, I'm thinking to halve these and put in the Egg for an hour to pick up some smoke, then into a jar to ferment with 2% salt (adding raw garlic / onion).

You can add some smoked to fresh to ferment , smoking the peppers can kill off the good bacteria , so I would not try and ferment all smoked,

OK. I assume that the good bacteria can repopulate the smoked chillies once in the jar and fermetation is underway? I'm just interested in getting a bit of smoke into the sauce.

Yes, like mixing frozen with fresh , that being said , I thing you will get more smoke flavor mixing smoked peppers in the mix when you blend, I think, but can’t confirm, the smoke will diminish during the ferment , keep us posted , I am curious on the outcome

Eoin · November 2021

These are the yellow peppers slit down the middle and smoked for about an hour with the Egg at around 160F. Just warm when I took them out. This is maybe 30% of the total gone into the jar.

Eoin · November 2021

Hopefully this will get underway now for a couple of weeks. The yellow peppers are quite mild, so I put two of scotch bonnets in as well. I'll see if the smoke comes through, but I do have a lot of other dried / smoked chillies I can blend in at the end if needed.

lkapigian · November 2021

Eoin said:

Hopefully this will get underway now for a couple of weeks. The yellow peppers are quite mild, so I put two of scotch bonnets in as well. I'll see if the smoke comes through, but I do have a lot of other dried / smoked chillies I can blend in at the end if needed.

Looks amazing

Eoin · November 2021

lkapigian said:

Eoin said:

Hopefully this will get underway now for a couple of weeks. The yellow peppers are quite mild, so I put two of scotch bonnets in as well. I'll see if the smoke comes through, but I do have a lot of other dried / smoked chillies I can blend in at the end if needed.

Looks amazing

These chillies ended up ripening to a great colour. This is one plant, harvested today.

Eoin · December 2021

Bottled today.

lkapigian · January 2022

Don’t throw your mash away

dehydrating my last ferments

Eoin · January 2022

That's a lot of mash. If I force the paste through a sieve I don't have a huge amount left. Do you grind for powder?

lkapigian · January 2022

Eoin said:

That's a lot of mash. If I force the paste through a sieve I don't have a huge amount left. Do you grind for powder?

@Eoin ,those are both from 5 litre ferments, yes grind and mix with salt , 2 part powdered mash 1 part salt and put it in shakers ....I was going to make a salami with it but decided not to wait

and you can add brine ( or mash ) to a meat ferment such as salami and it will ferment it

Eoin · May 2022

Quick question about frozen chillies and fermenting - I can't see any reason why it won't work, has anyone done this?

Anne signed me up for an online fermentation / pickling course (some freebie she got), so I want to use some of my frozen SB / Naga chillies.

lkapigian · May 2022

Eoin said:

Quick question about frozen chillies and fermenting - I can't see any reason why it won't work, has anyone done this?
Anne signed me up for an online fermentation / pickling course (some freebie she got), so I want to use some of my frozen SB / Naga chillies.

@Eoin , it will work , but throw in some fresh ( of anything) to get things going, the lactobacilli bacteria will be in a very deep sleep , I would also add a bit of dextrose

Eoin · May 2022

lkapigian said:

Eoin said:

Quick question about frozen chillies and fermenting - I can't see any reason why it won't work, has anyone done this?
Anne signed me up for an online fermentation / pickling course (some freebie she got), so I want to use some of my frozen SB / Naga chillies.

@Eoin , it will work , but throw in some fresh ( of anything) to get things going, the lactobacilli bacteria will be in a very deep sleep , I would also add a bit of dextrose

I have some fresh to mix in too. The recipe has mango in, so the sugar is taken care of.

lkapigian · May 2022

Eoin said:

lkapigian said:

Eoin said:

Quick question about frozen chillies and fermenting - I can't see any reason why it won't work, has anyone done this?
Anne signed me up for an online fermentation / pickling course (some freebie she got), so I want to use some of my frozen SB / Naga chillies.

@Eoin , it will work , but throw in some fresh ( of anything) to get things going, the lactobacilli bacteria will be in a very deep sleep , I would also add a bit of dextrose

I have some fresh to mix in too. The recipe has mango in, so the sugar is taken care of.

it will be amazing

Eoin · May 2022

The course was more of a demo, about an hour and a quarter for 4 pickles / ferments.

I got prepared and did the 4 as they rushed through. There wasn't much spare time! Most people were just watching, not doing at the same time.

Left to right:
Kraut, I dropped in some odd bits of spare radish and beet too.
Pink pickles - radish with beet to colour and some dried chillies / spices.
Chilli ferment for hot sauce with mango, yellow pepper, shallot and garlic.
Simple pickled cucumber.

lkapigian · May 2022

Eoin said:

The course was more of a demo, about an hour and a quarter for 4 pickles / ferments.

I got prepared and did the 4 as they rushed through. There wasn't much spare time! Most people were just watching, not doing at the same time.

Left to right:
Kraut, I dropped in some odd bits of spare radish and beet too.
Pink pickles - radish with beet to colour and some dried chillies / spices.
Chilli ferment for hot sauce with mango, yellow pepper, shallot and garlic.
Simple pickled cucumber.

Winner Winner !

lkapigian · June 2022

Ybabpmuts · June 2022

Does that say hot delight madam, in a jar?

I was going to settle for medium delight madam in a can. Now that I see this ... I'm suddenly thinking ... why should I settle for getting my madam in the can at all?

Botch · June 2022

I had read a few posts in this thread, and didn't look at it again until I saw an article in Cooks Illustrated and a few videos on EweTube. Finally read thru these 30 pages, bought some things, and gave it a try.
First was a simple salsa. A stem of hothouse tomatoes, onion, garlic, cilantro, and serrano chile, a bit of salt, and it made enough to fill 3 4-oz jars. Recipe said to let it ferment a day, then frig, and try to use it up in a week as the tomato's texture goes poorly.
Used up the first two jars within a week, and they tasted like too-salty salsa. I forgot about the third jar, until this morning (a month later) and I cracked it open. Smelled/tasted fine but definitely different than the first two jars; texture was fine but I had zipped everything up in a food processor anyway.
Will definitely be doing this again, would like to try green beans next but I'll have to buy some pint jars first; the glass weights I had purchased didn't fit in the 4-oz jars.

Also been experimenting with refrigerator pickles. I can't find a recipe that's as good as Grillo's, but they're definitely less expensive and I'm taking good notes.

lkapigian · July 2022

@Botch , for pickles , bump the salt a bit, where normally I go 2% , pickles around4% , I add dill, fresh or dried , red pepper flakes , a bay leafy or 2 ( the tannin helps keep them crunchy) I used to cut the flower end off but don’t bother any more, room temp for a few days then in the fridge ..fresh is key for these, and they will be “ half sour “ pickles.

If I’m doing a mash of any kind, I don’t worry about weights , just give it a stir every couple days

FarmingPhD · July 2022

@lkapigian I may have asked this before, is the brine solution salt % for the brine only or is it the total salt % for ingredients + brine?

lkapigian · July 2022

FarmingPhD said:

@lkapigian I may have asked this before, is the brine solution salt % for the brine only or is it the total salt % for ingredients + brine?

@FarmingPhD % of salt is to the brine only, if doing a mash ( no brine just blended ingredients) then the % is to the ingredients

Botch · July 2022

lkapigian said:

@Botch , for pickles , bump the salt a bit, where normally I go 2% , pickles around4% , I add dill, fresh or dried , red pepper flakes , a bay leafy or 2 ( the tannin helps keep them crunchy) I used to cut the flower end off but don’t bother any more, room temp for a few days then in the fridge ..fresh is key for these, and they will be “ half sour “ pickles.

I may have misspoke, my refrigerator pickles are pickled, not fermented (using a 50-50 mix of water and vinegar). But, fermented pickles have my curiousity up, I'll try some of them!

lkapigian · July 2022

Fermented some milk Sous Vide , made some Jajik ..Armenian cold Madzoon ( Yogurt) soup with cucumbers, garlic and mint

OT- Lacto Fermentation Fun- Peppers and Sriracha

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