[HN Gopher] How to make fermented hot sauce (2021)
___________________________________________________________________
How to make fermented hot sauce (2021)
Author : Kaibeezy
Score : 186 points
Date : 2022-08-16 18:06 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.seriouseats.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.seriouseats.com)
| bitwrangler wrote:
| I make sauerkraut in an old clear Costco nut container, the kind
| with the large mouth on top and a threaded lid. Any plastic
| container with a large lid works.
|
| On a kitchen scale, place the container and then reset tare
| weight to zero out. Add cabbage previously chopped using a food
| processor, then add a little (about 1/4 cup) spring water (not
| tap water) and stir in 3% by weight of kosher salt. Leave it on
| the counter for two weeks and release the lid some to let out
| gas. Use clean spoon and stir it a couple times over the two
| weeks to keep it mixed. The bright green cabbage turns more tan,
| then move it into the fridge.
|
| Toss it onto some on salads or sandwiches, etc. It is one of the
| easiest healthy yummy things to make.
| short_sells_poo wrote:
| Why does the salt have to be kosher?
| bitwrangler wrote:
| mostly to avoid any iodine which could interfere with the
| fermentation process. I suppose one could use pickling salt
| too. Maybe regular table salt is fine, but that's what I use
| since I keep it on hand.
| scrumbledober wrote:
| It doesn't, but kosher salt is a lot easier to work with.
| Kaibeezy wrote:
| Is it Diamond Crystal or Morton's in the recipe? That's a
| big difference in NaCl.
| cp9 wrote:
| if you are measuring by weight rather than volume they
| contain the same amount of sodium
| unwind wrote:
| Isn't 3% by weight always right, even if you get there by
| shaving chips from a giant rock salt crystal or whatever?
| Kaibeezy wrote:
| Ah, right! So many recipes!
| Turing_Machine wrote:
| Koreans use a similar coarse-grained salt to produce
| kimchi, for much the same reasons.
| kazinator wrote:
| The "corn" in "corned beef" refers to coarse grains of
| salt.
| hnfong wrote:
| The added iodine in non-kosher salt probably affects
| microbiological growth in
| undesirable/unpredictable/unexpected ways.
| [deleted]
| selectodude wrote:
| In North America, the coarse salt with zero additives is
| called "kosher" salt because the Jews used it to brine meat.
| It's generally approved by a Rabbi but even if it weren't
| actually Kosher, it would still be called kosher.
| _whiteCaps_ wrote:
| Some salt (table salt) has additives like iodine or anti
| caking agents that you don't want in your ferment because it
| will cause it to be cloudy (or even more cloudy).
|
| There's also some people who claim the iodine will inhibit
| fermentation, but studies have shown that it doesn't have
| much of an effect [1].
|
| 1 - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S07
| 400...
| selimthegrim wrote:
| I think it just has a discoloring effect.
| nick__m wrote:
| Kosher salt contains an anticaking agent. My box of Morton
| Kosher salt list Salt and Yellow Prussiate of Soda
| (anticaking agent) and so does my box of Windsor Kosher
| salt.
| Turing_Machine wrote:
| Kosher, in this sense, describes the texture of the salt
| (coarse-grained), not necessarily that the salt is kosher in
| and of itself (though it usually is).
|
| It's used for producing kosher meat.
| mvcalder wrote:
| Here's a tip, you can remove chlorine from tap water by
| spinning it for a minute in the blender. Then it won't
| interfere with fermentation.
| uxamanda wrote:
| Never heard this, nice tip! I just leave it out overnight if
| I am removing chlorine.
| agitator wrote:
| You can also boil water to remove chlorine. Stove or electric
| tea kettle works.
| alphalima wrote:
| A slightly different beginner lacto ferment is turnip + beetroot
| "pickle". 9 parts turnips, 1 part beetroot, 2% salt of combined
| turnip + beetroot + water, all by weight.
|
| Super tasty, not spicy, can be done in 5 days, fermentation kicks
| off quickly due to sugar content in beets so you get quick
| feedback.
| WaitWaitWha wrote:
| Growing up and till today, we ferment our excess vegetables.
|
| I will have to try hot peppers as I have never done them.
|
| We use a small piece of home made bread on the bottom of the
| primary jar. It works every time.
| nolroz wrote:
| Wow, this is cool to hear. Do you use any vegetables at all? Is
| there a particular flavor you are going for or just anything
| goes?
|
| Do you leave it chunky like a Kimchi? Do you make a sauce out
| of it? What do you serve it with? Do you put the veg in a salt
| water brine or just pile it in the jar with the bread?
| joshu wrote:
| i have six different kinds of chilis fermenting right now. it's a
| lot of fun and the results can be spectacular. also you can put a
| bit of dried chilis in there to add a bunch of lovely smokiness.
|
| i do lactofermentation in a vacuum bag. it works very well, just
| need to put a pinhole in it before it explodes.
| sbf501 wrote:
| I started making fermented hot sauce during COVID in 2020.
| There's a fancy grocery store near me that sells scorpions,
| ghosts, and reapers, as well as burdock, tamarind, mango, etc. I
| usually fermented for a week, and I've tried longer with little
| difference. I made an entire spreadsheet full of recipes that I
| tried, but ultimately I thought the fermented sour flavor
| overwhelmed everything. So, I started making them without
| fermenting, but with a little cooking to help break down some of
| the fruits and veggies and blend the flavors, and suddenly
| everything tasted 10x better. I was surprised, because for some
| reason I got it in my head that hot sauce _must_ be fermented,
| when that 's totally not true. Anyway, my $0.02 on fermenting
| hotsauce.
| chefandy wrote:
| The fermentation slows down after a few days so the difference
| between one and two weeks isn't huge but the difference between
| a week and 4 months is significant. Consider that
| Worcestershire sauce is mostly fermented onions and fish...
| It's amazing what a couple years of aging can do. Also, there's
| no reason your final product can't be a mix of both! Get the
| best of both worlds.
| agitator wrote:
| Yeah was going to say the same thing. I've been making
| kombucha for a while, and I have a process down where at the
| final stage I blend kombucha from various fermentation stages
| to get the mix of tartness, sweetness, fruit flavor, and
| alcohol content I'm looking for.
|
| It doesn't need to be binary. You can always mix cooked sauce
| with fermented to get the flavor profile you are looking for.
| hardwaregeek wrote:
| It's so fun to ferment stuff! Yogurt and sauerkraut are good
| starter ferments. Kimchi too. With hot sauce make sure to wear
| gloves and try to remove the pith and seeds. In my experience it
| can make the sauce quite bitter.
| uxamanda wrote:
| Agree, it is fun :-) Kefir is even easier than yogurt once you
| get the grains.
| wjnc wrote:
| Any tips to calm an overly cautious mind for food based
| tinkering like fermentation? My rational part understands that
| with a proper recipe and clean work there's no more risk than
| from a random food locality and still ... when I was young my
| mom was a cooking enthousiast and a great cook and she landed
| in the hospital with a nearly lethal food poisoning one day.
| That has probably shaken my senses for the more adventurous
| cooking like fermentation.
| Tomte wrote:
| Fermentation is pretty much safe. Make sure you get two
| things right:
|
| 1. Salt. You want at least 2% by weight (vegetables and
| water). Recipes differ, up to 5-ish %, just follow the
| recipe.
|
| 2. Anaerobic. No need to fear opening the jar every now and
| then, but submerge the vegetables in the brine and don't stir
| the brine much when you open the jar (to taste it, for
| example). There may be white fungus on top where the brine-
| air line is, but that's benign. Just skim it off.
|
| If you make sure those two conditions are met, lactobacilla
| (and yeast) will out-compete everything else. Especially
| everything dangerous.
| weaksauce wrote:
| Fermentation can be safer than raw veggies actually. just
| make sure you have 2%+ brine by weight of the veggies and the
| water and you should be ok. keep the ferment in a cooler to
| let the lacto bacillus do their thing at optimal
| temperatures.
|
| if there is stringy/fluffy mold then your ferment went south
| and you should throw generally to be on the safe side. if
| it's more brain like white folding without wispy bits you
| should be ok to just skim it. (kahm yeast is harmless
| generally)
|
| if you are really paranoid you can buy some pH strips to see
| if the lacto bacteria got the veggies down to the proper pH.
| botulism is basically impossible for a setup like this as
| long as you are following the basic guidelines and not trying
| to do some weird canning/fermentation setup. (botulism needs
| low competing bacteria[aka improper canning where you kill
| off all the good bacteria and leave the botulism spores], low
| salinity [more canning], anaerobic environment[technically
| this can happen in a ferment since the outgas from the
| bacteria is co2], and finally non-acidic environment[the
| lacto bacillus makes it an acidic environment pretty
| quickly])
|
| there's also two schools of thought to letting it be or
| pushing down. some people push the ferment down under the
| brine every day until it gets established and some people let
| it go until they taste it however long it that takes. the
| first camp think that by doing that you push any potential
| contaminants down under the brine where it can't reproduce
| that well so there is never any big problem. the second camp
| just take the chance that they were clean enough to not
| introduce any molds (but there are molds in the air)
|
| the other thing you can do to help is to make your own co2
| blanket by mixing baking soda and vinegar and then pouring
| the co2 over the open jars. Be careful not to splash any of
| that liquid into your brine though! (similar to how you blow
| out a candle in science class). I've tried it and it seems to
| help but i'm not 100% convinced it is required.
| tsumnia wrote:
| Agreed! I picked up brewing kombucha over lockdown and its been
| a fun vehicle for trying out flavors you won't see in stores.
| I've made watermelon mint, lychee, mango carolina reaper (it
| took 2 attempts to get the heat right), and even attempted a
| bloody mary that went horribly wrong.
| mindcrime wrote:
| _mango carolina reaper_
|
| You are God to me now...
|
| OK, not seriously, but that _does_ sound amazing. I love
| mango and I love hot peppers, including Carolina Reaper, so
| that sounds like something I should try.
| tsumnia wrote:
| When I make it I use 1 carton of Goya Mango Nectar and TWO
| reapers. Let that simmer in a pot for 20-30 minutes. Let
| the mixer come to room temp and mix with your kombucha brew
| before moving to second fermentation. It'll give a
| noticeable burn, but the mango counters it nicely. Don't be
| tough with the peppers, those TWO go a long way. My first
| attempt I did six because I had no gauge and it felt like I
| was drinking sandpaper.
|
| When reapers are out of season, you can substitute with 6
| habaneros. Same level of heat (maybe a bit less), but
| slightly different flavors since reapers and habaneros'
| fruity flavors are different.
| knodi123 wrote:
| Have you had this?
|
| https://queenmajestyhotsauce.com/products/queen-majesty-
| scot...
|
| Seriously my favorite hot sauce of all time. It would be
| easy to let the scotch bonnet overwhelm things, but it's
| such a nice balance, it's only considered a "medium" heat
| overall.
| jonnycomputer wrote:
| When fermenting pickles and peppers, mine always end up being too
| salty; I tend to want to error on the side of being too salty to
| make sure its a safe ferment, but then I have to soak the pickles
| in potable water until they aren't too salty anymore. I'll get it
| right someday.
|
| I suspect that using volume measurements instead of mass might be
| part of the problem.
| Ironlikebike wrote:
| If it's hot in the kitchen (I ferment on the counter so I don't
| forget about the ferments), I ere on the side of caution and
| use quite a bit of salt. After a few days I taste the brine. It
| should be starting to sour. If it's clearly too salty, I just
| add a bit of fresh water to the crock, taste again, and repeat.
|
| I taste it every day and refrigerate the ferment once it's at
| the right sourness.
| bitwrangler wrote:
| I would suggest using a kitchen scale to weight the food (minus
| the container weight) and then add in the 3% of salt (or
| whatever percent you want). Using the scale made all the
| difference for me with getting the consistency and flavor. good
| luck!
| MrMetlHed wrote:
| Two of my most used and most useful kitchen tools are a
| Thermapen and a digital scale. Just being able to measure
| accurately makes all of the difference in cooking just about
| anything. A cup of flour or a teaspoon of salt can weigh very
| differently depending on how tightly packed or how fine the
| grain is, better to be exact and not risk screwing everything
| up.
| nbk_2000 wrote:
| I love Thermapens! I've been looking for an equally well
| built kitchen scale. Have any recommendations?
| bobthepanda wrote:
| Salty fermentation products are good for stir fries or soups
| where a little goes a long way, and you can dilute with other
| ingredients.
| powersnail wrote:
| Using volume measurement for salt is a bit problematic, because
| different brand of salt come with different sizes. A teaspoon
| of finer salt might be twice as heavy as a teaspoon of coarser
| salt. It's not always easy to find out that ratio between your
| salt and the one used by the recipe author.
| nomel wrote:
| I wonder if the gasses could be sampled and monitored, or maybe
| some spectral analysis of the fluids, to find if undesirable
| biological activity were happening?
| bagels wrote:
| I use litmus paper to test acidity of the brine. Usually ends
| up around 3.0-3.5 ph.
|
| Also monitor smell, bubble formation (good) and watch for bad
| colors (white, black, green mold on top), browning of
| ferment, especially near the top (bad)
| hahamrfunnyguy wrote:
| I make a lot of fermented food. This guide complicates things a
| bit. You don't really need an airtight container with a
| fermentation lock. The easiest thing to do is just keep a layer
| of brine above the top of whatever you are fermenting. I use
| mason jars of all sizes and flip the lid over backwards and put
| the ring on loosely. This allows any gas to escape and keeps
| contaminants out.
| uxamanda wrote:
| Your method works, but to make it easier to keep the food below
| the brine, I put a tiny bowl (like you'd use for spices when
| prepping) inside the mason jar to push things down while still
| allowing it to bubble. Cover with a piece of cheesecloth and a
| rubber band.
|
| Food below the brine is key, it will mold otherwise (as I've
| learned the hard way...).
| LesZedCB wrote:
| you can also get glass fermentation weights that are made to
| fit inside the mouths of mason jars. we've had good luck with
| those.
|
| other nice simple one is the silicon nipple looking covers.
| just screw it onto the mason jar and it self burps
| uxamanda wrote:
| Yes for sure, I need to upgrade my system at some point.
| Another one I've used is a ziplock bag partly filled with
| water. I don't love the idea of plastic in fermentation,
| but it has worked in a pinch.
| slimsag wrote:
| Look at e-jen containers, they're for kimchi normally but
| I use them for fermenting tons of things. They're great.
| dendrite9 wrote:
| I wish that worked for me, I've found there are folds in
| the bag that seem to be good starting points for
| mold/infection. Unfortunately I'm not certain what in my
| process caused this, after a few tests I decided it
| wasn't for me.
| eth0up wrote:
| Nipples are dandy, but one overlooked and very simple,
| effective method is a foodgrade plastic bag (sandwich,
| ziplock) placed over the mouth of the jar and held on with
| a rubber band. The flexibility of the rubber band allows
| gas to escape and if paranoid about the top layer, a leaf
| or more of cabbage (or something else) can help press the
| desirable layer beneath the brine. I've found that after
| 10-14 days the leaves become unappealing but do not affect
| anything beneath. Note: I ferment in Florida, with the AC
| rarely below 80f unless such occurs naturally. I have
| learned to increase the salt and decrease the time when the
| temp is above 77f.
| tylersmalley wrote:
| The Noma Guide to Fermentation mentions using a vacuum-sealed
| plastic bag. I find this much easier to manage. You will only
| need to "burp" the bag by cutting a corner off, releasing the
| air then re-sealing.
| bagels wrote:
| Can also use a zip lock with water in it, just squeeze air
| out of the corner.
| LesZedCB wrote:
| how do you reseal after you cut off a corner?
| crygin wrote:
| An impulse sealer bar, like you'd use to seal the vacuum
| bag originally.
| tylersmalley wrote:
| The vacuum sealer uses heat to seal special bags. You re-
| seal the same way you seal it originally by placing the
| part of the bag with a corner cut off in the machine and
| turning it on. The bag will get a bit smaller each time,
| but even for long ferments I don't need to do it more than
| 1 or 2 times. I just make sure to size the bag originally
| to account for it.
| spelunker wrote:
| Question for fermentation hot sauce aficionados: my Anaheim
| peppers are doing great in my garden and I have far more than I
| know what to do with; Anaheim are pretty mild, so are they even
| worth making a hot sauce out of?
| nbk_2000 wrote:
| If it's the flavor you like, and just want to add heat, you can
| augment the heat with a high scoville neutral chili. I've done
| this before by adding habanero or high scoville cayenne after
| the ferment is several days in.
| hahamrfunnyguy wrote:
| I'd say so if you could figure what you wanted to put it on. It
| would be sweet and sour instead of spicy. I bet it would be
| good on meatloaf. Maybe you want to slice them up and just have
| them as pickled peppers. You could also make pepper ketchup or
| relish.
| bagels wrote:
| You can still ferment them to preserve. Will make a sweeter
| sauce that would still make a nice condiment.
| uxamanda wrote:
| It's always fun to mix peppers when fermenting. Could add a
| couple habaneros if you wanted heat! I also sometimes char half
| of them to get a smoky flavor. Just make sure some are raw so
| that it ferments.
| LesZedCB wrote:
| kombucha is also REALLY good and pretty easy! and once you scale
| up a little bit you can have basically as much kombucha as you
| want for mere pennies. way better than the $/bottle at the
| grocery store or costco.
| onychomys wrote:
| I use this system [0], which is basically foolproof and is easy
| as pie. The end results are amazing. Right now I have two jars of
| blended up hatch chiles (with onion, garlic, carrots, and 4% salt
| by weight) on the counter, probably two more months to go on
| them. It's a super fun way to make food.
|
| [0] https://nourishedessentials.com/products/the-easy-fermenter
| enviclash wrote:
| I love carrots pikcled and fermented, what makes them so
| special?
| 01100011 wrote:
| Made some last year using fresno chilis, garlic and onions. It
| came out great but had a tendency to go right through me. I threw
| some in a pot and boiled it briefly and now it doesn't cause any
| issues. I'm guessing the fermentation bacteria were warring with
| my natural flora. Anyway, try this if you have similar issues.
| ksaj wrote:
| I just opened one 2 weekends ago. I bought a kit (because of the
| really nice bottles), but then ignored the instructions and found
| significantly better recipes online. First time I've fermented
| one, and it came out gloriously.
|
| I'm proud of the result because it tastes nothing like other hot
| sauces I've had (and there have been very many!), but also
| doesn't taste the least bit strange or out-of-place. I expected
| it to taste like Tabasco, but it came out more like Hunan because
| of a much darker flavour.
|
| I also make regular hot sauces with fruits and herbs that I
| forage from the neighbourhood. My current dipper is a slightly
| smokey medium heat made with morita, cascabel and guajira
| peppers, plum-like damson fruit and some wild mint that I
| lovingly call "ditch-mint" because that's where I found it. It
| would probably work fermented, but I've only tried fermenting
| once so far.
|
| Once you get the connection with how certain ingredients alter
| the taste and texture when combined, you can pretty much wing it
| as you go. The more complex, the better. There is a balance, and
| you quickly learn flavourful vinegars / citrus, and sweeteners
| (brown sugar/honey/maple) will balance out just about any amount
| of spices and herbs. It's very rewarding if you like hot sauces,
| dips, marinades, etc, and the results will pretty much always
| make you feel like an old pro.
| wackget wrote:
| Which better recipe did you follow?
| ksaj wrote:
| I literally Google Image surf and choose one that looks good.
| Then I use it as a guide so my ingredient portions would be
| reasonably correct. I also tend to stay reasonably faithful
| to the spices used, since that's where a lot of the
| characteristic flavour besides the pepper itself comes from.
| I don't follow them entirely faithfully since I use
| ingredients from my garden and from the neighbourhood. Like
| the Damson I used - those are like little black plums. But
| literally any fruit even remotely like them will work.
|
| For example, I didn't have enough wine vinegar for my most
| recent dipper that I mentioned, so I mixed what I had with a
| little cooking rice wine with about 1/8 cup of sherry, and
| then added less salt than was originally called for since
| cooking wine tends to already be salty. And it came out quite
| yummy.
| grigri907 wrote:
| Care to share some links to your favorites?
| ksaj wrote:
| I don't keep them around since I mainly use them more for
| inspiration. But the non-fermented dipper I mentioned was
| based on the one here: https://plantedandpicked.com/habanero-
| plum-hot-sauce.
|
| Pretty much the only thing I really stick to verbatim is the
| spices and some of the herbs. And I use the recipe volumes
| (tsps or cups or whatever) to gauge what I need to do to
| ensure the finished sauce will be recognizable and balanced
| appropriately.
| rdudek wrote:
| Do you have a recommendation on a kit to use?
| ksaj wrote:
| Not really. I literally only bought this because I was
| interested in the bottles that came with the kit. Well, I
| looked because I'm interested in the subject, but I bought it
| for the bottles because they are nicer looking than what I
| was using prior. The kit came with a sampling of different
| types of dried peppers, so I'm using them for things as well.
|
| If you want to go for a kit, find one with several types of
| peppers. There is a lot of variety in flavour and heat
| levels. I mentioned cascabel, for example... they're not
| particularly hot, but instantly make you think "Mexican!"
| when you taste it. Even with kits, you still have to buy all
| the other ingredients, so I think it is actually better to
| just go that route and use ingredients you already have or
| buy with groceries.
|
| If you are going to ferment, I did use a water bubbler that I
| got from a wine brewing place. They are not expensive, since
| they are simply clear plastic valves and a rubber sealing
| ring. I've seen them for super cheap on Wish dot com even. I
| don't use a pH tester (although I may in the future), but
| after 2 weeks, just taste it. You'll know if it is ready
| because it'll taste very different than how it tasted when
| you bottled it. Chance of it still fermenting after 2 weeks
| is nearly zero anyway. At least that's the general consensus
| I read online, and it worked out that way for my first
| attempt.
| nomel wrote:
| > but then ignored the instructions and found significantly
| better recipes online
|
| How did you compare them?
| prichino wrote:
| He did a peer-reviewed, double-blind study with 1000 test
| subjects over the course of 10 years.
| ksaj wrote:
| The included recipes were of the "introductory level" type
| that would of course be passable, but devoid of any
| complexity. I've made enough sauces now that I can make a
| pretty good guess on how it'll turn out with various
| ingredients.
| tschwimmer wrote:
| This is obviously a well-researched and well written article, but
| I do disagree with one of the food safety recommendations the
| author makes. About mold, they say "Mold is another issue. If you
| see green, blue, black, or orange mold growing on the surface of
| your ferment, you don't always have to throw it out. Just scrape
| it off if the growth isn't extensive." This may seem like
| reasonable advice, but in fact the visible mold is merely the
| fruiting body. The roots (I believe they're called mycelium) of
| the mold grow down into the substrate (in this case your hot
| sauce). I can't speak to the health effects of consuming the
| mycelium vs the fruiting bodies, but it's not sufficient to just
| scrape off the surface.
| ubercore wrote:
| Every ferment has some level of mold in it, though. As do most
| air cured meats.
| mewse-hn wrote:
| If you consider yeast a type of mold then sure
| ssnistfajen wrote:
| It depends on the texture and density of the fermenting
| food/substrate. In some cases such as hard cheeses the mycelium
| doesn't penetrate very deep which means the mold part can be
| cut off and the rest is still reasonably safe to eat for anyone
| who isn't immuno-compromised.
|
| Although generally if there's unintended mold on home made
| fermented foods it means something went wrong in one of the
| preparation steps e.g. acidity too low, moisture too high,
| something was exposed to air instead of submersed in brine.
| Many Chinese language Youtube tutorials on fermented chili
| sauce also suggest thoroughly wiping the inside of the
| container with high ABV spirits before adding the mixture.
| [deleted]
| eushebdbsh wrote:
| mold is bacteria not fungi
| l33t2328 wrote:
| I'm curious if you're just misremembering or if there's some
| particular reason you say that.
| imaltont wrote:
| No, mold is fungi. Some of them even contain anti-bacteria
| properties (penicillin).
| twelvechairs wrote:
| Sauces are hard to get right in small batches. A good
| demonstration for me was Epicurious YouTube series on 'expert
| guesses cheap vs expensive' for various foods. The one for hot
| sauce [0] is basically the only one in this series where the
| 'expert' often preferred cheaper items to the more expensive -
| basically as some of the small batch ones werent as carefully
| flavor balanced
|
| [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVRl8VzQMQM&t=1
| shaburn wrote:
| This place has really exceeded its reputation as bastion of
| intellect.
| enviclash wrote:
| Fermentation shepherd here. I fusion India's and America's spicy
| tradition with my alioli-romesco-paella EU background. Thus a
| suggestion for the article: Add curcuma with the cumin, and
| ginger and cardamom with the garlic.
|
| My latest work is habanero-arbol-carrot-cauliflower pickle with a
| complex spice mix, smashed and fermented two more days. Somehow
| carrot & chili fermented sauces make us happy ;)
| Kaibeezy wrote:
| Curcuma is turmeric, yes?
| enviclash wrote:
| Exactly, online you can find dry root chips or cut the dry
| roots into chips, then smash them with the coffee grinder, it
| will taste 10x better.
| nbk_2000 wrote:
| I find carrot based fermented sauces very versatile as well.
| Yum.
| sva_ wrote:
| This is funny to see, since just yesterday I randomly stumbled
| upon this HN contribution[0], which discusses an "open sauce"
| fermented chili sauce[1].
|
| [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17540401
|
| [1] https://github.com/aweijnitz/recipe-el_fuego_viviente
| jamal-kumar wrote:
| In Central America, most restaurants and bars serving local food
| makes their own "Chilero" - it's pretty much a fermented hot
| condiment which often has more whole pieces of ingredients that
| aren't just chiles, such as various sliced/diced vegetables and
| quite often cabbage. It's something like a hot sauerkraut a lot
| of the time and very easy to make in a variety of spice ranges -
| but if it's only a little spicy, or not spicy at all (You find
| this closer to El Salvador), it's usually going to get called
| "Encurtido" and is also very good with more of a herbal flavor
| such as from oregano and thyme.
|
| One time I took a girl out to a neighbourhood bar for lunch and
| it was filled with a bunch of older people, when we got our food
| and after some of the patrons actually bought us some drinks they
| busted out the place's special bhut jolika chilero. Haha I swear
| they made it just to watch whoever was new to the place burn and
| sweat for a laugh.
|
| I think interestingly that the proportion of people who like
| spicy food vs people who don't is about the same between North
| and South/Central America.
| UnpossibleJim wrote:
| Nevermind, I answered my own question =) I found an Encurtido
| recipe made with red onions and I think I'll try it:
|
| https://lacooquette.com/encurtido-curtido/
|
| Thanks for bringing this up. Never heard of it, now I have =)
|
| EDIT: this one isn't fermented, but at least I know what to
| look for. Anyways, thanks! My fermenting jars are ready to go!
| jamal-kumar wrote:
| Yeah, there's more fermented versions that use maybe only a
| bit of vinegar for preservation purposes for sure. It's
| really quite a lot of different kinds you can make, the one
| in that recipe is on the milder end of the curtido/chilero
| spectrum. One I learned in the Caribbean which you find more
| often in Panama is mostly just scotch bonnets, garlic, onions
| and lemon juice as a base which is insanely hot (The woman in
| this video is having a hard time with making it even, and
| it's pretty much just throwing things in a blender and
| letting it sit for a while so don't worry if you don't speak
| the language):
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72eSB8d1gt4
|
| I search 'chilero fermentado' for results.
| nortonham wrote:
| In El Salvador it's called curtido, and it's very simple to
| make. Traditionally it's not meant to be spicy. Usually served
| with pupusas. Some people add jalapenos or serranos when making
| curtido to add some heat to it; varies from place to place,
| family to family.
| jamal-kumar wrote:
| I love pupusas and never make the curtido spicy if it's time
| for those. It would mess with people's expectations haha
|
| To me the flavor of a good curtido is from fresh herbs
| UnpossibleJim wrote:
| Ummm, that sounds awesome! I don't suppose you have a favorite
| recipe, or should I just search for "Chilero" and "Encurtido"
| recipes?
|
| It almost sounds like a Central American spice palette version
| of Kimchee, which is rad as F.
| jamal-kumar wrote:
| Yeah it's pretty much that.
|
| The recipes I'm finding in English are garbage. Try searching
| 'chilero receta' or 'chilera receta' and you should find
| something in Spanish to work off of in google translate. Even
| better to search is 'chilero fermentado'.
| MisterBastahrd wrote:
| I am from Louisiana. I dislike the basic Tabasco sauce. While the
| claim that tabasco sauce comes from fermented peppers is
| technically true, the sauce tastes raw and far too vinegar-
| forward compared to most hot sauces produced in and around
| Louisiana. They claim that they ferment their peppers for 8 years
| but I have my doubts just based on the sheer amount of heat.
|
| One of the main reasons we like the sauces, by the way, is that
| our food tends to be really rich and earthy. Think red beans or
| gumbo or white beans over jambalaya. The acid cuts through the
| fat.
| stickfigure wrote:
| Tabasco has its applications. By my taste buds, no other sauce
| works quite right for clam chowder or louis dressing.
| Otherwise, I agree with you.
| gilrain wrote:
| I love Tabasco, but there's a trick to it: think of it as a
| really good seasoning vinegar rather than a really thin hot
| sauce.
|
| It stays in my fridge for use on breakfast eggs and potatoes,
| where it excels. That "diner breakfast" flavor in a bottle.
| Kaibeezy wrote:
| Crystal hot sauce always seems right on my attempts at dirty
| rice. That's the level of heat and type of flavor you mean,
| yes?
| MisterBastahrd wrote:
| My go-to is Louisiana brand. A little less raw heat, a little
| less vinegar, but more body and a better mouthfeel. I buy
| large bottles of the stuff and my kids tear it up, especially
| when eating things like red beans or pig feet.
| selimthegrim wrote:
| For some reason Louisiana brand is usually not to be found
| in the joints that cater to tourists.
|
| What I really never see outside the state is Cajun Chef.
| Saltier than most but may be an acquired taste (I like it)
| qbasic_forever wrote:
| Crystal extra hot is the best big name sauce out there IMHO.
| _whiteCaps_ wrote:
| If you're new to fermenting, I highly recommend making tepache:
| https://www.thespruceeats.com/pineapple-tepache-recipe-40787...
|
| It's quite easy to make, although if you bottle it, you do need
| to worry about overpressurization causing the bottles to explode.
| I always tend to err on the side of caution so it's just a
| slightly fizzy drink.
| uxamanda wrote:
| Agree! Tepache is easy to make and nice because it is using up
| "scraps".
| _whiteCaps_ wrote:
| Yeah, exactly! Pineapple peel and core, plus some sugar and
| tap water is all you need.
| clawlor wrote:
| I just tried this for the first time a few weeks ago. In
| Colombia they call it chicha de pina. The stuff I had wasn't
| bottled, just left on the counter in a large covered crock to
| ferment for a few days. Sweetened with panela and some spices
| like cinnamon and maybe anise.
| _whiteCaps_ wrote:
| Yup! If you want it more carbonated you can bottle it.
|
| I can't get panela around here so I just use brown sugar.
| eth0up wrote:
| A link to a great resource for learning about peppers and
| fermentation, replete with many good recipes:
| https://m.youtube.com/c/Chillichump (Chilli Chump)
|
| Edit for intriguing experiment of mine: I originally began
| experimenting with fermented chillis due to a suspected h-pylori
| infection. My reasons were a) h-pylori seems to swim away from
| capsaicin, possibly encouraging it to develop an _excessive_
| biofilm, thus contributing to its own isolation, b) capsaicin,
| despite its apparent burning effect, can be helpful with ulcers
| due in part to encouraging healthy mucous formation and c) the
| lactobacillus and other probiotic factors involved. I believe
| this was critical in abolishing a rather nasty ulcer that nearly
| debilitated me.
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