Fermented Hot Sauce
Making your own fermented hot sauce is a great way to add some extra zing to your meals. The key to making a good fermented hot sauce is to use high-quality peppers and sea salt. You'll love your homemade hot sauce and it's complex flavor profile - even if it takes 10 days!
Ingredients
- ¾ to 1 lb 340-454g fresh peppers
- ¼ yellow onion
- 4 to 6 garlic cloves
- 2 cups room temperature water
- 1 tablespoon sea salt
- ¼ to ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- ¼ teaspoons xanthan gum optional
Instructions
- Prepare for fermenting by washing a fermentation vessel with soap and hot running water. Set aside to dry.
- Coarsely dice 3/4 to 1 pound of peppers, 1/4 of a yellow onion, and slice 4-6 garlic cloves. Add all ingredients to the fermentation vessel.
- Combine 2 cups of room-temperature water with 1 tablespoon of sea salt. Stir until completely dissolved.
- Pour salt brine into the fermentation vessel until the contents are just covered.
- Weigh down the ingredients before securing the lid tightly. Set it aside to ferment. Keep your ferment somewhere where you'll see it daily to observe and open the lid and burp it but keep it away from direct sunlight. If you're using an airlock lid or pickle pipe, burping is unnecessary. After a few days, you should start to notice fermenting activity. There will be small bubbles that rush to the top of the jar when you tap it, the jar may hiss slightly when opened, the color of the peppers will dull, the brine will be cloudy, and the brine may leak over the top of the jar and run down the sides.
- Allow the sauce to ferment for 7-14 days. Tasting the contents each day.
- Once satisfied with the level of fermentation, strain the contents of the fermentation vessel and reserve the brine.
- Blend the peppers, onions, garlic, 1/4 cup of the reserved brine, and 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar in a high-powered blender or food processor until smooth. If using xanthan gum, add 1/4 teaspoon of xanthan gum to the hot sauce and blend until completely combined. Add more brine to increase the salty flavor or more vinegar to increase acidity until you reach your desired consistency. Optionally, you can run the hot sauce through a fine mesh sieve to make it ultra-smooth. It takes a couple of minutes, but it's worth it.
- Transfer the finished hot sauce to small jars or bottles for storage in the fridge.
Notes
Fermenting Time:
The great thing about fermenting hot sauce is that it's a personal process, and there's no right or wrong answer when it comes to fermentation time. Most people ferment their sauce for 7-10 days, but you can certainly ferment for longer if you want to develop a deeper, more complex flavor. The key is to experiment and find what works best for your taste buds. If you're new to fermented food, start with a shorter fermentation time and then taste your sauce after a few days to see how it's developing. If you like what you taste, then you can bottle it up and enjoy it. But if you want a deeper flavor, then you can let your sauce ferment for a little longer next time.Fermenting Temperature:
The ideal range for fermentation is between 68-75°F. If the temperature is too low, the fermenting process will take longer and may not be as effective. On the other hand, if the temperature is too high, the fermentation process will occur too quickly and may produce an unpleasant flavor.Kahm Yeast:
If you notice a white film forming on the surface of your ferment, it's more than likely kahm yeast - which is generally harmless but tastes terrible. The presence of kahm yeast will probably affect the outcome of your sauce - though some people say you can scrape it off and continue, I'd advise you to scrap it and start again.Xanthan Gum:
I list xanthan gum as an ingredient in the list. It's completely optional, but adding a small amount of xanthan gum helps to emulsify the sauce as well as increase its viscosity and create an almost creamy texture. Another added bonus to using xanthan gum in your hot sauce is that it thickens without heating, meaning that you're able to thicken while also maintaining all the probiotic goodness of your sauce.Batch:
This recipe makes between 1 pint and 1 quart, though it depends on how much you water down the sauce with vinegar and brine.Storage:
Keep your delicious homemade hot sauce in the fridge for up to 12 months. This is not a shelf-stable product and needs to be refrigerated.