Gardening: My Tomatoe and Pepper Progress

[HoppyDaze]

Those look mean!

Evilgrin:

could you post a procedural tutorial on your exact process for fermenting vegetables? It would be a great reminder for me and I'm sure beneficial for other members as well.

 

[user 211287]

Those look mean!

Evilgrin:

could you post a procedural tutorial on your exact process for fermenting vegetables? It would be a great reminder for me and I'm sure beneficial for other members as well.

The problem with that is all veggies are different. Cabbage ferments easily and seldom fails even at a 2% salt by cabbage weight. A pepper ferment at just 2% has a much higher chance of failure. Jump upto a 4% brine and the chance plummets. Add a culture starter like Caldwells and the chance is even less.

The basics are
Least amount of air space needed in the container. Lacto B needs no oxygen at all.
Sterilize everything just like wine making.
Keep your veggies submerged. I use glass weights when using Mason/Ball jars. A cabbage leaf under the weights stops anything getting past them. Anything that floats increases the chance of mold.
Start with low pH bottled water when possible. I use Niagara brand because it has the lowest pH of any i can find and its cheap.
Use good salt with no iodine added. High mineral content is nice if using distilled/purified bottled water.

One of the best thing you can do if using Masons are the vacuum lids. They have a pump to remove air and they vent as CO2 builds up. Guys have great success with these.
https://www.amazon.com/Easy-Fermenter-Wide-Mouth-Weights/dp/B0789QYV52

 

[Redeemer]

The problem with that is all veggies are different. Cabbage ferments easily and seldom fails even at a 2% salt by cabbage weight. A pepper ferment at just 2% has a much higher chance of failure. Jump upto a 4% brine and the chance plummets. Add a culture starter like Caldwells and the chance is even less.

The basics are
Least amount of air space needed in the container. Lacto B needs no oxygen at all.
Sterilize everything just like wine making.
Keep your veggies submerged. I use glass weights when using Mason/Ball jars. A cabbage leaf under the weights stops anything getting past them. Anything that floats increases the chance of mold.
Start with low pH bottled water when possible. I use Niagara brand because it has the lowest pH of any i can find and its cheap.
Use good salt with no iodine added. High mineral content is nice if using distilled/purified bottled water.

One of the best thing you can do if using Masons are the vacuum lids. They have a pump to remove air and they vent as CO2 builds up. Guys have great success with these.
https://www.amazon.com/Easy-Fermenter-Wide-Mouth-Weights/dp/B0789QYV52

This is all true and good information. I ferment my peppers with a 5% brine made from distilled water and korean sea salt. In addition (Because I am making hot sauce) I blend them up in a ninja until liquefied, and I add based on my recipe, onions or sugary fruit like pineapple and mango. (Adding sugar gives the bacteria a better food source and thus, a potential for lower PH, provided you have a healthy colony, and can speed lag time to avoid spoilage organisms. I believe this might be one of the reasons some Kimchi recipes call for the addition of sugar upfront) I ferment them in 3 or 5 gallon carboys. I haven't had a batch go bad but because of trying to keep headspace minimal I have had many bubble overs. I find the way to deal with this is to give more than adequate headspace in the beginning week or 2, then top off with pure brine and put the airlock back. Most of the gasses have been released by this point and you can move onto aging. At this point, you can pretty much let it ride because PH is low (around 3.5) and salt content is high; all you need to worry about it kahm or kalm yeast. The stuff is harmless but can impart off flavors and should be avoided. You can reduce its chances by minimizing O2 exposure, so when I add the final brine I take it right up to the neck. I have a batch of pumpkin habanero going now that is nearly a year old without a trace of contamination or kahm yeast.

 

[user 211287]

That Korean sun dried sea salt is well worth the $10/kilo on Amazon and high mineral salts are a wise choice when using distilled water.
https://www.amazon.com/Natural-Premium-Salt-Kimchi-Brining/dp/B00KNGFG2I
Another rather cool item for fermenting is called E-jen fermenters. They have a inner lid to hold down all the veggies. You can get them in a large variety of sizes and shapes. Ive used mine numerous times for kraut and kimchi. Not a single failure.

These are made in South Korean. Quality is pretty good.
https://www.amazon.com/jen-Kimchi-Container-Probiotic-Fermentation/dp/B00SWBJJQ0https://www.amazon.com/Premium-Sauerkraut-Container-Probiotic-Fermentation/dp/B07DYGN78Y

 

[user 211287]

Pain Train rolled in yesterday

 

[Abrayton]

Pain Train rolled in yesterday

Curious what you’ve got there? Some look very similar to a few varieties I’m growing this year.
-blue fawn
-devils brain
-black panther
-death spiral (not bad in the mouth but about killed my gut yesterday)
-C3PO
-7 pot slimer
-habanero (red and orange)
-torpedo (red and yellow)
-jalapeño

 

[user 211287]

Death Spiral (Baker Creek seeds)
Mystery peppers from Puckerbutt, sold as Reapers to a friend last year. 1 plant had brown pods
CARDI Scorpions from my Scorpion pepper seeds last year

 

[user 211287]

I had to order one on the Easy Fermenter kits without weights. I got glass weights. I should have it no later than the 5th.

Got another handful of long cayenne. Thought it would be nice to show how long they are this year. This is an average pod. Ive had a few in the 15" range and very few less than 10".

 

[HoppyDaze]

cool, how far do the seed go down the pod?

 

[user 211287]

There are seeds in probably 2/3rds of the pod. They dont seem to be as seedy this year vs last but they are still fairly seedy. That last one i saved just for seeds. Its sort of a pain to make a nice cut in them for a good pic.

Next year im going to try at least 1 plant in a grow bag with fresh media. Production however is great just in a hard pot. I just want to see if i can improve plant size a little. They have been very heavy producers 2 years in a row.

This was last years plant

And this is the Thunder Mountain that was less than 3ft away

This years plants look like they might be a cross

 

[Redeemer]

Pain Train rolled in yesterday

I will gladly purchase any unused peppers from you if you are willing to part with them.

 

[Braufessor]

Some of the summer harvest, as well as a pic standing by my out of control tomato plants. Been getting bumper crops of peppers, tomatoes, blueberries, onions, asparagus, peas, cucumbers, zucchini, raspberries all summer....

 

[bleme]

I got a nice crop of padron peppers a couple weeks ago but this is the first harvest of my cayenne and jalapeños.

 

[z-bob]

I'm getting just enough red Fresno peppers to eat and share a few. I picked my first reddish (I picked it a little early) biquinho pepper today. I picked a green one last week just to see what they taste like and it was hot! Not habanero hot, but more like a good jalapeno. I thought they were supposed to be mild.

Overall, peppers were a failure this year and tomatoes were a dismal failure. But I had volunteer tomatillos come up, and I recognized the leaves and I transplanted a few into huge tomato cages. I picked a couple today that are larger than a baseball; almost as big as a softball. Gonna go make some salsa now with them and some storebought serranos, and a little chopped Fresno for color.

 

[GreenEnvy22]

We had a relative offer for us to come over and pick as many tomatoes as we wanted today, so we got a whole bunch, and combined with what we had from our garden.
Made 8.5 gallons of tomato sauce this evening.
Tomorrow I've got a whole ton of hot peppers to make into another hot sauce.

 

[Dog House Brew]

What are these? Not as hot as a Jalapeño. Thought I was buying Anaheim. Nice joke Tag mixer

 

[bleme]

When my mom was little, she remember's her uncles coming by every once in a while with bags of "Texas peppers", probably better known as chiltepin. I just got some seeds today and will try growing a bush or three. I've heard that if you start them inside now and transplant in the spring, they should be strong enough to over-winter next year.

 

[z-bob]

View attachment 698472
What are these? Not as hot as a Jalapeño. Thought I was buying Anaheim. Nice joke Tag mixerView attachment 698472

Those look like fresno peppers. Usually they are a little hotter than jalapenos but less than a serrano. But they could be "mirasol" Or something else

 

[Dog House Brew]

Those look like fresno peppers. Usually they are a little hotter than jalapenos but less than a serrano. But they could be "mirasol" Or something else

Thanks, I’ve never seen a Fresno pepper. After reading a wiki on them, I have to agree. They have been great to cook with. Relatively thin skin and wall. I may grow 1 next year. I miss having Anaheim this year. My starts were left out in the wind and didn't survive. Bought these at HD with an Anaheim tag in the flat.

 

[user 211287]

My Fresno produced like mad but they kinda suck green compared to a jalapeno. Ripe they are great. I had 2 pheno from saved market seeds. One was mild and the other was just slightly hotter than the jalapeno. Shape was a little different too which was nice because you could tell the hot ones from the mild.

If you like a flaming hot jalapeno, just get Numex Orange Spice. Every last damn one has been brutal green or ripe. You can buy seeds directly for about $6 for around 30 seeds. They got good Anaheim seeds too.
https://chile.nmsu.edu/details/1030

 

[Abrayton]

3 quarts to ferment for future hot sauce.

 

[bleme]

First time pickling peppers, before and after.

 

[Dog House Brew]

First Hot Sauce Ferment

 

[bleme]

On my first batch, some of the jalapeños molded before I had enough for a full jar. Will the wild lacto survive if I start freezing peppers or am I better off storing them in the fridge?

Any why does fridge have a ‘d’ but refrigerator doesn’t?

 

[Dog House Brew]

I’d put them in the freezer, but that depends on how long before you have enough. When I pulled all my peppers, I froze 8 gallon bags of Jalapeños. I made sure they were in a single layer and stacked them in there. I had some that I couldn’t use. I did order seeds for next year from NMex.

 

[user 211287]

Frozen work. If you want to make sure you have a live lacto culture, just make some kraut. Add a couple tbs of your homemade kraut juice to the ferment. Works fine.

 

[Dog House Brew]

Frozen work. If you want to make sure you have a live lacto culture, just make some kraut. Add a couple tbs of your homemade kraut juice to the ferment. Works fine.

Good to know, I’ve never frozen my peppers. My peppers were gang busters this year. I have to find more uses for them. Planted too many. A Plus is the deer won’t eat them. Everyone here made me realize I need some heat varieties for fermenting sauce.
We are having our first heavy frost/light freeze tonight. All I have left is Napa Cabbage under the row cover. It needs another month. I think it will make it. Have to figure out how to combat the deer for next year. Doesn’t help with all the nearby neighbors feeding them.

 

[bleme]

I only had 3 plants this year (I'll remedy that for sure next year!), and while they are still loaded with green peppers, they aren't ripening nearly as fast as they were a month ago.

 

[user 211287]

Just picked the rest of my jalapenos. The last ones are all small. They have been for the last month or so. I dried the last of my Numex Orange spice for extra hot jala powder. Cut the pods into rings so they dry fast. Then put the dried rings in just about anything with a lid like a quart plastic container. Fill it about 1/3rd of the way.

SHAKE THE HELL OUT OF IT.....At least 3/4 of the seeds will fall out. Either save the dried rings or grind into powder. Ive got 2 other milder jalas so im drying those too then combine all the powders. Numex by themselves are crazy hot for jalapeno.

 

[Hanglow]

Some of my Alleppo peppers which are now being dried. These have been struggling to ripen. Still to pick a fair number more and a lot more biquinho and jals, which I will pickle

also my grapes are ripening slowly and unevenly, hopefully make about 10 bottles of wine from them this year, I managed five last year - I will mix them with some grape concentrate as I very much doubt I'll get them sweet enough on their own.