Lacto Fermented Hot Sauce

[StonesBally]

.5 -1% xanthan gum by weight of your sauce, sprinkled so it doesn't clump and stirred or blended for a couple of minutes. Works great to emulsify a vinaigrette too.

 

[FatDragon]

I've got two jars going right now, roughly to the recipe given by the OP, except halved and using a variety of Chinese peppers chosen for convenience. I used a little bottle of Yakult as my starter and we were off to the races real quick.

I've scooped mold off the top of the mash every time I've stirred - it's not getting thick, but it's growing pretty uniformly across the top of the mash every day or two. Should I be worried about that or is it unlikely to affect my sauce? When I harvest in a day or two, will I be able to use the mash for future innoculations or culinary purposes, or should I toss it because it's been infected with mold?

 

[Tamarlane]

I've got two jars going right now, roughly to the recipe given by the OP, except halved and using a variety of Chinese peppers chosen for convenience. I used a little bottle of Yakult as my starter and we were off to the races real quick.



I've scooped mold off the top of the mash every time I've stirred - it's not getting thick, but it's growing pretty uniformly across the top of the mash every day or two. Should I be worried about that or is it unlikely to affect my sauce? When I harvest in a day or two, will I be able to use the mash for future innoculations or culinary purposes, or should I toss it because it's been infected with mold?

I am surprised you are seeing that much mold if you used a starter - might want to up the salt next time. Regardless it should not be anything to worry about. If you have any doubts you can always boil the final product or add vinegar to be safe

 

[FatDragon]

I am surprised you are seeing that much mold if you used a starter - might want to up the salt next time. Regardless it should not be anything to worry about. If you have any doubts you can always boil the final product or add vinegar to be safe

My past attempts at vegetable fermentation have almost all been failures, something I attribute to using way too much iodized salt and no starter bugs. This time I followed roughly the proportions of the first page recipe and used non-iodized sea salt. Next time I'll use a bit more salt proportionally, but should I keep using the sea salt or would iodized salt plus a starter stave off mold while still fermenting?

I wasn't particularly concerned about the mold, but I'm glad to see confirmation that it shouldn't be a big problem. I'll dip a pH strip in the finished sauce when I bottle it and add some vinegar if necessary, but I suspect it's only the mash that's susceptible to molding, as the liquid should be acidic enough to stave off any spores that find their way in.

 

[Tamarlane]

No iodized salt, stick to kosher or sea salt. Reducing surface area helps too

 

[MNSmitty]

I just finished up a batch. I used Trinidad Scorpions from the garden, serranos and garlic. 2% salt and some whey from greek yougurt.
It smells amazing. Even the smell burns. It tastes really good, right before it burns off your taste buds. Its insanely hot.

 

[FatDragon]

After letting my batches ride a couple days without stirring, I'm pretty sure the white "mold" I was scooping out was actually a pellicle. I'll be bottling soon and saving the mash for future fermentations and/or culinary experimentation; should I stir the pellicle back in before bottling or scoop it out like I've been doing?

 

[matew90]

im using 2% of non ionized hawaian salt, but my question is. does anybody ever try jamaican hot or habanero chocolate, wahat is tasted like ?? is it good for fermentation??

 

[FatDragon]

I decided to scoop out the pellicle before bottling for lack of responses. One more neurotic question: I got one 500 mL fliptop bottle filled right to the brim, though I may portion it out into other bottles later on. I put it in the fridge with the lid closing it up but with the bale open so gas from any further fermentation would be able to escape without blowing up the bottle or carbonating the hot sauce.

So, will this continue to ferment off the mash and refrigerated, or am I safe to close the bale and seal this stuff off?

edit: Spoke too soon on the "one more neurotic question" thing. I got home and the solids had precipitated out of the sauce, so there's 450 mL of slightly yellow-greenish liquid up top and some reddish mush at the bottom. Should I just shake it up before serving, or is there a better way?

 

[StonesBally]

You can strain the solids through a fine mesh, pushing hard to get all the liquid. If you want to stop fermentation you can add and equal amount of neutral vinegar and store at room temp.

 

[Tamarlane]

No need to worry about CO2 production, especially in the fridge. After a week of fermentation or so you will not see much activity of that sort. Flavor will definitely change with age though

 

[FatDragon]

You can strain the solids through a fine mesh, pushing hard to get all the liquid. If you want to stop fermentation you can add and equal amount of neutral vinegar and store at room temp.

I strained through a mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth, so I knew I would keep some solids in the sauce. What came out looked roughly like Cholula or Tabasco sauce - fairly thin with a little bit of body and a red-orange color. The picture illustrates what I saw after 24 hours in the fridge.