Fermented hot sauce

Glad I stumbled across this thread :) For full disclosure I am a chilli addict, been making my own chilli sauce/pastes for years, but never fermented.
Jarred up my first batch of fermented chillies last Sunday. I called at my local asian supermarket and bought 5 bags of chillies @£1 each, 3 Green finger and 2 Scotch bonnet, and a couple of bulbs of Garlic. 3/4 full 2 litre Kilner with brine at about 2.5%.
Not much happenning in the jar yet, but I plan to leave it for a while yet. Plan is for it to be jarred up and added to the "Made by us" basket we give as Xmas gifts to a select few.

Quick question on a similar vein though, anyone making Kimchi in the UK, what do you use for cabbage?

Cheers TC

 

You can get a pretty good vacuum seal, by dipping a bag in water and sealing when all the air has been forced out

Cheers TC

 

Sounds great, good luck with it!

Not me, but I'd be keen to see if others are! I tried a couple of batches of sauerkraut over the summer (just with standard white and red cabbage), but temps were too high and it turned out a bit "unpleasant". Will try again over autumn/winter

That doesn't sound anywhere near shiny enough to appease the shoulder devil

 

Are lacto fermentations inhibited by cold tempereature. Mine dont seem to be doing much

I was told Chinese cabbage but i have yet to try it. Was wondering if you can use the juice from commercial kimchi to get it going or perhaps its unnecessary. Pretty sure its not pasteurised.

 

Funnily enough I'm making some this weekend. Plan on using Chinese (napa) cabbage.

 

Where do you buy Napa?
I have seen Youtube of people using Pakchoi for Kimchee, but am a little unsure unless i get first hand experience :)

 

There are a few international and Chinese supermarkets nearby that have it. I'm sure pak choi will work fine. I've had it in the past made with bog standard white cabbage.

 

I used Chinese Leaf in Kimchi just yesterday.

 

This has been jarred since Sunday, should I be expecting more action?

 

Can’t really see much in your photo but I’m sure it is fine. When I made some hot sauce recently, it was about a week before I saw any bubbles. Even then, the bubbles were quite small and there weren’t a lot of them. The sauce turned out really good.

 

How long did you leave it?

 

Two weeks.

 

Mine has been 7 days, I haven't put añ airlock on the jar, so am not seeing any bubbles as such. I have taken the rubber washer off the lid, then I cut a piece of plastic from a takeaway container to the inner dimensions of the jar with holes punched in it. I put a small glass on top of the plastic and clipped the lid on the first bit with sheet of muslin making a seal.
When I move the jar, loads of bubbles are coming out of the chilli layers, so something is happening.
Will let you know how it turns out in a week or so

Cheers TC

 

Just processed my second batch. A scotch bonnet and mango creation.
Managed to leave this one for 23 days.
Very hot as expected with a bit of sweetness from the mango (not much though).
Might add a bit of tomato purée to make it a bit sweeter.

 

So this is my first attempt at this rather interesting thing to try.
However I suspect one of my jars has developed a pellecle and is therefore ruined. Any experienced hot sauce fermenters able to pass judgement? I’ve taken a pic of the tops of both jars. One with and one without.

 

I have only just started fermenting, but the one thing I read is that all the matter must be below the level of the brine...thus weights are used.

 

Yeah I had been using the lid to push down and keep the contents submerged. I suspect that this hasn’t worked on the one jar.

 

and does this mean that the whole jar is ruined or just the stuff at the top that’s gone off?

 

the other thing I read is......when in doubt...throw it out. There is a FB fermented hot sauce group. They know lots ( I know little ) I have my first ferment of onions carrots and celery going...Im just about to try it this weekend

 

@Hoddy yeah, I've had that on mine. It gets referred to as kahm yeast iirc. Some people leave it as is, others use a spoon to scoop it off the surface. If it's not a mould, it's not really a problem (a mould would have a fuzzy sort of appearance and could be different colour to the creamy white yeast)