I made a hot sauce!
On 23 Apr, I roughly blended some habaneros, garlic, onion, and some fruit, added salt and a bit of whey, placed a circle of film on the surface, and put an airlock lid on the jar.
The mixture was dense and chunky, and as fermentation got underway, gas bubbles would get trapped, leading to a “spongy” texture.
This was also my first time fermenting fruit this way, and I’m not sure if it was the sugar content or what, but this ferment stank! It smelled like weird cheese.
After a few weeks, I realised the film was ineffective: with all the bubling, the film got jostled around too much, and eventaully I noticed a white growth developing (kahm yeast). I did away with the film entirely, opting to try topping with brine (2-2.5% saline solution).
That wasn’t very effective and the kahm persisted. I switched to using a fermented brine from salsa. Eventually, the additional liquid mixed with the original brine, creating a looser texture that allowed the gas bubbles to escape to the top. But I can no longer tell you exactly what’s in this hot sauce.
We’ve had a streak of hot weather here, and I’ve been struggling to keep my ferments cool; so there’s been a lot of kahm yeast development. On 1 Jun, I finally decided it was time to finish this hot sauce.
I strained out the liquid, which produced a very thin and spicy hot sauce (like 9/10 for me).
The solids, I continued processing, adding more fruit and mild red peppers to reduce the heat. I also added salt and sugar, then pressed the mixture through a sieve twice. It has the consistency of ketchup and I’d rate it a 4/10 spiciness. It could go sweeter or more acidic--I just have to decide on a direction, but I want to think on it.
The solids leftover from the sieve, I spread on a sheet of parchment and let dry on a wire rack under a mesh dome. I’m hoping to get a dry condiment out of this, something to sprinkle over scrambled eggs (or anything else what benefits from cheese and hot sauce flavours).
We’ll see how this goes!
