Homemade Hot Sauces and Other Fermented Foods

[KCUnited]

Entering the homemade hot sauce phase of my midlife spiral into total lameness.

I'm mostly wanting to explore different flavor combos and take more control over heat/consistently than what I'm getting off the shelf or Amazon. Thinking I may expand into fermenting other fruits and vegetables as well.

Anyone else making their own hot sauces and/or fermented foods?

[KCUnited]

I edited my post quoting Lew.

I food process, ferment, liquify, then strain.

Talking just hot sauces. Not sure how just fermentation dictates texture unless I’m not tracking.

[lewdog]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

Curious why no strain, were you going for a thicccer sauce?

I hadn’t heard about the xantham gum but I get a pretty thin, pourable sauce by liquefying then straining.

I was rushing to do this and kind of forgot. I looked at it after pouring it into the bottle and thought it looked ok anyway. Does everyone strain the hot sauce after it's blended? You'd basically end up with no texture that way I would assume? It's really hard to judge how much liquid to add into the blending process for getting a good texture. I really had no clue on what amount of liquid to begin adding.


These sauces will come out more like tabasco from what I can tell and nothing like cholula unless you work in the xantham gum from my understanding. Nothing wrong with it, just thought it was interesting as cholula is more creamy that I thought when compared to homemade and other hot sauces.

[lewdog]

Originally Posted by Stewie

I guess I don't understand what's going on regarding fermentation in this thread. It's salt and time for whatever you're fermenting. Other ingredients are nonsense. Fermentation time is critical, then store in a cool place. Texture is a product of fermentation time.

Texture doesn't matter for hot sauces because we are blenderizing the final product.

The texture on the fermented jalapenos was fantastic, IMO. Much more crunch than the canned pickled jalapenos you buy at the store and that process only took 5 days.

[Stewie]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

I edited my post quoting Lew.

I food process, ferment, liquify, then strain.

Talking just hot sauces. Not sure how just fermentation dictates texture unless I’m not tracking.

Ah. I've always fermented individually then combine. You can get odd flavors and results mixing veg then fermenting. I'm not saying it can't work.

[Stewie]

Just read the grocery ads. Hatch chilies are dirt cheap. Guess what I'll be fermenting next?

[lewdog]

Originally Posted by Stewie

Just read the grocery ads. Hatch chilies are dirt cheap. Guess what I'll be fermenting next?

Yeah that's where I started due to the current sales. Plus I love them when they are in season, such as now!

I might buy some more this weekend just to ferment slices of them for snacking/toppings like I do that jalapenos. They tasted great today before I blended them.

[KCUnited]

Originally Posted by lewdog

I was rushing to do this and kind of forgot. I looked at it after pouring it into the bottle and thought it looked ok anyway. Does everyone strain the hot sauce after it's blended? You'd basically end up with no texture that way I would assume? It's really hard to judge how much liquid to add into the blending process for getting a good texture. I really had no clue on what amount of liquid to begin adding.


These sauces will come out more like tabasco from what I can tell and nothing like cholula unless you work in the xantham gum from my understanding. Nothing wrong with it, just thought it was interesting as cholula is more creamy that I thought when compared to homemade and other hot sauces.

Yeah I don’t think there’s a universal answer just what kind of end product you’re after. The hotter sauces, for me anyway, I like to be thin so I can dab it on rather than pour. I feel there’s a blurry line between hot sauce and salsa. I don’t think there’s a wrong way though.

Agree on the trial and error of adding liquid after fermentation. I just go light and taste, then add if needed.

[lewdog]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

Yeah I don’t think there’s a universal answer just what kind of end product you’re after. The hotter sauces, for me anyway, I like to be thin so I can dab it on rather than pour. I feel there’s a blurry line between hot sauce and salsa. I don’t think there’s a wrong way though.

Agree on the trial and error of adding liquid after fermentation. I just go light and taste, then add if needed.

Yeah this seems more like a thin salsa than a hot sauce without the straining. When I buy homemade salsa from Mexicans here, it's always a very thin salsa.

If I strained this, I'd lose a ton of volume though, does that seem correct? Or maybe my blender just isn't good enough. I ran my Ninja for quite a few minutes but it didn't seem to get any thinner/smoother than this final product.

[KCUnited]

Originally Posted by lewdog

Yeah this seems more like a thin salsa than a hot sauce without the straining. When I buy homemade salsa from Mexicans here, it's always a very thin salsa.

If I strained this, I'd lose a ton of volume though, does that seem correct? Or maybe my blender just isn't good enough. I ran my Ninja for quite a few minutes but it didn't seem to get any thinner/smoother than this final product.

Same on the salsas being thin around here, which I prefer.

Yeah, I do lose a ton of volume straining now that you mention it. I guess I hadn't really thought about it before but I'm now wondering if its possible to strain for the hot sauce, then repurpose the strained out pepper volume for a salsa/girthier sauce?

Not sure what that looks like exactly, but might be worth exploring. Which I guess is one of the perks of making our own stuff and bouncing ideas off one another.

[lewdog]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

Same on the salsas being thin around here, which I prefer.

Yeah, I do lose a ton of volume straining now that you mention it. I guess I hadn't really thought about it before but I'm now wondering if its possible to strain for the hot sauce, then repurpose the strained out pepper volume for a salsa/girthier sauce?

Not sure what that looks like exactly, but might be worth exploring. Which I guess is one of the perks of making our own stuff and bouncing ideas off one another.

He talks about some of these points in here. Preference for thin vs textured hot sauce.

How if you strain, you can use the leftover pulp for a variety of things.

https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/r...ake-hot-sauce/

[lewdog]

Got the Ph test strips as something easy to make sure it's a stable product so I don't kill myself or others. You could buy a tester but this is just to ballpark it and make sure it's good to go. These are super easy to use but will stain whatever you place them on so simply dip, look at the chart and throw away. I left in a white plastic bowl for 5 minutes and now there's a stained blue strip in the middle of the bowl. lol

My hatch chili hot sauce matched perfectly to 3.0 Ph.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[lewdog]

I ordered my fermenting kit while taking a dump at 4 am this morning. Also ordered some 6oz plastic condiment bottles to store hot sauce in the refrigerator for easy use/access. I’ll get glass ones later if I plan to shelf store anything.

Feels good man.

Easy Fermenter Wide Mouth Lid Kit (3 Lids + 3 Weights + Pump) – The Complete Starter Kit With Everything You Need To Begin Fermenting https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0789QYV52...ing=UTF8&psc=1

[eDave]

Wait. You have a pool and didn't have test stips. Whoa!

[lewdog]

Originally Posted by eDave

Wait. You have a pool and didn't have test stips. Whoa!

I use the Taylor test kit to monitor Ph and chlorine. 5 drops in each test tube. Easy as the strips aren’t accurate enough for pools IMO.

[eDave]

Originally Posted by lewdog

I use the Taylor test kit to monitor Ph and chlorine. 5 drops in each test tube. Easy as the strips aren’t accurate enough for pools IMO.

You use what? Dude, that kit sucks. Bet you paid over $20 for that nonsense.