There are only so many things you can do with hot peppers. Slice or dice them for the freezer. Dehydrate and powder them for the spice cupboard. And then, once every few years, make hot sauce.
Fermented hot peppers will keep for a long time. I still have some pepper puree from six years ago. It is fabulous.
How to Ferment Hot Peppers
To get started, take a minute to read fermentation best practices.
The first time I fermented peppers, we had a lot of varieties and I did each one separately. This year, I know what to expect from the three I'm using so they are all fermenting together.
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- Prepare a 5% brine and let it cool.
- Collect your hot peppers and a clean jar. Optionally, peel a few cloves of garlic to add as you go.
- Wipe the peppers clean with a dry cloth. Using gloves, cut off the stem end of each pepper, cut it in half lengthwise, and use a spoon to scrape away the seeds and white ribs. Slice the peppers into strips.
- With the jar on its side, slide in the strips. Fill the jar to an inch and a half from the top.
- Pour in the room temperature brine to cover every bit of the peppers. Add a fermentation weight to keep the vegetables below the brine.
- Close the jar with an airlock top. I use a pickle pipe.
Let the peppers ferment six weeks to three months before you put them in the fridge. At this point, to save space, you can puree them if you want. Drain off the brine, put the peppers in the blender, then start adding back the brine as you blend until you get the thickness you want. Put a normal lid on the jar and label it with the contents and the fermentation date.
Hot Pepper Barbecue Sauce
Sauté in a small frying pan:
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- 1 T olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1/2 cup diced Hot Hungarians or Jalapeños
When these are cooked, but before they start to brown, stir in:
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- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
Saute for a short time more. Be careful not to singe the garlic. Shut off the heat and let cool in the pan.
Measure into a blender:
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- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 3 T Worchestershire sauce
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/4 tsp cardamom
- 1/8 tsp cloves
Add the cooked vegetables and blend until smooth. Taste it, then start adding your fermented hot pepper puree a quarter cup at a time until you have achieved a flavour and heat that pleases you.
Decant into a bottle or jar and store it in the fridge.
This Pepper Production 2020 post is a blast from the past.
We will never grow that many again!
