Every year I grow several different types of peppers in my garden. This year I grew jalapeno, shishito, Thai, habanero, and scotch bonnet peppers. I always have dreams of making several types of hot sauce with my homegrown peppers, but in reality we only grow enough each summer to season meals throughout the summer and make a small batch from the leftovers. Sometimes, if I am lucky, I am able to dry some to make into flakes.
This sauce is always a hit with my family. It is also really easy, as you can put it in a jar and nearly forget about it for a week, leaving the task of finishing it for a later date, which is perfect for a procrastinator like myself. Hot sauce is used liberally in my house, mainly by my husband. He uses it on everything, and honestly, it is a great addition to so many things. Eggs, chicken, fish, soup, rice, I don’t know, everything?
A couple weeks ago, I took a couple hand-fulls of a mix of peppers and made this simple fermented hot sauce. This super spicy version contains just three ingredients and is a perfect beginner ferment. While I like to cook it at the end to stop the fermentation process, you can also skip that step if you like. This makes a very basic thinner hot sauce. If you want something thicker, you can also skip the step of straining the peppers. I don’t have a powerful enough blender to really puree the peppers, so I like to strain them to create this sauce.
I used a mixture of peppers from my garden and a few from my parent’s garden. You can use what ever kinds of hot chiles you like, although keep in mind the color, as the finished sauce will turn out the same color as your peppers, so choose red peppers if you prefer a red or orange sauce. I didn’t de-seed the peppers, as I strained the sauce after fermentation, but if you want to make a milder hot sauce, you can cut the chiles open and scrape the seeds out.
Fermented Hot Sauce
This is a simple vinegar and chile hot sauce made with a mix of spicy chiles. Adjust the type and amount to your tastes, or add a few cloves of peeled garlic for more flavor.
Ingredients
- 2 to 3 cups hot chile peppers, de-stemmed and roughly chopped
- 3 tablespoons pickling salt, canning salt, or sea salt
- 1/2 to 1 cup white vinegar
Directions
- Step 1 In a clean quart-size mason jar, pack the peppers.
- Step 2 In a bowl, mix the salt and 4 cups of unchlorinated water, stirring until dissolved. If using coarse salt, you will need to heat it to dissolve. If doing this, be sure to bring the brine to room temperature before proceeding.
- Step 3 Pour the brine over the peppers and use a weight to submerge the peppers in the brine. Cover with a clean, tightly woven cloth secured with a rubber band, an airlock, or a loosely fastened.
- Step 4 Set in a room temperature location (68 to 72 degrees F) out of the direct sunlight, and let ferment for 7 to 10 days. Tiny bubbles will rise to the surface. If any white scum forms on the surface, gently scrape it off and replace the weight to hold the peppers in the brine.
- Step 5 When fermentation has slowed down and the bubbles are no longer rising as quickly, strain the peppers from the brine, reserving the brine.
- Step 6 Transfer the peppers to a blender and add 1/2 cup of the brine and 1/2 cup of vinegar. Blend for 1 minute, until the mixture is pureed.
- Step 7 Transfer the hot sauce to a pan and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Step 8 Using a nonreactive fine strainer, strain the hot sauce into a jar or container, pressing the pepper mixture with the back of a spoon to extract as much liquid as possible.
- Step 9 Cover and store in the refrigerator for 3 months.
