Homemade Fermented Hot Sauce
This experiment in fermentation was fun. Last night I had hot sauce on my dinner. I kept thinking “Will this make me sick?”. We are so brain washed by our culture to believe if it doesn’t come out of a plastic wrapper then it is bad. I’m working on clearing my brain of this kind of thinking, but it lingers. … and no, I did not get sick. It just tasted yummy.
What is it? It’s the first batch of fermented hot sauce that I’ve ever made. True to form, I did not follow an exact recipe. Rather, I looked at a handful of recipes and created my own.
Keep in mind that this recipe is how I did it, not how it HAS to be done. There are a few simple guidelines to follow, but you can be creative with this as well.
First, Pick a peck of peppers. Actually, I’m not sure what a “peck” is, but I’ve heard it somewhere before 😉
This is great! I’m wishing now that I had some hot peppers… I’ll need to add them to my list of things to grow in the spring 😉 as I love hot sauce and feel that I really must try making it.
I’d really love it if you could share it at the Homesteader Bloggers Network’s – Tasty Tuesday Link Up. You can find the link at http://homesteadbloggersnetwork.com/ or on my site http://thequestionablehomesteader.com
My link was added to your blog site 😉 Thank you. I do hope you get a chance to try making this sauce!
Thanks for linking up. Can’t wait to make it, just have to wait until the snows gone to grow the peppers 😉
It’s December now and I still have Tabasco peppers on the plants. My brother -in-law works in agriculture and he received the seeds from the McIlhenny family when he visited them last year, so these are the real deal. I have two jars fermenting and this is the way I am doing them. I also put a piece of plastic that fits the jar loosely, on the surface, to prevent the peppers from floating, which increases the risk of molding. One of them has been fermenting since the first week of November, the second is about two weeks old. I am planning to bottle them a day or two before Christmas, to give as gifts. We have no danger of frost any time soon, so I may be making sauce for a while longer, but I plan to pick all of the green ones when the frost comes, and making green Tabasco sauce when I do. The smell is amazing, though I will say it’s WAAAAY too hot for me. My daughter tasted it when she visited and it took her breath; I really think it’s hotter than commercial Tabasco. I wish you all great success with your pepper sauce.
That sounds like a fantastic Christmas gift! I’m so glad you are doing that. 🙂
I don’t know how you made this page but its really cool. Great job Blake. I’m gonna grow more hot peppers next yesr to give this a whirl. Thanks for sharing, and Merry Christmas.:-)
I’m glad you like it Trixie! Have fun with your fermented hot sauce 🙂
Can you process can the sauce for long term storage?
You can, but I believe the heat in the processing will kill any live and active cultures. This would be fine for flavor, but not the benefit of the live cultures.
Hi, did you notice many bubbles during the fermentation process? I am at day 6 and I haven’t seen bubbles, yet.
I’m so sorry that it has taken me so long to reply. I spend most of my time working on YouTube. Yes, there were some bubbles, but not a lot. I do hope that your sauce turned out nice!
How long will this hot sauce keep for? Can it be kept at room temperature sealed up until ready to use? or does it need to stay refrigerated once it’s made?
I kept mine in the refrigerator for a couple months before it was finally used up. It was fine for that length of time.