Homemade Fermented Hot Sauce
Alright, let’s jump into making that delicious fermented hot sauce, shall we? This recipe is for 1 quart of hot sauce, but you can halve it (or double it!) depending on how many peppers you have.
Equipment
- Cutting Board
- Gloves
- Knife
- Mixing Bowl
- Measuring cup
- Mason jar or fermentation crock 1 quart size
- Blender or food processor
Ingredients
- 3 oz sweet peppers I like bell or corno di toro peppers
- 18 oz hot peppers I like a mix of cayennes, scotch bonnets, and habaneros
- ½ onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 cups water Filtered, distilled, or well water (avoid city water that is chlorinated)
- 1 Tbsp sea salt
- 1/4 cup Raw apple cider vinegar
- Maple syrup optional, to taste
Instructions
- Put on gloves, then roughly chop the peppers and onion, and finely dice the garlic. It's up to you if you want to leave the seeds in based on how hot you want it!
- Add the chopped peppers, onion and garlic to a mixing bowl and stir until combined.
- In a measuring cup, combine 2 cups of water with 1 Tbsp of sea salt. It's best to use water that is filtered, distilled, or well - basically anything that's not chlorinated. Stir until completely dissolved.
- Next, add the chopped peppers, onion, and garlic to the 1 quart mason jar. Gently press the ingredients in and make sure to leave 2" of headspace.
- Then, add the fermentation weight and fill the jar all the way to the top with the prepared brine.
- Add a fermentation lid and then transfer the jar to a dark location (no direct sunlight!) where it can be left undisturbed for 2 weeks. The ideal temperature range for fermentation is 55-75F.
- After two weeks, the brine should look cloudy and bubbly and the color of the peppers should have lost a bit of their vibrancy. Strain the solids from the brine. Make sure to reserve the brine for later - don't throw it out!
- Blend the solids in a blender or food processor until smooth.
- Add 1/4 cup of raw apple cider vinegar and blend again. Then, add a bit of the brine back (a tablespoon at a time) and blend until your achieve the consistency that you desire.
- Lastly, some people like a touch of sweetness to balance out the heat, so you can play with adding some real maple syrup. I recommend only adding a tsp at a time and continue tasting until you find the sweet spot.
- Once you have your fermented hot sauce mixed exactly to your liking, it's time to bottle it up. A small funnel can be really helpful for this! You can buy cute little hot sauce bottles, or just reuse ones from the store (that's what I do).
- To store, keep the hot sauce bottles or jars in the fridge. How long will it last? The technical answer is 3-6 months, but I've used mine 9 months later and it was still great!
Notes
*Tip #1: If you have difficulty deseeding the peppers, try freezing them first! I find that once they are thawed, they are a lot softer and SUPER easy to deseed at that point. They'll still ferment just fine if they are pre-frozen.
*Tip #2: I highly, highly recommend wearing gloves for this. Even if you try to scrub your hands afterward, there's inevitably going to be some of the oils left and you'll be so sorry if you touch your eyes or mouth later - eep!
*Tip #3: The fermented hot sauce with thicken a bit once in the fridge, so I always make it a bit thinner than I really want and then it turns out perfect in storage.
Nutrition
Serving: 1tspCalories: 5kcalSodium: 150mg
Did you try my recipe?Let me know how it was!