🌶️ Glut busting 2: Chilli Peppers 🌶️
Oh god, everything burns again!
Fermentation is basically the controlled decomposition of foods by “good” Lactic Acid Bacteria. You create an environment so the natural Lactic Acid Bacteria can thrive, and other "bad" bacteria cannot. In this case we'll be using a very salty and acidic environment which is apparently right up the Lactic Acid Bacterias street.
Pepper Mash
Method
Put on gloves!
Even working with mild chili peppers it is a good idea to play it safe and put on gloves, you don't want to touch your eye or anything else later on and regret it…
Ingredients
To make a pepper mash:
Chilli peppers
Garlic
Salt
1 teaspoon salt (5g) per 500g of peppers. 500g of peppers should process down to about 1 cup of mash.
So use 1 teaspoon of salt per cup of mash.
Method
To make pepper mash, first finely chop your fresh peppers in a food processor or y'know a knife if you must but scoop up those juices because we'll need them.
The peppers will begin to release their moisture right away. If for whatever reason your peppers are really dry then you can add a 2% salt water brine on top
If you’re reading this and covered in burning hot pepper juice, crying and can’t figure out a brine solution right now there is a handy website right here that will do it for you.
Place your mash into a jar and squish down to remove any air pockets. Leave at least an inch of headspace at the top of the jar. Everything might shift around a bit due to the bubbles from the fermentation so it is important to check every day and give it a little squidge back down.
The fermentation will produce carbon dioxide bubbles that will need to be released so either put a loose fitting lid or “burp” your jar every day. Much like myself your ferment will enjoy being left alone in a dark corner of a room that isn’t overly hot or cold.
After 1-2 weeks the fermenting will calm down and you can put this stuff to use, let it ferment longer or stick it in the back of the fridge and forget about it (it should still be good for about a year).
Hot Sauce
I am not a fan of strong vinegar flavours so I have gone for a bright lemony sauce with some added fresh peppers to bring the spice level back up a bit, fermenting your peppers can reduce the heat a little and my peppers are already quite mild.
Ingredients
Pepper mash
Peppers approx 200g
Olive oil 75ml
Onion 1 small
Lemon
Bay leaf
Method
Roughly chop the onion and fresh peppers, I chose to remove the seeds and pith as I find they add bitterness.
Add the fresh peppers and the onion to a pot with the oil and bring to a simmer, once the onion has turned translucent add the pepper mash and cook for around 5-10 minutes.
Allow to cool and then add to a food processor and process until smooth, you can add lemon juice to thin out the hot sauce and if it is still too thick then you can add water.
Pour into hot sauce bottles and add to whatever takes your fancy.
