Question: Why Ferment Hot Sauce?

Fermentation amplifies the bitter notes you taste in unripe, green hot chilis. Using ripe chilis eliminates that bitterness and can give a your hot sauce better flavor.

Why do you ferment peppers for hot sauce?

So it’s no surprise that hot peppers are ideal candidates for lactic acid fermentation. They’re relatively rich in the sugars lactic acid– producing bacteria eat, so fermentation proceeds quickly.

How long should you ferment hot sauce for?

Culture at room temperature until the color of the peppers changes and dulls, usually 5-7 days. If you like, this ferment continue to ferment at room temperature for many months. We like it best after at least 3 months; the flavors become more complex and rich, the longer it ferments.

Is fermented hot sauce good for you?

Fermented Foods are Great for Digestion hot sauces contain fermented peppers. These tiny bacteria in your intestine can have full-body effects, increasing the health of your gut microbiome and digestive system and enhancing the immune system.

Does fermented hot sauce have alcohol?

When you ferment a hot sauce, you’re basically converting the sugars of the chiles into alcohol, which then converts into acetic acid—vinegar. Like Gene Wilder in the movie Young Frankenstein, you’ll scream, “It’s alive! It’s alive!

Does fermentation reduce heat?

How does fermentation affect heat? Fermentation tends to mellow out the heat from chili peppers, so that fermented hot sauces tend to be milder in addition to having more flavor. Unfermented hot sauces tend to be hotter since these sauces have not undergone a fermentation process to mellow out the chili peppers.

Is Frank’s hot sauce fermented?

The peppers in Frank’s RedHot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce Aged cayenne peppers are cayenne peppers that have been fermented. Fermentation can add a good deal of complexity and depth to the flavor of cayenne peppers.

Will fermented hot sauce explode?

Fermentation produces CO2, which can build up inside the bottle and cause it to bust. Most commercial hot sauces are designed to avoid further fermentation, but small-batch or DIY hot sauces run a higher risk of continuing to ferment and then exploding.

Does fermented hot sauce go bad?

Most fermented hot sauces can last from one to several years. In the most likely scenario, you’ll have long consumed the fermented hot sauce before it goes bad. If you’ve followed the recipe correctly, then it should last you over a year.

Should you boil fermented hot sauce?

Add the fermented hot sauce to a pot and bring to a quick boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. This will stop the fermentation process. NOTE: You don’t have to cook the sauce if you don’t want to.

Why do people age hot sauce?

Why age hot sauce? Hot sauce is aged in oak barrels (such as the ones available on Top Shelf Barrels) that have already been used to age whiskey. This creates an interesting dynamic in the sauce. Instead of relying simply on the raw ingredients, you get a steady infusion of the whiskey flavor from the barrel.

How do you ferment hot sauce in a barrel?

The liquid to salt ratio in your barrel aged hot sauce, needs to be ’30 to 1′ by volume for a good ferment. When you add up water and mash you should have a little over 5 quarts. Now you want to dissolve 6 ounces (3/4 cup) of kosher salt into your water, and then combine that with your mash.

How do you make fermented hot sauce shelf stable?

A fermented hot sauce must be stored in the fridge, or else have vinegar or citric acid cooked into it in order to make it shelf stable. Karla keeps some of her blends fresh in the fridge, with no additives, and to others adds vinegar at a rate of 1/4 cup per quart for longer-term storage.