Lacto-Fermentation

[Porch Dweller]

Originally Posted by Chainsaw13

Ok, been busy the last few days. Got a few projects in the works.

Started another batch of hot sauce. Again using dried anchos, plus de arbols for heat. Also, carrot, onion, red bell (for fresh lacto starters) and some quasi-black garlic I had. All submerged in a 3% brine. Started it only a couple days ago and it’s bubbling good already. Didn’t rehydrat the anchos or de arbols. Figured the brine would do that. I’m planning to mix with some blueberry beer vinegar when it’s time to process.

Today I took out my new vac sealer on a test run. Made two batches of sauerkraut, one with caraway seeds. The other is almost kimchi. Added garlic powder, Korean Chile flakes and some chives from the garden.

That all sounds so good!

[Chainsaw13]

Originally Posted by Chainsaw13

A month into my garum doing its thing. I moved it into my garage last week, to take advantage of the higher temps in there. In the one week, it's progressed a lot further than when in the basement. There's distinct layers as the autolysis does it's stuff.

Revisiting this thread/project. I completely forgot about the garum, tucked away in my basement. It’s been nearly two years now. Should be ready. Lol. I’ll process outside, once our weather isn’t so screwy. Then I can finally send some to Ben.

[stearns]

Nice! Processing outside is probably a good idea

I haven't really been fermenting much, I did some hot peppers that I was going to dry out and grind up but forgot I left them in the oven to dry and turned the broiler on the next morning, so there went those. I did do a fresh batch of fermented garlic that's almost done bubbling, those are always good to throw in a sauce

[Chainsaw13]

I have 7, 1 gallon bags of peppers from the garden in my freezer. I really should start making another batch of sauce.

[Porch Dweller]

I had a couple of stragglers on my jalapeno plant last month, so I "lacto'd" them with a little onion and garlic for three weeks. Today I blended them with some fresh jalapenos, garlic, onion, kosher salt, and white and cider vinegars. It turned out pretty tasty; the tang from the fermentation didn't get overpowered by the vinegars.

[Chainsaw13]

Nice work James!

[Porch Dweller]

Originally Posted by Chainsaw13

Nice work James!

Thanks!

I revisited this thread today; how'd that garum turn out?

[Chainsaw13]

Originally Posted by Porch Dweller

Thanks!

I revisited this thread today; how'd that garum turn out?

You know, it’s been sitting in the basement still. I’ve looked at it many times and thought to myself, “I really need to process this”. The little bit that’s seeped out of the top tastes good.

[Chainsaw13]

Started a new hot sauce ferment with mostly frozen peppers and some fresh Serrano’s from the garden. 3.5% brine with a little of the whey from some yogurt. Kicked off the fermentation quickly. I really need to learn to leave more head space.

[stearns]

Funny enough, I also put a batch in yesterday, first time probably all year. I stopped for the most part because I'm not too good at making them into hot sauces, I don't use hot sauce enough to keep experimenting until I get it right, and I have a friend who does it really well who keeps me stocked. My only other current uses for lacto-fermentated stuff are garlic for my garlic buffalo sauce and a set hot pepper mix for my honey bbq sauce, so those ones I make about a batch a year of

My wife planted some jalapenos in the garden but they're dinky little things, although full of flavor. She left a bunch on to see if they'd get bigger and they just turned a beautiful shade of bright red, so I chopped a few up to ferment and make into a micro batch sriracha, I figure I'll add to it as more come off in the coming weeks

Originally Posted by Chainsaw13

Started a new hot sauce ferment with mostly frozen peppers and some fresh Serrano’s from the garden. 3.5% brine with a little of the whey from some yogurt. Kicked off the fermentation quickly. I really need to learn to leave more head space.

Any issues starting with frozen? I was worried it might cause problems but that's what I wanted to do with the red jalapenos instead of a rolling ferment. My plan now is just to add a few cut up peppers to the same jar every week or so and top up with salt and water each time

[Chainsaw13]

Originally Posted by stearns

Any issues starting with frozen? I was worried it might cause problems but that's what I wanted to do with the red jalapenos instead of a rolling ferment. My plan now is just to add a few cut up peppers to the same jar every week or so and top up with salt and water each time

No issues. Done it a couple of times, adding in some fresh peppers to kick it off.

After a couple of days the ferment has slowed that it’s not pushing brine out of the airlock.

[physiognomy]

Canning sauerkraut. This batch has carrot, dill seed, caraway, and I threw bay and allspice in the bottom of each jar. They’ve been bubbling since 8/7 and decided today was the day.

[stearns]

Originally Posted by physiognomy

Canning sauerkraut. This batch has carrot, dill seed, caraway, and I threw bay and allspice in the bottom of each jar. They’ve been bubbling since 8/7 and decided today was the day.

Speaking of which, I owe you some kimchi. It's from the giant head of cabbage I got from you, it's been fermenting for a couple weeks and is probably ready soon

[physiognomy]

Originally Posted by stearns

Speaking of which, I owe you some kimchi. It's from the giant head of cabbage I got from you, it's been fermenting for a couple weeks and is probably ready soon

Tasty stuff, Ben! Thanks again! Tried on a burger one night, ramen the next day, & fried rice another night. All really good! Hope your house has aired out a little

[physiognomy]

My first batch of chilies and garlic bubbled for nearly 2 months in approx 4% brine. Garlic still had a bit to go, but the chilies were ready. Spicy, tangy, hot! A bit of kham showed up, so I called it. Eight quart jars (initially packed tight) made about six pints of really good hot Sriracha! Another batch is down and still good few green chilies (Fresno, jalapeño, mexibell) on the bushes. One of my Habanero Caribbean Red is also loaded, so I will do something special there. Got in a few new books with plenty of ideas.

[Porch Dweller]

Looks tasty!

[Chainsaw13]

Originally Posted by physiognomy

My first batch of chilies and garlic bubbled for nearly 2 months in approx 4% brine. Garlic still had a bit to go, but the chilies were ready. Spicy, tangy, hot! A bit of kham showed up, so I called it. Eight quart jars (initially packed tight) made about six pints of really good hot Sriracha! Another batch is down and still good few green chilies (Fresno, jalapeño, mexibell) on the bushes. One of my Habanero Caribbean Red is also loaded, so I will do something special there. Got in a few new books with plenty of ideas.

Nice! Can’t wait to see what you whip up.

I started another batch using fresh Serrano, and a mix of frozen peppers that I smoked for 3 hours. Used a Chillichump video for reference.

[physiognomy]

Picked the last of my Caribbean red hab’s today and started a batch of habanero carrot sauce. I added a couple yellow jalapeños for good measure!

[Chainsaw13]

Looks good. How well do you like those lids? I bought the glass weights, but they’ve been a big disappointment. I’m using brine filled ziplock baggies right now.

I did up two batches of serrano’s yesterday, one will be finished with tequila/lime. The other has some green cardamom, coriander and white pepper. Should be interesting.

[physiognomy]

I haven’t tried anything else yet, but these ball kits work well for me. I will have to try the bags if I go for fermenting a mash down the road. Your Serrano sauces sound great!