One of my favorite hot sauces is Marie Sharp's Hot Habanero Hot Sauce . It stands out with its great natural taste and by using carrots and onions instead of sugars, which adds an earthy natural sweetness to it. If you haven't tried it, I can really recommend buying a bottle!
Inspired by Marie Sharp's, I decided to make my own version based on fermented chilis, carrot and parsnip. It turned out really well and I am putting the recipe online to make it easy to share and improve on.
Preparation tips
- Brad, from It's Alive by Bon Appétit, has a great episode, where he does a fermented chili sauce.
- Use gloves and work fast! :-)
- (optional) Checking pH. See below.
- ~400g Habanero Chilis
- ~250g Piri Piri Chilis (exchange with Cayennes, Birds Eye or similar)
- A couple of yellow Jalapeño peppers for mild fruity heat (optional. I had them laying around)
- One large Carrot (~160g)
- One large parsnip (~130g)
- Three garlic cloves
- 5% Brine --> Per Liter; 950g chlorine free water, 50g salt without additives (sea salt, rock salt or kosher salt)
Wide-mouth clean jar to ferment in.
- Wash all ingredients to remove dirt and any residues of pesticides
- De-seed all chilis and chop roughly (prevents air pockets from forming in the jar)
- Peel and chop carrots and parsnip roughly
- Peel and crush the garlic cloves
- Add everything to the jar and pack it
- Top up with brine, so that it covers all and everything is submerged. Use a spoon to pack it and get rid of any air pockets.
- Weigh down the vegetables with pickle weighs, or simply a small, sealed plastic bag filled with brine
Fermentation should begin within 1-3 days.
Let sit in room temp, away from direct sunlight for about two weeks, minimum seven days.
After the ferment, it is time to mix and bottle the chili sauce.
- Strain the vegetables (keep the brine!)
- Mix thoroughly in a kitchen mixer/blender (don't let it get hot, since it can kill the culture)
- Add brine back to the mix, until it has the desired consistency
- Bottle
- Keep refrigerated
DONE!
It should keep for a couple of months at least.
Fermented foods are naturally acidic due to the lactic acid fermentation process that preserves the produce.
In order to double check that everything went according to plan, you can check the pH along the way. It should drop from around 6 - 7 to around 3 - 5, depending on what you ferment and how long you let it go.
Note, a pH value below 5 is really desirable, since it prevents nasty bacteria such as boutulism to thrive and it is a clear indication that fermentation has occured. Normally it is however obvious from the way it smells and tastes.
Regularly available pH strips will do, in case you feel like checking. The picture below shows a reading of a pH value sitting nicely between 3 - 4.
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Add a splash of fresh lemon, lime or fruity vinegar when mixing. This not only brings out the taste, it makes it more shelf stable
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Add Mango cubes or Plums to the ferment for the last 4-5 days to make it more tropical and fruity
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Add cane sugar
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