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Lacto-fermented Pepper Sauce

A rectangle bottle of orange-coloured homemade lactofermented pepper sauce with two bottles of red pepper sauce in the background.
Make your own homemade lacto-fermented pepper sauce at home in a few simple steps.
Prep Time 30 minutes
Fermentation Time 7 days
Total Time 7 days 30 minutes
Serving Size 0

Equipment

  • Cutting Board
  • Knife
  • Canning Jar
  • Blender or Food Processor
  • Kitchen Scale
  • Gloves
  • Large glass meauring cup
  • Parchment paper, fermentation weight or small glass jar.
  • Strainer

Ingredients

  • 1000 ml water room temperature
  • 25 grams salt
  • 2 cups hot peppers deseeded (if desired) and chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic optional

Instructions

Prepare the Peppers

  • Lightly rinse the peppers and remove the stem. Make sure you wear gloves when handling hot peppers!
  • Chop each pepper in half.
  • Remove the seeds and ribs of the peppers if you want less heat in your final sauce.

Prepare the salt brine

  • Add water and salt to a measuring cup
  • Stir until salt is all dissolved

Assemble

  • Add peppers and garlic (if using) to the jar. Gently push them down if you need to in order to get all peppers in the jar.
  • Pour the salt water brine into the jar almost to the top. Leave about ¼ inch of space at the top for the weight and to allow for bubbling of the liquid.
  • Add a weight on top of the peppers to ensure they stay submerged in the brine.
  • Screw the lid onto the jar and place the jar onto a small plate or bowl to catch any liquid run-off.

Ferment your peppers

  • Leave your peppers to ferment for several days, depending on your desired flavour. The longer it ferments the more sour it will become.
  • Check your peppers every day. Push down on the lid to see if there is any give or if the pressure in the jar has built up. If the pressure has built up you'll need to slowly unscrew the lid to release the pressure - this is called burping. You may hear a hissing sound and the ferment may bubble up, possibly overflowing into the bowl.
  • Tighten the lid and check again the following day.
  • After your ferment has been bubbling for a few days and it starts to smell a bit vinegar-y or sour, it's time to start tasting. Spoon out a very small amount of the brine and give it a taste. If it's to your liking move on to the next step. If you want your pepper sauce to be more fermented put the lid back on and keep checking each day.
  • Once fermented to your liking, strain the brine into a measuring cup. Put the peppers into your blender or food processor with about ¼ cup of the brine and blend to your desired smoothness. Add more of the brine if you want a thinner sauce.
  • Optional: Strain the blended sauce to remove all of the pulp.
  • Bottle and keep in a cool spot or in the fridge.

Notes

There are many factors that affect the fermentation process. Each ingredient ferments at a different pace, the ambient temperature in the room and the amount of salt used.
Your ferment will go faster in warmer temperatures. Keep this in mind if you live somewhere with different seasons. My ferments go way quicker in the summer than they do any other time of the year.