Abundance of hot peppers? Make fermented hot sauce!

It's so nice to have your own hot sauce handy. Of course fermenting isn't necessary to make hot sauce, but it has advantages. Any ferment is beneficial to the gut microbiome, and the beneficials in the sauce also help to keep it from spoiling in the fridge.

This sauce can be made with fresh peppers, dried peppers, or a combination thereof. And of course they don't have to be home-grown, store bought ones work just as well.

Any additional ingredients are up to taste. I never leave out garlic and onion, but things like celery or herbs are truly optional. The pineapple helps to kick-start the fermentation process, but even that isn't necessary.

You can make your hot sauce thicker and less fiery, by mixing it with tomato ketchup or tomato paste. Honey or sugar are a nice addition as well, to round out the hotness.

The brine is made by dissolving 3 tablespoons of salt in 1 quart of water.
If your water is heavily chlorinated, let it stand for 24 hours, covered with a cloth.

Enjoy!

[kevinaustin]

Looks good! I’m going to try to make up some.