Make Habanero Pepper Mash

You can use this easy procedure to ferment habanero peppers in preparation for making hot sauce. It will work with any peppers, hot or sweet, but none have as high quality flavor as habanero.

Fermentation refers to the action of microorganisms converting food into acid or alcohol. Fermentation mellows the flavor of the peppers, making them not taste so "raw." Many fermented foods, like peppers, do good to your body. Making fermented pepper mash preserves peppers to keep them from rotting. You will add salt to the peppers in order to suppress growth of pathogens (dangerous microorganisms) in the ferment. The salt will not adversely affect fermentation.

Ingredients

  • 5 lbs (2.25 kg) Habanero peppers
  • Sea salt
  • Additional vegetables, spices, and herbs (optional)

Steps

  1. Go to a home improvement store and buy a pair of the snug-fitting, chemical-resistant gloves. Don't get normal surgical gloves or purple ones used for blood work.
    • The gloves need to fit against the skin snugly and not allow capsicum from the peppers to seep through and get into your skin.
    • If you ignore this, the peppers you handle will make your hands have a burning or throbbing sensation for hours, possibly all day. When handling the peppers or seeds, wear these gloves.
    • When through, make sure to wash the gloves well and rinse with plenty of water before removing them. To be extra safe, wash your hands as well and rinse with copious amounts of water. This will prevent the capsicum from the peppers and seeds from irritating your sensitive skin and membranes, should you happen to touch these areas.
  2. Select a gallon-size (or more) glass jar or pottery crock. You will not want to fill the container more than ½ to ¾ full of mash because fermentation bubbles will make the mash rise up and overflow the jar.
    • One pound of peppers will produce a little less than a pint of pepper mash, so you will need 5 pounds to fill your gallon jar half full. If you don't process the peppers immediately, refrigerate them.
  3. Get the largest, plumpest, ripe peppers from the garden or market. Red or orange habanero peppers which have ripened fully on the bush will start rotting within a couple of days after picking them, so use them immediately.
    • Fully ripe peppers have a delicious sweetness to them, in spite of any heat. If you bite into one, you will feel a rush of sweetness, then the heat will hit you and you might regret taking such a big bite. The sugars that give the peppers a sweet taste will help fermentation.
  4. Choose whether to leave the seeds in or remove them. Contrary to popular opinion, the seeds don't contribute much to the heat of the peppers. The real heat comes from the connecting veins that attach the seeds inside the peppers to the pepper walls. You can always use the seeds for planting more peppers.
    • If you intend to save the seeds for planting, don't save the seeds from puny, stunted peppers. Save those from the biggest, fattest peppers for planting. That way you will have more fat peppers in your next harvest.
  5. Wash the peppers and dry them with a towel or paper towel before processing them. Do not wash them before refrigerating them. Water makes them decompose faster.
    • If you plan to save the seeds, use a sharp paring knife to slice into each pepper and pry it open with your fingers, then scrape the seeds out, one pepper at a time. Try to leave the veins in the peppers. Set the seeds aside in a small bowl so you can lay them out on a paper towel to dry after you finish.
  6. Remove and discard the stems.
  7. Survey the seed extraction methods.
    • If you use a juice extractor, it might ruin any seeds, so that you can no longer use them to grow new plants. However, you can still spread them on paper towels and dry them in a food dryer or in an oven at 110℉ (43℃) for a day. You may then pulverize the seeds in your blender at high speed, then put the resulting dust in a salt or pepper shaker.
    • Instead of using a blender, you may also push the peppers, with or without seeds, through a juice extractor. This will extract the seeds and a good amount of the pulp. Cycle it through the juicer several times to get out as much of the pulp as possible. Use the output of the juicer for the fermentation process. You may also juice additional vegetables as discussed below.
  8. Weigh the remaining peppers. If you started with 5 pounds (2.25kg), you should have 4.5 pounds (2kg) or more remaining.
  9. Get out the calculator and calculate 3.3% of the remaining weight. For simplicity, add 1 tablespoon of salt per pint of mash.
    • If you have 2.1 kilograms, multiply that times 0.033. You will get 69.3g, the weight of the salt you will need. A tablespoon of salt weighs 15 grams and a teaspoon 5 grams. 69.3/15 = 4.62 tablespoons. So, you need four and two-thirds tablespoons of salt for 2100 grams of mash.
  10. Process the peppers in a blender two pounds at a time. Pour one tablespoon sea salt per pound of peppers in a blender and process them on high speed until they become puree (mash). This will be no more than a minute at the very most, typically only 15 to 30 seconds. Do not over-process..You don't want to produce so much heat that you kill the bacteria naturally residing in the peppers because that bacteria is essential for fermentation the process.
  11. Add other vegetables, herbs, and spices to the blender if you desire and puree them along with the pepper mash. Be careful, though, to maintain the salt-to-weight ratio of the vegetable matter. Adding various vegetables and fruits will dramatically affect the taste of the finished product, so a purist pepper sauce lover should consider making the pepper mash first, and then, with a portion of it, blend other vegetables for further fermentation.
    • Here are some examples of additional vegetables and fruits.
      • Carrots (They are sweet and maintain color)
      • Onions
      • Garlic
      • Horseradish
      • Ginger
      • Chinese cabbage
      • Apples
  12. Pour the mash into the fermentation jar or crock. Ideally, you should fill the crock no more than ⅝ full (a little over half) to allow for rising of the mash during fermentation. When you finish the blending, pour the mash into the jar and put a lid on the jar loosely.
  13. Set the jar out of direct sunlight and extreme temperatures and wait for it to ferment. Make sure to avoid freezing temperatures and temperature above 110℉ (43℃) or the fermentation agents (bacteria) will be killed.
    • In one week, the pepper mash will start bubbling vigorously as the fermentation process takes hold. During the process, the bacteria produce acetic acid while the sugars are converted to alcohol and carbon dioxide gas bubbles which will cause the pulp in the mash to rise, leaving the liquid and some solids on the bottom.
  14. Stir the mash down each day with a clean spoon once the bubbling starts. If it seems about to overflow, pour part out it into another glass jar until the bubbling subsides, then mix them back together.
    • In another week or two, the fermentation should stop producing bubbles. Note, though, that bacteria still lives in the mash.
  15. Screw the lid down tightly onto the jar one month after making the mash and put the jar in a refrigerator. Keeping it cold and sealed will inhibit mold growth.
  16. Use the mash as soon as fermentation has ceased. Suggestions:
    • Spoon it sparingly (because of the heat) onto your food.
    • Add a tablespoon to a batch of bread dough to create a delicate pepper aroma and add a lovely heat to sandwiches and toast.
    • Make a tantalizingly piquant fudge with it.
    • Add it to sour mash for brewing beer.
    • Make pepper sauce by combining three ounces of mash and two ounces cider vinegar. This will create a delicious, pure, and hot sauce which is best stored in a standard 5 ounce hot sauce bottle. Vary the proportions to suit your taste. With the vinegar in it, you do not need to refrigerate it. You need no other ingredients.

Tips

  • You could consider aging the pepper mash in a bourbon cask the way the Avery (Tabasco) pepper folks do.
  • Measurements and conversions:
    • 1 teaspoon = 5 grams
    • 1 tablespoon = 15 grams
    • 1 pound = 454 grams
  • 1 pound of peppers will make 1 pint of mash. Use 1 tablespoon of salt per pound of processed peppers (mashed or whole).
  • You may keep your fermentation jar in the refrigerator almost indefinitely. It is okay to keep the fermentation jar aging the refrigerator for 4 years or longer. It tastes mellow, delicious, and hot as fire.
  • Habanero peppers are one of the hottest peppers in the world. They have a delicious flavor if you can take the heat. Exercise caution when handling and when eating the peppers or mash.

Warnings

  • Do not cook the mash. It lives because of the bacteria in it, and it can become starter for other ferments, such as a new batch of peppers or sourdough bread.
  • When handling peppers, you must wear your gloves at all times. Also, do not touch your face, genitals, or anus. If you do, you will feel a burning sensation there which may take hours to subside. If you must touch yourself there, take off the gloves first. For safety, touch yourself through a couple of folds of paper towel with surfaces that have not contacted peppers or your hand.
  • Do not gulp down a spoonful of peppers or pepper mash. Your body might have a violent reaction to it.

Things You'll Need

  • Teaspoon
  • Tablespoon
  • Blender or juice extractor
  • Calculator (to calculate the weight)
  • Glass jar or pottery crock that holds at least one gallon (for the mash)
  • Snug-fitting, chemical-resistant gloves

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

You may like

Retrieved from "https://kipkis.com/index.php?title=Make_Habanero_Pepper_Mash&oldid=323702"