Singletree Soup Nazi

This is less of a recipe and more of a general “how to” for creating your own fermented hot sauce. As such, I’m going to change up the typical order and discuss the equipment first, then I will get into the specific ingredients, options, method, etc.

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
While making fermented hot sauce isn’t particularly hard, it does require several pieces of equipment that many people don’t typically have at home. This is what I suggest you have available:

Fermentation Vessel (Jar): I suggest the Ball Wide Mouth Half Gallon Jar.
Fermentation Lid: A fermentation lid is essential. During the fermentation process, the contents will let off CO₂ gas. This gas will build up pressure and if not released, may cause the jars to explode. While it is possible to periodically release the gas by loosening in the lid (known as burping) I find this method unreliable. There re are several types of these, ranging from a “pickle pipe” to a full Air Lock. I have settled in on the Easy Fermenter lid (you can find it on Amazon). It does a good job of releasing the gas while not letting air back into the jar.
Fermentation Weight: It important to keep all of the fruit/vegetable submerged in the fermentation brine, the weight will help with this. I like using glass a fermentation weight (available on Amazon) but people use anything from a Ziploc bag filled with brine to racks that have been cleaned. You do you.
Kitchen Scale (digital): Different types of salts have a varying salinity by volume, so using volume measure (i.e. cups) for you slat measurement isn’t a great idea. Weighing the fruit/vegetable, water and salt is a much better method.
Food Mill: My method for making hot sauce uses a food mill to separate the liquid from the fruit/vegetable. It’s not the only way, but it’s my way. You can always use a blender or food processer, but this leave a sauce that is much too thick for my liking and also will end up with seeds ground up in the sauce, which is a texture that I don’t care for.
Immersion Blender: I use this to “pre blend” fruit/vegetable before going through the food mill. I don’t go for a puree; I just want the size of the chopped fruit/vegetable down a bit.
Sauerkraut / Kimchee Pounder: This is really just a rod of some sort to help you compress the fruits/vegetables into the jar. You can get by without it, but it makes things easier. You can use any kitchen implement that fits into your jar, it might just take a bit more finesse.
Disposable Kitchen Gloves (Nitrile): I can’t stress this enough. Handle the peppers with your bare hands at your own risk (ask me how I know :-) ). Absolutely get yourself a box of disposable gloves. You will thank me later. Capsaicin (what makes the peppers hot) is fat soluble. This means it likes to get into the oils in your skin and doesn’t readily wash off with just soap and water. Even if you think you have your hands clean, you will most likely rub your eyes or go to the bathroom later that day. It’s then you will realize that your hands are not rid of the capsaicin (again, ask me how I know). If you were the kind of kid who just had to touch the stove to see if it was hot, well – it’s on you. Also, be mindful of handling the jars when your gloves are covered with pepper residue. This can transfer the capsaicin to the jars, which you will find out hours/days/weeks later. I highly recommend thoroughly wiping your jars (using fresh gloves) with strong isopropyl alcohol (using fresh gloves) after they have been completely filled and sealed.
pH Meter or pH Strips: This is to measure the pH of the ferment to ensure it has become acidic and safe

INGREDIENTS

The exact mix of peppers and other vegetables is up to you, I’m going to give you an example here, but the mix/ratio of all of this can (and should) be varied.

For a half gallon jar, you will need about 4 lbs of peppers. I always have more just in case, as I will chop the stems off and am never sure what my yield will be.

For the ferment:
4 -5 lbs hot peppers – Stems removed, chopped coarsely.
1 med-large, yellow or sweet onion – chopped
8 cloves of garlic – peeled and chopped
100 grams of salt. I prefer Kosher salt, others swear by sea salt
1 large cabbage leaf – rinsed (for the top – to help keep the fruit/vegetables submerged)

For the Sauce:
Vinegar – Amount and type varies by taste. I use organic white wine vinegar, but others are fond of white vinegar or apple cider vinegar.
Xanthan gum – to stabilize and prevent separation of liquids and solids. This is used VERY SPARINGLY.

Note on the peppers: How you prep the peppers is up to you. When I first started making hot sauce, I was concerned about making the sauce too hot. I diligently removed the pith (membrane) as this is where a lot of the capsaicin is stored it the pepper and I removed seeds I was told the seeds make the sauce bitter (contrary to urban legend, the seeds have very little capsaicin and are not a huge source of heat). The food mill does a good job of preventing the seeds from getting into the sauce and I like the heat / flavor from the pith, so now I just chop the stems off, and the rest goes into the ferment. If you nervous about the heat, I suggest you try the following for a nice first sauce…

50% Jalapenos – stem, pith and seeds removed
50% Poblanos – stem, pith and seeds removed

PREPARATION

Prepare the Fermentation
You don’t need to “sterilize” your jars before fermentation; simple sanitization is enough (the highly acidic environment prevents spoilage). I will just run them through the dishwasher with a high heat wash/dry.

• Weigh the empty jar (in grams) and make a note. The half gallon ball jar typically weighs about 750g
• Stuff the fruit/vegetables into the jar. I like to layer it. So, perhaps, poblano, then onion/garlic, then jalapeno. Use the tamper to compact it into the jar and get it compacted and nearly full. Leave enough room to get the cabbage leaf and glass weight in
• Weigh the full jar. Subtract the weight of the empty jar from that of the full jar. This is the net weight of the fruit/vegetables. Calculate 3% of the weight of the fruit vegetables (weight x .03)
• Measure out the 3% of the weight is salt. example, the fruit/vegetables net weight is 1700 grams. 1700 x .03 = 51. Weight out 51 grams of salt. Pour this salt into the jar.
• Create a bowl of 3% brine. Again, weigh bowl, fill with water, do the math to calculate the weight of the water. calculate 3% of the weight of the water. Add that much salt. Stir the salt into the water until totally suspended in the brine.
• Slowly pour the brine into the jar, dissolving the salt sitting on the top. As the brine level rises, stop before it reaches the top.
• Carefully work the cabbage leaf into the jar. the idea is to have the leaf cover the fruit/vegetable all the way around the jar, preventing the pieces from floating to the top.
• Place the weight on top of the cabbage leaf
• Add more brine until the brine level is about 1/2 ” from the top of the jar
• Cover tightly with the fermentation lid
• Mark the jar with masking tape or some other way to note the date the ferment started
• Place a room temperature place that is out of the direct light.

Fermentation

Now you wait. About 4 weeks. While you are waiting, the naturally occurring lactobacillus bacteria (also known as LABs) will start to feed on the sugars in the fruit/vegetable in your jar. The LAB’s will start to multiply and go on a feeding frenzy. You will see lots of bubbles to indicate the fermentation activity. The LABs will break down the sugars and produce lactic acid and CO₂. The CO₂ will push out the oxygen in the top, creating an environment where bad things like mold cannot grow (don’t open the lid, trust the process). If you had too much liquid in the jar, it might even force some liquid out (I recommend putting the jar on a plate of some other rimmed container for the first week). Eventually the fermentation process will slow down. The color of the fruit/vegetable will dull. The expired LAB’s will sink to the bottom of the jar a form what looks like a layer of dust (its normal and fine, don’t worry). The fermentation will continue slowly, and the pH will continue to drop. Patience, nature is doing its thing.

Make the sauce

After about 4 weeks, it’s time to make your sauce (you will need several mixing bowls for this)

• First, open the jar and measure the pH of the brine. Every time I have made sauce the pH of the brine is about 3.2. For note, shelf stable pH is typically considered to be 4.5 or below. If your pH is below 4.2, you are good to proceed. See the notes later on adding vinegar
• Remove the fermentation weight and the cabbage leaf, discard the cabbage leaf.
• Using a sieve or a colander, pour the brine and contents of the jar into your sieve or colander. Note: make sure you capture the brine in a bowl. DO NOT pour it down the sink.
• Pour the fruit/vegetable into a mixing bowl.
• Using the immersion blender, lightly blend the fruit/vegetable to break the large chunks into something that is more like salsa. not a puree, but not somewhat chopped up
• Put the food mill (using the finest screen it has) over a mixing bowl. Working in batches put a few scoops of mixture into the food mill. Turn the mill to press it through the screen. Turn it backward a few times to loosen the pressed mixture and repeat a few times, until the mixture appears to be somewhat dry and has no liquid left. You should see some sauce starting to be collected in the bowl below the food mill. Scrape the leftover mixture into a separate bowl to save the mixture (do not discard). Repeat the process until all of the mixture has been processed through the food mill.
• At this point you should 3 bowls. One with the brine, One with the pressed mash mixture and one with sauce.
• Put the sauce into a pot and heat slow to just under a boil. The intent is not to cook the sauce, but to pasteurize the sauce and stop the fermentation process so it does not explode when bottled (which really isn’t all that common, but not completely unheard of).
• When the sauce is heating up, add the amount and type of vinegar you want. Note the vinegar will be between 2.5 and 3.0. If you sauce was in the low 3’s pH, adding vinegar will effectively lower it a bit. This is a good thing. Personally, I use white wine vinegar and shoot for adding about 5% of the original volume (I’m definitely not precise here). So, not a lot. It’s really a taste thing. Do you love Tabasco? More vinegar. Not so much. Less.
• This is where some judgement is needed. If the sauce is too thick, you can add some brine to get the consistency you (note you are still going to add the Xanthan gum). If you add brine, make sure it’s also heated/pasteurized.
• When you have the consistency the way you want it, add a SMALL amount of Xanthan gum. I mean REALLY SMALL. Somewhere between 1/8 and 1/4 of a tsp. If you add too much, your sauce will be like ketchup, if you really add too much, it will be a gross mixture that is like curdled milk.
• Bottle the sauce into sanitized bottles of your choice. Personally, I use either 5 or 3 oz Woozy bottles. I sterilize them by boiling them in water for at least 10 minutes just before I fill them.

Dehydrate the mash

Since you saved the pressed mash, dehydrate it to make wonderful pepper flake for sprinkling on pizza or salad and adding to other things like Chile, etc.

Warm your oven to the lowest setting (140 or 170 typically). Spread the mash on a parchment lined baking sheet. Dehydrate in the oven overnight, typically 24 hours. Once completely dry, bag it, bottle it, etc

Pasteurize the Brine

Heat the brine much like you did the sauce. Slowly bring to near boil for 10+ min. Let it cool and bottle it. It makes a great marinade for chicken wings. I also gave some to my local bartender and he uses it for making a Spicy Bloody Mary’s!

MY SAUCES

Here are the basics for some the sauces that I regularly make

Snaffle Sauce – The Original Singletree Soup Nazi Sauce

• 45% Jalapenos
• 45% Serranos
• 10% Habaneros
• 1 Large Sweet Onion
• 8 Cloves Garlic
• Madhava Organic White Wine Vinegar

“Smoke on the Pepper” Sauce

• 45% Serranos – Smoked at 140 deg F for 3 hours
• 45% Poblanos
• 10% Habaneros
• 1 Large Sweet Onion
• 8 Cloves Garlic
• Madhava Organic White Wine Vinegar

Miyagi Sauce

• 60% Dried Morita Peppers. – Reconstituted in water for about 2 hours
• 20% Poblanos
• 10% Habaneros
• 10% Carrots – Peeled and chopped somewhat fine
• 1 Large Sweet Onion
• 8 Cloves Garlic
• Madhava Organic White Wine Vinegar