Garlic Jalapeno

Fermented Ingredients (1104 days): 
• Jalapenos 192g
• Garlic 40g
• Brine 1 Cups 

Fresh Ingredients:
• Garlic 300g
• Green Bell Peppers 146g
• Yellow Onions 252g
• Limes 1.5 Juiced 
• White Vinegar 1.5 Cups
• Water 1/2 Cups 
• Salt 1.5 tsp
• Xanthan Gum 1/4 tsp

Saute the fresh onions and bell peppers until they start to char and lose color. Remove and add your fresh garlic, roasting until that turns a golden brown and stirring about every thirty seconds. I don't recommend leaving your stove while doing this, if it burns at all the sauce will be ruined. Once that's finished, combine all ingredients except the xanthan gum to the blender and blend on high for five minutes. Simmer for twenty minutes, skimming solids off the top. Let cool and reblend with the xanthan gum for sixty seconds. Bottle, refrigerate 

Notes:
• Longest ferment ever! I've said that a few times now but I don't know when/if I'll ever break three years
• This was one of the first jars I started when I initially got into the hobby. I didn't weigh anything back then so all the weights on the jalapenos and garlic are after they've been completely saturated. So fresh they'd probably be a little under what I have recorded here
• I wanted to make a new jalapeno sauce and this is what I came up with. I also wanted to take this in a different direction than the jalapeno tequila lime so here we are
• I thought about adding some cilantro but decided against it because I wanted a more focus jalapeno flavor and differentiate it a bit. I kept the limes though
• It took five heads of garlic to add up to the 300g. It took about 75 minutes to peel it all. I peeled 10 heads for 600g even. I watched almost an entire baseball game while I did it 🥲
• Off the bat, as expected it's the most tangy sauce I've made. All the acids really curl my tongue the same way salt and vinegar chips do in the best way 
• Also as expected there's a ton of garlic that comes through the middle. It does over power the jalapenos a bit but it's closer to the back end 
• Color is a lot lighter than I expected. I went a bit light on the saute for the onions and bells but it's probably more a result of all the garlic
• Body is a bit too watery, honestly maybe moving up to 3/8 tsp of the xanthan would have worked out better
• Nose is all acid and garlic with a touch of the peppers on the back end
• Very little heat but on a fresh palate there's a light caress 
• It's seasoned really well. I wasn't sure if the extra half tsp of salt was a good idea I'm happy with it. Since this was jarred before I really knew what I was doing I didn't trust the salt content of the brine and added a little more. Good move 
• Overall maybe one of the best sauces I've made. It's super addictive and each time I go to my fridge I want to just eat some straight 
• Really want to explore this recipe because I think I might really have something here-
• First, a shorter ferment. Obviously I can't wait another three years. I want to let something sit for six months and see if the funks's anywhere close 
• Second, cut back on the garlic but still keep a good amount. Maybe dial it back by half so it doesn't eclipse the jalapenos but still provides a solid backbone. Somewhere between 100-200g
• Third add the cilantro back in. Also maybe a raw white onion over a sauteed yellow would give it a sharper flavor  
• Finally, add a couple pinches of dill. This almost reminds me of the dill pickle jalapeno I made a few years back and I think just touching on that flavor a tiny bit would really scratch that itch but still have it's own identity
• I do have another jalapeno jar fermenting that's a little over two years. Maybe I just throw that in the back of my cupboard and let that ride even longer than this one
• Again 9.5/10 sauce. Really glad how this came out and excited to see if I can dial it in even further

 

 

Pineapple Express

Fermented Ingredients (334 days):
• White Ghost Peppers 92g
• Chocolate Skunk Peppers 92g
• Sweet Onions 76g
• Garlic 34g
• Brine 1/2 Cups 

Fresh Ingredients:
• Yellow Onions 215g
• Red Bell Peppers 128g
• Garlic 50g
• Shallots 48g
• Pineapple 350g
• White Vinegar 1.5 Cups
• Apple Cider Vinegar 1/2 Cups
• Water 1/2 Cups
• Brown Sugar 1/3 Cups
• Salt 1 tsp
• Xanthan Gum 1/4 tsp 

Saute your fresh onions, shallots, and bell peppers until they become aromatic and start to lose color. Then add the fresh garlic and cook until that becomes a golden brown. Remove and lightly caramelize the pineapple on all sides. Combine everything except the xanthan gum in a blender and blend on high for five minutes. Afterwards simmer on low for twenty minutes, skimming solids off the top. Let cool and reblend with the xanthan gum on low for sixty seconds. Bottle, refrigerate    

Notes:
• First sauce in a while, it's good to be back 
• I've been finishing off all the stuff I had in my fridge, then a bunch of travel, then work was nuts during the holidays. Life has slowed down so I wrote this recipe on the fly 
• I needed something reliable and easy so I went with pineapple and pulled a random jar out of my ferment cupboard 
• First time using skunk peppers. Not terrible, earthy with a few citrus notes 
• As far as heat goes, on par with red ghosts. There's the white ghosts in here too but the chocolate skunks definitely amp those up a bit. This is a lot hotter than those white ghosties by themselves. Maybe a degree or two lower than your average ghost, a few notches higher than a habanero 
• Heavy garlic and onion on the nose. Not much heat 
• Sweet but as usual on the money for the sugar. Not over or under whelming 
• Dark orange in color, half way to brown. I was hoping for something closer to red but I'm not mad, really wanted something darker but his is still pretty dark
• Pineapple wasn't a bad choice for this but it wasn't the best flavor combination. The earthiness clashes a bit and the two don't harmonize and it's easy to pull the flavor apart in those two different directions
• That said, it still works. Chocolate peppers and bright acidic fruits are apples and oranges but sometimes you enjoy having both on the same plate 
• Fun sauce, fun pepper variant. Glad to make my first hot sauce in like 4 months