Good news and bad news on the Ghost Peppers...

[Retired Spook]

Reading thru this whole post is getting me a little bit scared of what I am growing.

Orange habs on their own are beyond my ability to enjoy the heat. Mixed with lesser heat I can dig them. I now have a small bush with about 9 looking good and waiting for them to change color.

I just set up a garden tower with a bunch of peppers ( In So Cal so should be OK ). I did add a Red Ghost pepper in the mix. I might just give it water and avoid it like a plague. Ha ha just kidding or maybe not. I will have to see how it goes but after only a few days I have peppers and tomatoes starting to grow in this tower.

If you remove the seeds and white membrane inside your Habanero peppers, you will experience much less heat, much less bitterness, and far more actual flavor and aroma!

 

[jcam222]

Reading thru this whole post is getting me a little bit scared of what I am growing.

Orange habs on their own are beyond my ability to enjoy the heat. Mixed with lesser heat I can dig them. I now have a small bush with about 9 looking good and waiting for them to change color.

I just set up a garden tower with a bunch of peppers ( In So Cal so should be OK ). I did add a Red Ghost pepper in the mix. I might just give it water and avoid it like a plague. Ha ha just kidding or maybe not. I will have to see how it goes but after only a few days I have peppers and tomatoes starting to grow in this tower.

Save your ghost and either freeze or dehydrate. Add just one or two to things to kick it up. As was previously mentioned you can remove seeds and membranes to reduce heat further. Side note there are many hot peppers with heat more similar to habanero. I plan on only growing 4 or 5 superhots next year and about 16 of peppers in the habanero or less range. Red and chocolate habs, yellow scotch bonnet and fatali make the list so far.

 

[dr k]

I just do 3.5-4% brine covering cuts of one pepper variety (leave the stem on if you want more Lactobacillus) but I'll use an ounce of homemade kimchi brine for a starter. Long ferments pureed fruit with brine only. 1 year are extremely fruity straight out of the bottle with a dropper and super hot but fruit and flavor. Just shake and dose everytime what you want. Super tangy like the McIhenny's Tobasco Sauce. It's just me. I like the long mellowing individual fruit ferment for tang. Going through the cold months you'll have suck back through airlocks so upright frozen vac bags that then pillow with CO2 will help me this cool ferment season through next fall.

 

[Retired Spook]

I am simply not a fermented hot sauce guy - but I never would have known that if I did not try.

 

[jcam222]

I am simply not a fermented hot sauce guy - but I never would have known that if I did not try.

Out of curiosity do you not like Tabasco, Franks or Sriracha?

 

[Retired Spook]

Out of curiosity do you not like Tabasco, Franks or Sriracha?

I do not use Tabasco or Frank's and I've only used Huy Fong in Pho or in peanut dipping sauce. I do have a bottle of Cholula hot sauce in the cabinet but I haven't opened it yet (strangely enough I just checked and its best by date was last month so I'm going to toss it) - I'll use that once in a while. I also use Melinda's ghost pepper hot sauce in a pinch.

More than any other, I prefer my recipe for stove top ghost pepper hot sauce, but I also make a Chile de Arbol stove top hot sauce that I enjoy too, though it is mild.

The upside of this experiment is that I do have a good stockpile of ghost pepper seeds for next season - and I have been looking at a Ninja blender because my food processor is getting old.

 

[Retired Spook]

My Chile de Arbol sauce on scrambled eggs.

 

[jcam222]

My Chile de Arbol sauce on scrambled eggs.

View attachment 678649

Yum I love hot sauce on eggs!! Do you make that from dried arbols? I plan on making some cooked sauce versions in the future. I do enjoy the non fermented taste of habanero sauces quite a bit. I'll do those outside I'm sure.

 

[Retired Spook]

Yum I love hot sauce on eggs!! Do you make that from dried arbols? I plan on making some cooked sauce versions in the future. I do enjoy the non fermented taste of habanero sauces quite a bit. I'll do those outside I'm sure.

Yes, dried Arbols, however, I simmer them in just enough water to cover, for 20-mintues. If you toast (not burn) the Arbols in a skillet before you simmer them (I did not this batch), the sauce turns out extra nice - but wear a gas mask.

I always add one whole Serrano and a few cloves of garlic to my Arbol sauce, because that is what the Mexican lady that taught me, instructed.

 

[dr k]

I do not use Tabasco or Frank's and I've only used Huy Fong in Pho or in peanut dipping sauce. I do have a bottle of Cholula hot sauce in the cabinet but I haven't opened it yet (strangely enough I just checked and its best by date was last month so I'm going to toss it) - I'll use that once in a while. I also use Melinda's ghost pepper hot sauce in a pinch.

More than any other, I prefer my recipe for stove top ghost pepper hot sauce, but I also make a Chile de Arbol stove top hot sauce that I enjoy too, though it is mild.

The upside of this experiment is that I do have a good stockpile of ghost pepper seeds for next season - and I have been looking at a Ninja blender because my food processor is getting old.

The Cholula Hot Sauce ought to be just fine with vinegar and a low PH. I have no vinegar in a fermented hot sauce in the fridge for four years. Try it.

 

[Retired Spook]

I've been making stove top hot sauces for years - I always use vinegar. Until recently I just followed recipes I found online and I never knew what the PH was - I've never had a jar go bad.

After reading about fermenting and deciding to give it a try, I purchased a digital PH meter to use during the ferment. Coincidentally, I made some of my standard recipe toasted ghost pepper hot sauce - with Bragg's apple cider vinegar - and tested the PH. It was a perfect 3.7PH.

I gave the fermenting a try and it just isn't my thing for hot sauces. I will try to ferment some sauerkraut soon, but I will be sticking to my stove top hot sauces.

 

[Retired Spook]

jcam222 - Google "Pepper X".

 

[jcam222]

jcam222 - Google "Pepper X".

I was reading it last night having just been certified as the hottest in the world at about 2.7M Scoville. Coincidentally my neighbors dad is friends with Ed Currie. Dave has a pepper gathering the last weekend of September on his farm here and Ed comes. I had a conflict so didn't make it. The gathering swaps peppers, sauces, seeds etc and eat a myriad of spicy foods and drinks for 2 days.

 

[Retired Spook]

I have a jar full of fermented ghost peppers left over, packed in vinegar. I think I am going to drain them, and mix them up with lots of garlic and sugar (similar to Huy Fong), and see what it tastes like.

 

[dr k]

I've been making stove top hot sauces for years - I always use vinegar. Until recently I just followed recipes I found online and I never knew what the PH was - I've never had a jar go bad.

After reading about fermenting and deciding to give it a try, I purchased a digital PH meter to use during the ferment. Coincidentally, I made some of my standard recipe toasted ghost pepper hot sauce - with Bragg's apple cider vinegar - and tested the PH. It was a perfect 3.7PH.

I gave the fermenting a try and it just isn't my thing for hot sauces. I will try to ferment some sauerkraut soon, but I will be sticking to my stove top hot sauces.

I use this fermenter for Kimchi and also it's for sauerkraut pretty much anything with the squeegee vacuum internal lid that keeps everything below the brine. The top lid is gasketed as well. It's the fart lid that keeps from stinking up the place with cabbage ferments but I also have to put it in a 2 gallon ziplock bag. Kimchi is a quick 7 day or less ferment at room temp, then into the fridge to store for up to a year below the brine. During fermentation with kimchi/sauerkraut at room temp the vacuum lid rises plug in or out and you push down to burp daily until you have enough liquid brine formation from the cabbage. When fermenting leave the plug out and it's tethered to the internal vacuum lid. With any other ferments straight away just push the vacuum lid down below the brine and leave the plug out to let out CO2. Much better than jars/airlocks/weights and for long ferments and fridge storage. https://www.amazon.com/Sauerkraut-C...843-a9ce-52f4ae3ddf5e&pd_rd_i=B0791S2VCW&th=1

 

[jcam222]

I use this fermenter for Kimchi and also it's for sauerkraut pretty much anything with the squeegee vacuum internal lid that keeps everything below the brine. The top lid is gasketed as well. It's the fart lid that keeps from stinking up the place with cabbage ferments but I also have to put it in a 2 gallon ziplock bag. Kimchi is a quick 7 day or less ferment at room temp, then into the fridge to store for up to a year below the brine. During fermentation with kimchi/sauerkraut at room temp the vacuum lid rises plug in or out and you push down to burp daily until you have enough liquid brine formation from the cabbage. When fermenting leave the plug out and it's tethered to the internal vacuum lid. With any other ferments straight away just push the vacuum lid down below the brine and leave the plug out to let out CO2. Much better than jars/airlocks/weights and for long ferments and fridge storage. https://www.amazon.com/Sauerkraut-C...843-a9ce-52f4ae3ddf5e&pd_rd_i=B0791S2VCW&th=1

I use their brown round container. Love it.

 

[Retired Spook]

I have a jar full of fermented ghost peppers left over, packed in vinegar. I think I am going to drain them, and mix them up with lots of garlic and sugar (similar to Huy Fong), and see what it tastes like.

Ok I mixed it all up but I have a sneaking suspicion that Huy Fong uses a BOAT LOAD of garlic in their Sriracha because I used 7-cloves in a cup of peppers and it's still not "there."

My recipe so far:
1-cup of fermented ghost peppers
7-cloves garlic
2-teaspoons organic sugar
1/2-teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2-teaspoon granulated onion
About 6-tablespoons white vinegar.

I have slightly more than1/2 cup of thick, hot-as-a-mo-fo, instant hiccup, sauce.

 

[dr k]

I use their brown round container. Love it.

I'm going to use it as a pickle fermenter when the Kimchi is gone. Pickles are fast fermenters and I'll dump everything into a big pickle jar for the fridge.

 

[dr k]

I was reading it last night having just been certified as the hottest in the world at about 2.7M Scoville. Coincidentally my neighbors dad is friends with Ed Currie. Dave has a pepper gathering the last weekend of September on his farm here and Ed comes. I had a conflict so didn't make it. The gathering swaps peppers, sauces, seeds etc and eat a myriad of spicy foods and drinks for 2 days.

Just aired on the local news that the decade wait for consistent new variety was now the hottest in the world. Ed Currie's Pepper X 2.7 million SHU. He's been selling his green sauce for a couple years I think. Pepper X may be given a name since the variety has been passed as it's own.

 

[fxsales1959]

I think that with the second half of the new peppers I am going to make a pure hot sauce - ghost peppers, Bragg's apple cider vinegar, and salt... I'm going to toast the peppers first in a pan, so, if you guys never hear from me again, that'll be why

Wish me luck!

put on a covid mask. LOL