One for the hot pepper pro's

[hooked on smoke]

Greetings,
I am in search of something I can do with the small harvest of Habenero,Ghost and Carolina Reaper peppers. My plants have quite a few more peppers but I'm wondering if it's cooling down too much for them to ripen here in Southern California.
The picture shows what i have to work with. Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Oh, and is there a way to encourage the pepers still on the plants to ripen?? There is a good amount and would hate for them to go to waste.
Thank you in advance.

 

[jcam222]

You can ripen peppers in a brown bag. Throw in an apple or banana to help speed the process. I think with that number of peppers I'd go for a salsa. Those will make a lot of hot salsa.

 

[hooked on smoke]

You can ripen peppers in a brown bag. Throw in an apple or banana to help speed the process. I think with that number of peppers I'd go for a salsa. Those will make a lot of hot salsa.

Good to know. The peppers on the plants are about half the size of full grown ripened. Will they still mature? Sorry for all the questions.
As far as salsa for the existing ripened one's. Can you suggest a recipe?
By the way,
Thank you very much for your reply.

 

[chopsaw]

Let them go as long as you can on the plant . I used to pick mine at the last minute and let them sit on the counter . The paper bag works , and like said above other fruits will cause them to ripen . That's also good to know for storing other fruits and veg .

Even if they're green , make sauce or dry and grind .
I make a Carolina reaper sausage with the powder I have .

 

[jcam222]

I'd recommend searching recipes for a salsa at chilipeppermadness, their recipes are solid. I'm sure other here can weigh in too. If you had more peppers we could take you down the fermenting rabbit hole! Like Rich said you can use them green as well. I usually do a green mixed pepper ferment that is awesome.

 

[hooked on smoke]

Thank you!!!

 

[chopsaw]

These were picked at different times . Green to orange and then red .
The group on the counter in front of the bottles were all green when picked .
They ripened up pretty good .

 

[nlife]

Like the others have said, you can still use the green ones. I'm not much of a hot sauce guy, so we dried all the Jolokia's I grew back in 2016 and grind them into powder and use it on wings.

 

[Hockeydudde]

We cut down the whole plant before first frost and hang then upside down inside. They will continue to ripen for a few weeks.

 

[chopsaw]

I'm not much of a hot sauce guy, so we dried all the Jolokia's I grew back in 2016 and grind them into powder and use it on wings.

One batch of hot sauce I did was Reapers , lunch box sweet , onions and green bells .
Blended with canned pineapple . I strained the pulp / solids out of it , and dried that on a sheet pan .

Then ground that into powder .

Had to add some turbinado sugar to it , but it's great on wings .

 

[hooked on smoke]

One batch of hot sauce I did was Reapers , lunch box sweet , onions and green bells .
Blended with canned pineapple . I strained the pulp / solids out of it , and dried that on a sheet pan .
View attachment 706648
Then ground that into powder .
View attachment 706649
Had to add some turbinado sugar to it , but it's great on wings .

That looks really good. Thanks for the idea.

 

[chopsaw]

Thanks for the idea.

That was a fermented sauce , but I've been wondering about blending the stuff up fresh , straining the juice out then drying the mash .
Not sure what the difference would be from just drying .

 

[chef k-dude]

You can also freeze peppers to use in cooked dishes. I used to freeze habaneros whole and use them in dishes up to the next season. I would take one out, dice it up while the flesh was still frozen and put in soups and casseroles. A rubber glove is highly recommended...even after washing hands, those hottest peppers can still burn the eye from a finger touch...and other parts as well!

 

[hooked on smoke]

That was a fermented sauce , but I've been wondering about blending the stuff up fresh , straining the juice out then drying the mash .
Not sure what the difference would be from just drying .

I'm curious about the fermented sauce. It appears to be be complicated. ??
Does it require a lot of peppers?

 

[voyager 663rd]

Too cool? I'm guessing you have yours planted outside. I grow one reaper in a 3 gallon pot that I bring inside early fall (like now).

Depends on how many you have but you can cut the branch they are on, bring it inside and let it hang on ....something--a curtain rod, a string, whatever.

I just pulled my last two off and winterized my plant. Will be 4 yr old summer of 2025.

I just ate this little one (about 1/4" diameter) with 1 egg, some ramen noodles, slice of cheddar and some green onions. A glass of milk helped me out.

 

[chef k-dude]

I'm curious about the fermented sauce. It appears to be be complicated. ??
Does it require a lot of peppers?

I have a next gen cousin who got in to making fermented hot sauces. I was so excited last years reunion when he gave me a bottle of it. I had so many other hot sauces I wanted to finish up before trying it (I have to learn to not tell anyone I like something, people will bury you in that at Christmas...hey, maybe I should just tell everyone I love money!) and by the time I got to opening it, it blew all over the kitchen and me and it smelled rotten, like rotten shellfish (I think he did actually use oysters or something like that in it).

He said others had the same experience...so something went terribly awry on that batch. Sure looked purdy though!

 

[chopsaw]

I'm curious about the fermented sauce. It appears to be be complicated. ??
Does it require a lot of peppers?

Sorry for the late reply .
I got into it with Jeff's jcam222 help . It's super easy really . I use Mason jars with the fermenter lids . I'm not the expert on it , but this is the basics of it .
Chop and pack your peppers and ingredients in the jar with a salt brine . Lid it up with the airlock and hold in a dark place for 2 or 3 weeks .

 

[Torch&Tone]

For fermenting hot sauce, this segment is both entertaining and instructional:

it blew all over the kitchen and me and it smelled rotten, like rotten shellfish (I think he did actually use oysters or something like that in it).

He said others had the same experience...so something went terribly awry on that batch. Sure looked purdy though!

Sounds like it got bottled before it finished fermenting. The pressure builds up and turns the bottle into a booby-trap! Plants and mushrooms, good, but I can't think of any animal flesh that can be fermented into anything decent; maybe your cousin was pranking you?

It is good practice (especially if you aren't absolutely 100% sure that the fermentation is complete) to put all the bottles, caps OFF, in a pot of warm water - up to the level of the hot sauce - and then bring the thing to a steady simmer for ~15mins (depending on bottle size). Do NOT just immerse the bottles into boiling water, as the thermal shock can break or shatter the glass. Open the windows and turn on a fan (or, better yet, do it on a hot plate outside). Be sure to leave a bit of headspace for the hot sauce to bubble/foam up a bit; once they cool, you can use one bottle to top off the rest, if you like.

...maybe I should just do an entire post on making fermented hot sauce.

 

[chef k-dude]

Sounds like it got bottled before it finished fermenting. The pressure builds up and turns the bottle into a booby-trap! Plants and mushrooms, good, but I can't think of any animal flesh that can be fermented into anything decent; maybe your cousin was pranking you?

It's likely I confused another conversation with him. We had talked about a lot of other stuff that day. But, the rotten hot sauce did have that smell...like, ever have a bad oyster or mussel?

 

[chopsaw]

I'm curious about the fermented sauce.

Here's one thread that shows the process . There are others as well /

Some fermented hot sauce

I got to make some fermented hot sauce this year using thai chiles that I grew in planters on my deck. The first sauce I made was month ago but I ended up getting a bit more peppers so I started a second smaller batch. The second small batch just finished up so I figure I would show both...

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