Tips for making fermented pepper hot sauce

On my quest for a healthy gut microbiome, I happened upon a fantastic book called Real Food Fermentation by Alex Lewin. I've really loved the simple to use guide for Sauerkraut and Fermented Peppers especially. Here are my favorite tips for fermented peppers:

Tips for Making Fermented Hot 🌶Sauce

🌶Use a variety of hot peppers. Chilis vary in flavor. Accordingly, some have smoky notes, others bitter and others sweet. When using a variety of peppers, you’ll get the deepest and most complex flavor out of your sauce.
🌶Use ripe chilis. Fermentation amplifies the bitter notes you taste in unripe, green hot chilis. Using ripe chilis eliminates that bitterness and can give a your hot sauce better flavor.
🌶Use filtered or dechlorinated water. Chlorinated water may interfere with successful fermentation, so use a good water filter or dechlorinate your water by letting it sit overnight before you add it to your chilis.
🌶Fill your jar with brine within 1 inch of its opening. Leaving too much headspace will increase the likelihood of mold formation.
🌶Keep your chilis submerged under brine. Glass fermentation weights help keep your chilis and garlic submerged while they ferment, lowering the chance that your hot sauce will be contaminated with mold.
🌶Use an airtight jar or fermentation seal. An airtight jar or a fermentation seal will prevent oxygen from getting into your chilis while they ferment which helps keep your hot sauce safe from mold contamination.
🌶Pay attention to temperature. Foods ferment faster in warm temperature and more slowly in cool temperatures.
🌶Pay attention to flavor and aroma. Your fermented hot peppers are ready when their flavor and aroma pleases you. Some people prefer younger ferments, while others prefer aged ferments.
🌶Strain for a thin sauce, don’t strain for a thick sauce. After blending the peppers, garlic and brine together you can strain the purée which will give you a thin hot sauce and a thick pepper mash. Alternatively, if you avoid straining, you’ll have a thickened hot sauce about the consistency of sriracha.

Here’s the link to the recipes I used. Enjoy!