How To: Legsbig's Pepper Mash Pictorial

[Bluesguy]

This is my first post...new to this site..I have been desperately hunting down a method for making pepper mash..All questions answered.. Thanks a bunch!!!!!!!

[FunkedOut]

Great post! So great, you made me want to give back! Here are some pics of my 1st attempt at producing pepper mash. Enjoy!

I started with a mix of habaneros, green (unripe) habaneros and daddles; a mix of peppers I graciously received as a gift from a coworker. I destemmed them, washed them and they went straight into the food processor, seeds and all.

chop chop

into a 1 pint mason jar


add 1 tablespoon of coarse sea salt

put the top on and shake.

as you can see it settled quite a bit, and had bad luck keeping the salt on top, so i put maybe 1/3 tablespoon more and left it on top. after reading about how tabasco uses salt to form a seal from the oxygen at http://www.fiery-foods.com/dave/hotsauce.html, i figured the extra salt was worth it.

sealed it and boiled it for 20 minutes

i read somewhere in this post some question about how tight to seal it. here is what i did...
tightened the top pretty good without breaking a sweat, about 10 minutes into the boiling process, once the lid will not depress because of the pressure, i lifted the jar out of the pot with a towel, and loosened the lid just enough for the pressure to escape. then put it back and finished the next 10 minutes of boiling. when that was done, i tightened it back about 1/4 inch of rotation to make a seal again. as the jar cooled, the lid popped back in. i plan on using this lid as a gauge for fermenation over the next few weeks. if it pops up, i plan on loosening the lid again to release the pressure.
i hope this turns out good. thanks for the help!
until i saw this post, i was making hot sauce just by adding fresh peppers and garlic and onions and vinegar and spices into the food processor and pureeing it.

[FunkedOut]

...i openned the jar and did smell a trace of "cheesy." the cheese went away and the peppers smelled fine. through'em in the food processor, and liquified it into some white vinegar. the salt and peppers is all that i need. tastes like peppers and it got some real heat.

i got some red savina seeds sowed... again.

[Gossie]

Originally Posted by kitchenelf

I swear just the pictures made my eyes burn

<hands Kitchenelf a tissue WITH GLOVES!!!> LoL

Dad grows all these, I hate canning tho. hehehe

[sustenation]

I just tried making my own mash. I skipped the boiling step, half out of laziness, and half because I didn't read about it elsewhere. Does this change the flavor to boil it before the aging? Am I going to die a horrible death when I finally make my sauce because of some evil bacteria?

Anyway, here's a description of my "recipe", and some pictures from the making of.

[Mylegsbig]

Guys, boil the thing as long as you possibly can so you can get the PH low enough. Be careful with them once they are done boiling..dont handle them too much, and seal the top off with a ton of salt.

I had to throw away like 4-5 jars of mash because of too high a PH level.

Botulism can't grow unless the PH is higher than 4.2 i believe, but you are advised to throw out the jars if the PH is over 4.0.

Personally, i had several jars around 4.3 and none got me sick, but it might not be worth the risk.

Funked Out, that cheesy fermented smell is good! They should smell like they are fermenting.

[sustenation]

So now you've got me worried about botulism. Did some reading about it, and it certainly doesn't seem like something to mess around with. However, I was reading here that 10 minutes of high temperature will destroy the toxin. Is it an option to boil the mash at the end of the aging process before I use it to make my hot sauce? I'd hate to throw it away, it's smelling so good right now.

[Mylegsbig]

sustenation, honestly, you are honestly more likely to get struck by lightning than get botulism from habanero mash if you follow the procedure correctly.

there are like 20-30 cases of botulism from food each year, and practically all of them are from vegetables like carrots, beets, stuff with low acidity. i did some research myself and you'd be hard pressed to find botulism from habaneros and what not.

if the PH is below 4.0 it's even less of an issue. it's impossible for botulism to develop then.

Boil the jars for a super long time initially, and layer the top with a TON of salt. Just scrape the salt off the top when the jars are done.

Also, yes, absolutely boil them again when you are done.

It is either 4.2 or 4.3 that it becomes possible for botulism to develop.

I don't even know if even 1 person per year gets botulism from habanero mash. i was hard pressed to find a single case.

But dont use chiles like serranos and jalapenos and stuff. at least without researching first, because i haven't done any research on those.

[Mylegsbig]

sust, also, don't even think about ignoring getting a PH reading. the meters are cheap and easy to use

[sustenation]

Thanks for the tips, mine is a blend of cayenne and habanero, so I'll be sure to test the pH and give it a boil at the end.