How To: Legsbig's Pepper Mash Pictorial

[Mylegsbig]

glad to see this thread took off. i hope you guys have had as much pleasure with this procedure as i have.

[jetjr55]

hi,
I am new to the site and have been doing some expiramenting with my own grown habanaros trying to make some mash.where can you get a meter or test kit to check ph? I do a prety good job with keeping it right in the pool ,but i imagine it must be a little bit trickier when it comes to food.
Thanks for your help
J.T.

[Cajun Cook]

I am very interested in trying this but I am confused on one point. The byproduct of fermentation is carbon dioxide. (as far as I know) So if you can/seal the jars and then let them ferment, doesn't that blow the vacuum seal? I am not trying to be a pinhead, just want to get this straight in my mind before I try it.

Thanx,

Jim

[RStar]

Hello! Newbie here as well!

I have enjoyed this thread as I'm doing some work on a hot pepper sauce formula myself.

One of the things I have found is theat the FDA classifys Low-Acid Canned Foods (LACF) as havibg a pH of 4.6 or less. I think a pH of 3.5 to 4.0 should be optimum to be sure botch cant grow (could this be where the expressin to "botch" something comes from?). They also say that C Botulinum bacteria (Botulism) only grow under the right conditions. Foods packed in the absence of oxygen, a favorable pH (above 4.6), the right tempurature (mainly room temp), and contain water and nutrients for growth. Salt helps bind the water and peppers are low in carbs and have almost no protien.

For a pH meter, try eBay or Amizon.

Good luck everyone!

~Bob

[RStar]

Oh, and I forgot, using low acid ingredients like lemon juice and lime juice would lower the pH and allow you to use less vinegar.

You could also try different vinegars, but white is used because it doesn't alter the pepper flavor.

One site (pepperFool.com) suggested using Korean KimChi as a starter because it has natural lactic acid. Also, because lactic acid bacteria (LAB) require carbs to grow and peppers have very little, adding carrots to the peppers helps. This will also give the end sauce a thicker body.

Another site that talks about "Keeping it safe" is fiery-foods.com/dave/safe_hotsauce.html

And if you want to skip the mashing all together, you can get mash at leeners.com/hotsauce.html



Yesterday I ordered the Red Habanero, Jalapeno, and red serrano mashes to try. But this season I'm going to grow some more and try mashing myself.

Also, Legsbig, I noticed they mashed Jalapeno, so I guess it can work. I don't think there is much difference in the hot peppers to worry about.

[Zonie]

Since you don't seal the jars, what's the point in sterilization? I would think that the ambient microorganisms that get into the jar after you sterilize would be exactly the same as the ones that are on the chiles before sterilization.

[RStar]

Originally Posted by Zonie

Since you don't seal the jars, what's the point in sterilization? I would think that the ambient microorganisms that get into the jar after you sterilize would be exactly the same as the ones that are on the chiles before sterilization.

That depends. If you allow the air pressure out with out letting air in that would contain the bad organizims then it's not a problem. This can be achieved with a water-type air lock (often used in home wine making). Another way is to layer salt on top, thus keeping the nasties at bay.

[Bilby]

Welcome to DC Zonie and RStar!!

[Zonie]

Originally Posted by RStar

That depends. If you allow the air pressure out with out letting air in that would contain the bad organizims then it's not a problem. This can be achieved with a water-type air lock (often used in home wine making).

I'm not sure I follow you. If the jars are not sealed then microorganisms will get in after the jar cools off, period. I don't see why they wouldn't

Originally Posted by RStar

Another way is to layer salt on top, thus keeping the nasties at bay.

Wouldn't that layer of salt also keep out the good microorganisms that are necessary for fermentation?

[Cajun Cook]

Originally Posted by RStar

That depends. If you allow the air pressure out with out letting air in that would contain the bad organizims then it's not a problem. This can be achieved with a water-type air lock (often used in home wine making). Another way is to layer salt on top, thus keeping the nasties at bay.

Thank you for the reply RStar. I have a bunch of pepper plants growing this spring with the sole intent of trying this.
Jim