Think, Eat, Be Healthy

Green Fermented Hot Sauce Recipe

green fermented hot sauce

This green fermented hot sauce recipe will become your favorite when you need a little heat.

About this recipe

This green fermented hot sauce recipe has spicy heat and tartness against a slightly salty background. Getting its color from fresh green chile peppers and tomatillos, green hot sauce can fit into any healthy whole food diet. The fermenting process adds extra nutrition along with pro-biotics and that characteristic sour/tart flavor. The fermenting brine and other whole vegetable ingredients provide a rich complexity behind the heat.

Any mixture of fresh green chile peppers can be used to make green fermented hot sauce. For extreme heat, try thai chiles picked before they ripen and/or serrano peppers. My personal favorite is a mix of jalapeno and poblano chiles. Use Anaheim chiles for a milder sauce. Increasing the amount of tomatillo used will moderate the heat and increase the tartness. Fresh cilantro will increase the intensity of the color and produce a crisper flavor than cumin seeds.

I like to use the seeds and internal ribs of the chile peppers. They add flavor and texture to the finished hot sauce and the ribs contain many beneficial antioxidants and other micro-nutrients. Much of the heat is also in the ribs of chile peppers, so do remove them for milder sauces.

Ingredients

15 fresh jalapeno chile peppers, stems removed and sliced 1/4″ thick

4 fresh poblano chile peppers, stems removed and cut into 3/4″ pieces

15 tomatillos, coarse chopped

10 whole cloves of garlic, peeled

1 yellow onion, coarse chopped

1 red tomato, coarse chopped

1 Tablespoon whole cumin seeds

1 Tablespoon dried oregano

1 1/2 Tablespoon sea salt

Brine: 3 1/2 Tablespoons sea salt dissolved into 1 quart filtered water(no chlorine)

1/2 cup starter brine solution(liquid from a previous batch of sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles, etc…)

green fermented hot sauce ingredients before the salt is added.

Green fermented hot sauce ingredients before the salt is added.

Prepation

  1. Place all of the vegetables into a large mixing bowl and sprinkle with the 1 1/2 Tablespoons of sea salt. Work the salt into the vegetables with your hands and let stand at room temperature for 20 minutes, allowing the salt to draw water out of the vegetables. If you have sensitive skin, wear latex or vinyl gloves for this step.
  2. Place the salted vegetables into the fermenting container and pack down as tightly as possible. I like to use my fist and really use my weight to tamp them down and force out the most liquid. Always use a glass, ceramic or other non-corrosive container for fermenting.
  3. Add enough brine to completely cover all of the vegetables and then add the 1/2 cup of starter brine. Whey strained from yogurt or kefir with live cultures can also be used for a starter brine.
  4. Place a weight over the vegetables to hold them under the surface. Any vegetables in contact with air will be susceptible to rotting instead of healthy fermenting.
  5. Loosely cover and allow to ferment at room temperature for 4-5 days. Start tasting daily. The idea is to let the carbon dioxide produced by the fermentation process escape but not allow airborne contaminants to enter.
  6. When the flavor is to your liking, transfer the vegetables and fermentation liquid to a blender in batches. Blend until very smooth and adjust the thickness by adding more or less liquid.
  7. Place the finished green fermented hot sauce into clean, sterile jars with tight-fitting lids and refrigerate. The sauce will last for several months.

Notes

The difference between fermented hot sauce and hot sauce made with vinegar is similar to the difference between fermented and vinegar cucumber pickles. The fermented sauce is sour without a distinctive vinegar flavor. There is more complexity in the fermented version, as fermentation better melds all of the flavors together. Once you try a fermented hot sauce it will be difficult to us vinegar sauce from the store again.

This recipe, with different ingredients, can also be used to make fermented red hot sauce and a variety of salsas.

The starter brine is not strictly necessary but greatly improves the chances of success. I like to ferment a batch of kimchi and then use that brine for hot sauce starter. Using a dedicated fermenting crock with a water-lock lid also increases the success rate, but ceramic casseroles, gallon pickle jars and standard canning jars all work fine. If a fermentation goes bad, your nose will know immediately and you will never be tempted to actually taste it.