Fermented Hot Sauces

JWFilips

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
fiver said:
heh,, chuckle.
i think i only garden because it is hard here.
if it was easy i'd find something else to do... LOL

i'm just getting ready to start my seeds, i think i'm some early still [shrug] but we have been pretty warm this week which is super early.

i'm hoping the new setup will allow me greater freedom in what i can start without a super struggle.
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fiver,
I like growing chillies that are not supposed to grow in the northeast of PA! I have always been successful! 30 years ago I Grew African kettle gourds
( Laganaria) which would not grow in north Ameica! I starrted the seeds in January and nursed them through until the weather got warm ! I was able to grow 2.5 ft Kettle gourd! These are the crazy things we saw when we were children in the cartoons! The aftricans cooking the people in gourd pots with hot rocks!....showing my age here!
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
yeah.
it took me 3 years to finally grow a little personal size watermelon, the next year i got 2, one the same size and a second smaller one.
i don't even like watermelon so i have no idea if they were any good or not... LOL
 
JWFilips

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
fiver,
if I get a good crop of rain forrest chillies this year I will ferment them and send you some bottles of sauce! I only made 2 bottles last year but it was the epitome of Scotch bonnet with out the high burn! It is the most unique sauce I have ever made!
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
those are my favorites.
i'm really impressed with the raspberry-bonnet dried mix i made last year.
i'm hoping i can get some of those seeds i saved to germinate.
 
hporter

hporter

Active Member
Good day for peppers today.

The wife is making a fresh batch of Kimchi.

And we picked up a Ghost Pepper plant to try in a 5 gallon wicking bucket.


Saw this gentleman for the first time this week. A lot of wicking container gardens rely on the bucket sitting in a bigger bucket of water. Which in Houston would result in a million baby mosquitos ASAP. I like his approach, especially the idea of covering the top of the bucket with black plastic to keep the weeds down.

All of our garden beds are full of pepper plants already. Mostly habaneros, but also a Scotch Bonnet and a few others of lesser heat. The Bulgarian Pepper plant has fruit on it now, the Serrano I posted about previously is about ready to pick the first peppers from. Even the Habaneros are in bloom now.

Should be a good pepper season.
 
hporter

hporter

Active Member
Thank you Jim. We are fortunate that all of our peppers are doing well.

My small in ground raised bed garden is doing well too. The Bulgarian Carrot pepper and the Serrano have a bunch of fruit on them. Looking forward to the color change and harvest of the Bulgarian peppers. It is the first time I have tried to grow them.

We also have put out four of the 5 gallon wicking buckets that I mentioned in a post above with a ghost pepper, 2 poblano's and a chili pequin just to try out the bucket concept. In late July and August when we see temperatures in the high 90's and 100 degrees every day, the peppers always fade back stunted. I will be curious whether having the reservoir of water in the base of the bucket will help them coast through some of the hotter days.
 
Rockydoc

Rockydoc

Well-Known Member
HPorter, I checked out your referenced YouTube of Leon’s wicking baskets and now have 3 of the 27 gallon totes on my patio. I have my Cowhorn cayenne and Jim Filipski’s Alleppo and Rain Forest peppers and cherry tomatoes, leeks, scallions, etc. and room for other plants to be added later.
Thanks for the reference.
 
hporter

hporter

Active Member
Rockydoc,

I hope it works well for you.

It seems like a good way to keep from having to constantly water in the heat of summer, without having standing water for Mosquito's to breed in.
At least that is the outcome I hope to achieve!
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
my bell peppers are just getting their second set of leaves.
i got 2 months and a few days before they can go outside though.

i do believe i can get pepper plants to germinate now that i have the mat and lights set up.
the mat has a controller that bumps it on and off to help it maintain a consistent temperature.
i put it on the other day and it defaulted to 80-F at the probe, the temp never went below 78 and never above about 80.5.

that should allow me to start stuff in late feb early march now.
 
RBHarter

RBHarter

West Central AR
Ever seen an avocado tree as a house plant ?
Almost 2 1/2 years old from seed . We have 3 the other 2 are about 6 months behind . Just 3 more years and we might get a bloom if we can keep them from freezing and bending over on the ceiling or stroking out in the heat ........

I grow stuff about like a mulching mower .....
 
JWFilips

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
fiver said:
my bell peppers are just getting their second set of leaves.
i got 2 months and a few days before they can go outside though.

i do believe i can get pepper plants to germinate now that i have the mat and lights set up.
the mat has a controller that bumps it on and off to help it maintain a consistent temperature.
i put it on the other day and it defaulted to 80-F at the probe, the temp never went below 78 and never above about 80.5.

that should allow me to start stuff in late feb early march now.
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fiver,
you really do well with diverse situations!....keep the peppers warm and in bright lights....I bet you do well
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
i'm hopeful, and i'm learning... LOL

my sister keeps a lemon tree at my parents house, which i get a giggle out of.
my mom loves lemon stuff but won't pick any, because it's my sisters tree, and my sister don't like lemon.
i dunno.

i have a Fig tree in the Kitchen, but i'm beginning to think it's a male tree and worthless, unless you count hogging up half the island as something of worth.
 
JWFilips

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
I have a tangerine tree I started from a seed back in 1992...it is huge but never had a flower or fruit. I have a line tree I started from seed back in 2003 Every year it has flowers and limes. They make it through the winter in a cool north lit room...not much light put if you don't water them too much they do well I found out 2 to 3 ounces of water every day prevents them from dropping all their leaves! Water tends to be a killer in the winter!
I put them out in May and they get full sun! However the first few days I wait to put them out in cloudy weather or in shade to get used to the outside.
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
yep over watering doesn't help the fig tree either, and it likes to grow in the winter, but it doesn't take any cold whatsoever.
made that i'll give it some winter thing mistake once.
 
JWFilips

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
Well this year's batch of fermented "Rain Forest" chilies (Capsicum bacattum) are 2 days before they are made into sauce! That will be the 8th week!
This is the first time I had an easy and fast ferment of chillies. It was complete in 6 weeks, but there were a bubbles here and there so I let it run the course until the end! I did give the mash an additional dose of "Lactobacillus" in the beginning so it got a quick start.
I like to get my fermenting started early because I do not add any salt to the mash! Salt will either slow the ferment or kill it all together!
On Monday I will decant the fermented mash into my blender and run it on liquify for about 3 minuets ( it is about a quart) then I will add white vinegar and salt & process again for about 3 minutes.
This hot sauce does not need garlic or any more additions; is is great as itself!
I picked enough additional RainForest chillies before our frosts and they are in the refrigerator....Probably will put up another batch to ferment since I sill have a good amount of Greek Yogurt whey, to seed it. It is the only pepper I'm fermenting this year.
 
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