I've posted several times in the past about fermenting hot peppers, and IMHO, the result is considerably better than the sauces made with vinegar. I'm getting ready to ferment two batches, one with peppers that have turned red - these I've picked and frozen as they turn red - and one batch with green ones. I've grown several varieties of hot peppers - jalapenos, Chili Noir, several of my own inadvertent (eh-hem) 'hybrids' from saved seed. What I'll do is follow the salt ratio for sauerkraut - 3 tablespoons for 5 lbs peppers. So weigh the peppers, drag the food processor outside and chop up them up, then put the result in a 3 gallon crock with the appropriate amount of salt along with some whey or kefir powder, then weigh it all down with plastic bags filled with water, set the crocks in a cool place, put them in a saucer so any spillage won't eat the floor, and then wait 3 - 5 weeks, checking occasionally. That result will be run through a food mill to remove skins and seeds, and then I'll see what I've got. I may add vinegars to cut it, may add fruit juice, who knows. That result can say in the fridge for months. I generally leave a quart or two in the fridge and can the rest. There is a fizzy complexity of flavor thats just hard to describe, but it leaves tobasco sauce in the dust. Looking at the above-mentioned Canadian site, they have a completely different method, but I don't see why it wouldn't work out just fine for smaller batches of peppers.

Well guys sorry to keep you waiting. I originally fermented my orange habies with thee ingredients listed above and I did not like the way it turned out. So, I decided to run with an all red habie batch and include nothing else in the fermentation unlike my previous attempt. After one month of letting the red's bubble like crazy, I pulled them out and became creative with a couple recipes. My ferment included 2 1/2lbs. so each recipe has just over a 1/2lb of deliciously fruity fermented red habies. 1) garlic roasted, mango, salt, ginger, sugar, onion, vinegar----Result=AMAZING!!!! The fruitiness of the fermented peppers along with the mango complemented each other well and my bottles are being stolen by coworkers. 2) roasted garlic, papaya, onion, lime, thyme, basil, nutmeg, mustard, tumeric, cider vinegar, vinegar----Result=BLAND. The taste was a little bland and wanted it to become more fruity so i later added some pineapple juice and orange juice and it became better. I really want to revisit this one in the future so I can master my caribbean sauce. 3) roasted garlic, lime, vinegar, onion, spice mix----Result=PURE FLAME!!!! Although it's really hot, the fruitiness of the ferment seems to long for a complimentary flavor. I might revisit with an apple addition. 4) roasted garlic, onion, lime, cinnamon, cider vinegar, ginger----Result=LIQUID GINGERBREAD HOUSE!!! I've wanted to release a holiday version of my hot sauce and this was the first attempt at it. It has gone over well with some people but the pairing is difficult. Brown sugar will be introduced in the next batch. Might also consider changing the whole concept toward a hot cranberry sauce so it can have more uses i.e. turkey, ham, stuffing... Well that's it for now. My next red habie order is in and once fermented I'll let you know how my follow-ups go. Thank you all for your time and patience, I look forward to chatting again soon. Russ

Dump the tannin, yeast nutrients, campden, and pectic enzyme. Adding sugar adds alcohol to a point... yeast dies when exposed to excessive alcohol. Low alcohol content wines will ferment faster because they don't have as much alcohol to produce. Really roughing it to use straight juice with its natural sugar content but that was the way for thousands of years before refined sugar. Honey can be used... honey is the base for mead. Honey often carries it own load of wild yeast. Tannin is to give a dry woody taste. Yeast nutrient is basically fertilizer... nitrogen. Urine would be the only source of nitrogen so I'd hope there is enough natural nitrogen in the juice.... probably is! Other then being gross urine is normally a sterile fluid and soldiers far from help will wash wounds with it. Pectic enzyme is to break down starches so the wine is clear when cold. Campden tablets are the sulfides I like to avoid. They are sometimes used in small amount to kill any wild yeast in the juice for a taste true to the domestic yeast. I never use sulfides because I simply don't like them. Bread yeast can be used but who knows what it will taste like. Bread and wine yeast are basically the same yeast. Just differant "breeds" of yeast some know to make good bread and some known to make good wine. I'd give bread yeast a try if nothing else is available... dry yeast packets are light weight so maybe they can be mailed to a destination? Probably can substitute some citrus for the acid blend. Jailhouse wine is often made with bread and raisins! Hard part is going to be keeping it covered with an bubbler lock. It can be crock fermented which relies on the layer of carbon dioxide bubbles to keep oxygen out.. oxygen will allow bacteria to turn it into vinegar. Crock style is pushing toward jailhouse wine... a quick ferment of 10 days and drink up. Probably fairly rough stuff but I'll bet it is necter of the gods to someone that has not had alcohol in awhile. A "home" trick is to attach a rubber balloon over the opening of a narrow necked bottle... the balloon expands so the bottle does not explode while keeping the CO2 inside and the O2 outside.... probably best bet. Figure ancient man probably put juice in a bucket, watched it bubble, and gave it a taste. At worst the juice rots or turns sour. : ) lyra

Are there recipes that would allow you do do that safely? No. Eventually, I would open a jar here or there and make hot sauce with it. Fermented sauce is made with all the ingredients added to the pot at the same time. Fermented HOT sauce is made using hot ingredients all added at the same time. ie Tabasco Sauce - all ingredients go into the fermentation barrel at the same time. Doing otherwise voids the safety guidelines. Vinegar-based (pickled) hot sauce is a totally different thing than fermented hot sauce. But vinegar-based sauces are also made with all ingredients added at the same time. In both cases it is the pH and the density of the contents that determines its safety to consume and store. The only way you can control both and keep them within safe limits is to either pickle it all at the same time or ferment it all at the same time. Hope this clarifies. Dave