gagger, you could be right. I plan to spoon as much of the salt that I can off. It's mostly very crusty and easy to see! I have tasted the liquid at the edges, and it's YES! VERY SALTY! Underneath, there is no salt, so I'm hoping it will equal out. I will definitely update this thread when it happens, but it sure is fun to watch the ferment. I'm thinking 2 or 3 weeks, and then hit it with vinegar and bottle. If it is too salty, lucky me, I've got a bunch of frozen jalapenos in the freezer, so I may have to ferment those without salt, and add them to the salty batch. I could probably kick up the ferment with a little sugar and some wine yeast. Tobasco ferments in oak for 3 years! I don't think I could do that! Waaay too long. I even have an oak barrel, but that is for wine! Most of the joy of doing this is anticipating the flavors that happen, and sharing it with family and friends, with them knowing they can't BUY this stuff! They have to come for a visit to get a taste!! My family likes heat! We are California natives, and have lived close to Mexico forever, so we do like it Spicy HOT!! tracydr, So you added vinegar after 10 days, right? Good luck with your canning! I prefer freezing, fermenting, brining, stuff like that. I fear the lid of the pressure cooker flying off and hitting me! LOL!! Nice to see you post, so i know the garlic in your ferment did not kill you! The sour dough starter gave me a lot of comfort with fermenting. half flour/half water, the bubbles come, and over the years, it just gets better! I don't have a dog or a cat or a fish. Just my Yeasties! And I only have to feed them now and then! Suzi

Would you like to tell us how you are doing on the fermentation.

melikeeatplants, you're correct, the live beasties are pro-biotics, good for you, and a live culture will live happily in your fridge until you consume it. I always keep a couple of 'live' quarts in the fridge then boil and can the rest. I should have clarified that boiling is kind of an essential step prior to canning or you end up with a real mess on your hands with jar contents going everywhere. Ask me how I know ….:) scott123456, Thats an interesting question. Botulism poisoning is extremely rare, I think there were 4 cases in North America last year. ,Almost all the cases here stem from non-acid canning with too low temperatures/times - its usually something pretty head-slapping like trying to can salmon using a camping stove, or water-bath canning your Great Aunts' asparagus, mushroom, and potato casserole dish from the 'Olde Country'. From Google, the last case was from prisoners trying to make home brew. You wonder what they were doing, can't find out the details. I've never heard of a case arising from home fermented food such as traditional brine home pickling, sauerkraut, kim chee, baking bread, making beer, wine, etc. The closest we can get to fermented pepper is following the standard process for making sauerkraut - which is officially approved by the very strict gurus at the USDA (or where ever they reside). Not that it couldn't happen, I suppose. However, according to the World Health Organization, heating any food at 180ºF for 5 minutes will destroy the toxin, the USDA suggests 20 minutes at normal boiling temps, but then they follow a different and far stricter statistical standard than elsewhere in the world. Which, IMHO, is a bit of overkill. I think they cater to the lowest denominator. Point being if you're worried about it, your 10 minute boil would destroy any toxin. Or 20 minutes if you're more comfortable with that. I've linked to somebodies blog who discusses the issue - hey, its the internet and somebody's blog. Try a google of 'botulism and sauerkraut', 'botulism and fermented foods'. Probably scare you off - I hope not. My personal opinion is that an exaggerated fear of the minuscule threat of botulism poisoning is keeping people from enjoying a lot of great food. My sister won't can peaches, for example, which is about as low risk as it gets. Statistically, you're far and away more likely to get food poisoning or botulism from a package of hamburger at the grocery store or eating in a restaurant. Edited to add that this is one reason to add kefir - you inoculate your mash with the good guys, who proceed to multiply so fast that the bad guys never have a chance. Here is a link that might be useful: link This post was edited by david52 on Tue, Aug 5, 14 at 17:04

Ok, Mark. Here's how i do it. I make a little less than a gallon at a time because I use those big gallon pickle jars. An Airlock type is probably better but I don't feel the need as long as you "burp" it every day for the 1st week or so and every few days after that. The last batch I made, I used about 1/3 ripened Serranos and 2/3 Nagas and Bhuts. !st, line a fine mesh strainer/sieve about 3 fold with cheesecloth, set inside a clean glass bowl. Dump Yogurt in sieve -- you'll need about 1/4 cup, so about a pint of full fat, plain, live cultured yogurt should do plenty. Do this a couple hours prior to processing to give the whey time to leach out... about an hour into it, disturb the yogurt a bit with a spoon. Next, snip stems(but leave calyxes) and wash peppers. Next--- my ADDED veggies and aromatics include onion, garlic, and carrot. You don't have to use anything but I love garlic and onion and I add carrot for some sweetness and something for the bacteria to munch on besides the peppers. Peppers aren't the greatest sugar producers. So, I use 3 heads of garlic, 1 large onion and about 3 carrots, so adjust yours accordingly and/or to taste. Peel garlic, peel and quarter onion, and peel carrots and cut into 2 inch pieces. Next, Blitz everything in the food processor and move to clean glass mixing bowl or non-reactive pot. Add whey, salt and sugar. The recipe on the link calls for about a quart of sauce, so you may have to adjust. But I used 8 TB of BROWN sugar(molasses good for the bacteria) and 8 tsp of sea salt. Give a good stir. Next, scoop out and put in jar. Try to keep mash from touching the sides of the jar at the top. Many people will put weights on the mash to keep it submerged under the juice, but i don't find this necessary. I just wipe it with a paper towel and on goes the lid. Up on the counter or in the cabinet it goes. As mentioned above, an airlock is probably best, but what I do is twist a regular lid on but barely tight. I want it to breath but not like if I left the lid off entirely. So, for the next week, I "burp" the jar by twisting the lid off about an inch and then loosely tighten it 5 seconds later. The instructions on that site calls for fermenting for 5-7 days. I do it for about 6 weeks. From my understanding and readings, you really do want to do at least a 30 day ferment. Kind of like making cheese or letting wine age... complexity is achieved through time. The burping is daily for the first week or so and every few days for the remainder. Next, after the fermentation process, it's time to finish. Dump mash into a nonreactive pot and cook on medium heat until just to a boil. This will soften up the mash and release some juices, which will make the next step easier. Next, put in blender and blend on high for about 2-3 minutes. Next, pour blended mash through the fine mesh strainer and back into the pot, using a rubber spatula to aid the flow. If you have to do more than one pour, remove seeds from strainer each time. Bring back to a boil and gently boil for 10 mins., stirring frequently. You're done for the most part, but there are a few things you may want to do to make unique or to taste. For example, before the last boil, you may want to add more salt, sugar, juice, black pepper, spices, etc. I, myself, add about a TB of finely ground black pepper and about 1/2 cup of rice vinegar. I know I've said time and again that I hate vinegar based hot sauces, but this is only 1/2 cup to a gallon of sauce and the type of vinegar i use is very mild. Put in bottles and refrigerate. Like I said earlier, I'm not sure if this is a shelf stable recipe. It's a good all-around hot sauce that really isn't all that a**-ripping. it's nice and hot, but something in the fermentation process really calms the heat down. Vinegar does this by nature, but I only add 1/2 cup. So I guess fermenting does what vinegar does. And mashed sauces have a tang, but you're not overwhelmed by vinegar. This year, i want something even hotter. So, no serranos, but maybe a "few" japs. But when i get to that 2nd boil, I'm going to add some Bhut/Naga powder. Good luck and any more questions, just ask. I'm far from an expert though. But like i said, it's so easy, even a woohooman can do it. :) Kevin