As woohooman mentioned above, fermenting your own, making your own mash, is the way to go. That link is pretty good - although once you understand the basics, then its an art form. Essentially, its the same thing as making sauerkraut - the fermentation eats up the sugars in the peppers / fruit, etc, creating lactic acid, which in turn preserves it, eliminating the need for any added vinegar. You can either keep it refrigerated or water-bath can it. I start off by saving any and all peppers that turn red - pull off the stems, slice roughly, put in a ziplock and into the chest freezer. At the end of the growing season, most of whats left on the plants is red, and the still-green peppers I leave on a tray, most turn red as well. Then thaw out the frozen ones, saving any liquid, and use a blender or food processor to chop them up into a 'mash'. Add salt, and then into the fermentation chamber. You can also do this with green peppers as well. You can mix red and green, but the end result looks a bit like mud. I use 3 gallon ceramic crocks, plastic bags filled with water as the seal. however you can use a mason jar with a special lid, see link. The whole idea is an anaerobic fermentation, just like they use to make wine, or sauerkraut, or the old-fashioned way to make pickles. The longer you leave it, the more complex the flavor. Its better to do this in a cool environment, perfect is 65 - 70 F. You can add mango slices, apple slices, onion, spices, what ever. I don't add a 'starter' unless I'm making something with roasted chili - a whole other world of good. Because then, the roasting process killed the natural bacteria, and ya have to add something, I use a splash of kefir because it gives a great flavor and result. Each time its a bit different. Its also pretty safe - there are a bazillion utubes out there on how to make sauerkraut, its the same process. When its done fermenting, for me usually 6 weeks, I run it through a food mill to remove the seeds and skin. Its still 'alive', so be careful because its still fermenting and can pop off lids and such. I do about 15 quarts of finished sauce a year. It doesn't last. Here is a link that might be useful: link to special lids

I make a lot of refrigerator salsas, and use little vinegar, mostly Goya Bitter Orange juice, like is used in the Oaxacan habanero salsas. This is my current favorite. 2-cups dried Numex Suave Orange habaneros 5-dried Ghost peppers 1-small onion, sliced thin 2-medium carrots, sliced thin 6-cloves garlic, smashed 1-teaspoon white pepper 1-tablespoon table salt 1-1/2 cups Goya Bitter Orange juice. 1-cup water, maybe more Put liquids in blender, add salt and white pepper, and all dried chilies. Process until smooth. Do this first so they can start reconstituting. Preheat oven to 425 and place rack in next to highest position. In a large bowl, toss chopped onion, carrots, and garlic in a little olive oil. Spread parchment paper on a baking sheet, and spread veggies evenly over it, place in oven, and roast for 20-25 minutes or until some charring takes place on the onions. Remove, and let cool for five minutes. Pick up parchment paper, and funnel veggies into blender and process until smooth. You may have to add more water if it gets too thick Taste for seasoning, and store in fridge. This lasts me about a week or so. You can also use fresh habs and ghosts sliced in half and roasted with the veggies, but it does require a good vent hood on your stove. Damn, forgot to add the pic...

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

Fermented foods are an interest of mine, both in the eating and the making. Some things I've made are: Dill Pickles - This was long ago. I grew a lot of pickling cukes and made a large crock (about 5 gal.) of fermented pickles with lots of garlic. I had beginner's luck. They were excellent. I took the crock to an office picnic and people ate them like candy all day long. Later I made another batch which did not turn out so well. They spoiled. Sauerkraut - This was very successful. Like you, I find the home made stuff crunchy and good flavored straight from the crock. Better than any store bought. Cheese - I've tried this a few times without much success. Probably should have started with something easier than cheddar. This can be sort of expensive unless you have a cheap source of milk because the whey is removed, reducing the volume significantly. Beer - I've done a fair amount of home brewing wit. It's a lot of work but the results are satisfying. Tsukemono - There are many varieties of these Japanese fermented pickles. I recently purchases a couple of pounds of nuka (rice bran) to make the kind which are made by burying various vegetables in the bran. Instructions can be found in Joy of Pickling and in several other books on the topic. Kimchee - I've made this a few times with good results. I've made both cabbage and daikon types. The process is like making sauerkraut. Here is a recipe from Rachelellen: RACHELELLEN'S KIMCHEE 2 pounds Napa (Chinese) cabbage, quartered and sliced into 2 inch pieces 4 or 5 green onions, chopped 6 cloves garlic, sliced very thin 2"x2" chunk of ginger root, peeled and minced 2 T Korean chili powder* 4 whole, dried red chilies (opt.) 2 T fish sauce 2 t sugar Salt Dissolve 3 T salt in 6 1/4 cups water in large container. Add cabbage, cover with a plate or plastic lid that fits inside the container and weigh down with a jar full o f water (or other clean, nonreactive weight) so that the cabbage is all held under the salted water. Leave for 12 hours. Drain the cabbage, reserving the salted water. Mix the cabbage with the rest of the ingredients (if using the dried, whole chilies, divide them among the jars) and pack into sterilized, screw top jars, filling the jars with the reserved liquid to completely cover the cabbage. Put the jars into a glass baking dish or other container that will hold liquid. As the kimchee ferments, it generally bubbles up and spills over a bit. Place the lids on the jars, but only very lightly screwed down just enough to fix the lid, not seal the jar. Leave the kimchee to ferment before covering and storing in the fridge. Timing depends on temperature and taste. The longer it ferments, the more sour it will taste. The aroma (some might say stink) when ready should smell pleasantly sour, with no raw cabbage scent and the flavor shouldn't be salty, just sour. It might be ready in a few days in warm weather, or take a week or more if cooler. I think kimchee (like sauerkraut) tastes best when made in relatively cool seasons, as the fermentation is slower and develops richer flavor. Notes: Korean chili powder is available in Asian food stores. There are different grinds. You want the one that looks like small flakes rather than powder. Korean chili powder has a rich chili flavor without a lot of heat. I have seen cookbooks suggest half cayenne and half paprika, but I think that would be quite a bit hotter, and cannot vouch for it as a sub since I've never tried it. This kimchee will keep in the fridge for well over a year, though as time passes, it will lose some texture. Jim This post was edited by jimster on Wed, Feb 13, 13 at 21:00