Batch 23 Hot Sauce Update #3

Topped off the one-gallon fermenter, but this may be the last addition of peppers

The Hidden Lake Hot pepper plants are played out for the season

Author’s Note: Every year since 2001, I’ve made a slow fermented hot sauce from a unique Cayenne hot pepper we’ve grown here since the early 1990’s. The hot sauce takes around six months to finish and, like wine and other fermented foods, each vintage is a little different from the other. Sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s bad. I write these notes to track the progress and hope I learn how to produce more good than bad.

Up until a week ago the Hidden Lake Hot cayenne peppers I ferment for this hot sauce were still blooming and making more peppers. Unfortunately, a Pacific storm blew through and knocked most of the flowers off the plants. Also, it’s chilly at night now, dipping into the low 40’s and upper 30’s, so I think they’re done until next spring.

Before I put the pepper plants to bed for the winter, I was able to pick another 8 ounces or so of ripe peppers which conveniently topped off the one gallon fermenter. With that done, I’ll move the jar to a nice, cool place in the garage for the peppers to ride out the winter.

Batch 23 hot sauce fermenting on November 27, 2023

Other than giving them a stir every few weeks, there’s not much to do until late January when I add the toasted oak to finish the ferment.

Batch 23 Timeline

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