Aji Amarillo fermented hot sauce, or traditional paste or sauce?

Trying to decide between a fermented hot sauce, and a more traditional Aji Amarillo paste or sauce. Some of the aji Amarillo sauce and paste recipes mention blanching and peeling, but the "baby amarillo"seem too small to fiddle with peeling.

I have two very early and prolific plants I think are “baby Aji Amarillo from Artisan”, and three others, maybe “Aji Grande”, or maybe what I call regular, two grown in soil (1gallon and 5 gallon), and one grown in water, “kratky” style. I think the one gallon in soil makes tiny peppers, but mature a darker orange.

Here is one of the ideas I found for starting a fermented sauce.

https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/c…lic-hot-sauce/

I like that it allows for plenty of procrastination.

I posted this elswhere as well, so mods, delete one if that’s better.

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My vote is definitely the fermented hot sauce. That looks like a great recipe and easy to make. It looks like you have enough for a few bottles so maybe experiment with some different ingredients.

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Throwing another related idea out - I’ve been pleased with fermented chili relishes made using just ground/chopped chilies, Himalayan or sea salt, and fermentation starter (helps ensure the good bugs take off and avoid off-flavors/infection). I think I added garlic to one batch, and it was good too.

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That sounds ideal. I’ve been pleased with that as well. Do have an opinion on seeding the peppers? Obviously a hassle, but not the worst thing I could fiddle with.

Most of the peppers (the fatter yellow o we) are nice!y sweet and medium hot, without the veins and seeds. The orange ones are hotter and less sweet.

I also have a …wait for it…shit-ton* of a “carribean seasoning” pepper. I think Aji dulce 2. They smell amazing!

  • That’s “Hungry Onion” talk for a lot!

fermented vs unfermented hot sauce

I didn’t seed mine, but the peppers were small. I guess it depends if you think the seeds add flavor v. contribute bitterness/undesirable texture.

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Seeded, (mostly), with about 3 Tb salt to a pound of peppers, no water, and a sprinkle of Lalvin Dried Wine Yeast EC

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Awesome, looks great!

I believe I used too much salt.

https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/cooking-with-chili-peppers/how-to-make-fermented-pepper-mash/

I tried just salt; no water, using this technique.

https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/cooking-with-chili-peppers/how-to-make-fermented-pepper-mash/

Unfortunately, I used the amount of salt appropriate for the brine. I also put a pinch of wine yeast.

Hmmmmm. Found this comparing lactobacillus vs SACCHAROMYCES CAREVISIAE in fermentation.

https://eatcultured.com/blogs/our-awesome-blog/fermentation-the-basics

My yeast was leftover from my hard cider making phase, and I recently used it making pinapple vinegar.

@ChristinaM, what fermentation started do you use?

It might be okay? I use Caldwell’s.

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So i added water to make it a brine, and the sauce was getting pretty fizzy, and I needed a larger container. Then I tasted it, and it wasn’t NEARLY hot enough, so I added some yellow smScotch Bonnets. So far, it’s just right!

Aji Amarillo paste.

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