Roughly inspired by a Louisiana-style hot sauce like Tabasco, this fermented condiment gets its intense color and fruity flavor from berries.
- Prep: 10 minutes
- Fermentation Time: 168 hours
- Total Time: 168 hours plus 10 minutes
- Serves: 32 to 40 servings
- Makes: 2 to 2 1/2 cups
Ingredients
For the Mash:
- 8 ounces blackberries
- 8 ounces blueberries
- 5 1/3 ounces habanero chile peppers (about 25 peppers) stemmed
- 3 tablespoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt
To Finish the Hot Sauce:
- 1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1/4 teaspoons xanthum gum (optional)
Directions
- For the Mash: In a food processor, pulse blackberries, blueberries, peppers, and salt until berries release liquid and mixture is coarsely pureed, about 12 to 15 pulses.
- Transfer mash to wide-mouth, 1-quart canning jar. Tap jar lightly to remove any air pockets. Cover surface with plastic wrap, pressing gently to ensure full contact, and weigh down with fermentation weight or small jar lid. Seal jar with airlock lid following manufacturer’s instructions.
- Store pepper mash in dark area away from sun and let ferment, maintaining an ambient temperature between 55 and 75 degrees for 7 days; check mixture daily for signs of gas formation (mash will climb up sides of jar; this is a good sign). Starting on the 7th day, taste mash daily until it has reached a pleasantly sour flavor; the total fermentation time can take anywhere from 7 to 10 days.
- To Finish the Hot sauce: Transfer mash to a blender. Add vinegar, sugar, and xanthum gum (optional) and blend at high speed until smooth and emulsified, about 1 minute. Measure pH using strips or pH-meter to ensure sauce is about 3.4; If it is too high, lower pH to 3.4 with more vinegar, as needed.
- Strain sauce; either with a food mill or through a fine-mesh strainer set over a nonreactive bowl or large container, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible; reserve solids for another use (see note).
- Transfer strained hot sauce to glass bottles or jar, cover, and keep refrigerated until ready to use. The sauce can be refrigerated for up to a month (note that because of the additional sugars from the fruit, it can continue to ferment as it sits; this shouldn’t be an issue under refrigeration, but can cause bubbling if left at room temperature for a while).
Notes
If you prefer a slightly spicier sauce, increase the amount of habanero chiles to 7 ounces (200g), and decrease the blackberries and blueberries to 7 ounces (200g) each. For a much milder sauce, decrease the chile amount to 3 1/2 ounces (100g), and the berries to 8 3/4 ounces (250g) each. It’s best not to exceed 14 days of fermentation; the vibrant color will begin to fade.
About Xanthum gum
- Xanthan gum is a popular food additive that’s commonly added to foods as a thickener or stabilizer.
- It’s created when sugar is fermented by a type of bacteria called Xanthomonas campestris. When sugar is fermented, it creates a broth or goo-like substance, which is made solid by adding an alcohol. It is then dried and turned into a powder.
- When xanthan gum powder is added to a liquid, it quickly disperses and creates a viscous and stable solution. This makes it a great thickening, suspending and stabilizing agent for many products .
- It was discovered by scientists in 1963. Since then, it has been well researched and determined safe. Therefore, the FDA has approved it as a food additive and placed no limitations on the amount of xanthan gum a food can contain.
- Even though it’s made in a lab, it’s a soluble fiber. Soluble fibers are carbs that your body cannot breakdown.
- A little goes a long way: 1/8 teaspoon per cup of sauce is the maximum recommended amount
Reserved strained solids from the fermentation can be mixed into a bloody mary, a salsa or relish, or blended into mayonnaise.
