Fermented Carrot Tabasco Pepper Sauce
Servings: 120 · Prep: 25 min · Total: 20185 min
Ingredients
- 200 g Carrots
- 40 g Yellow onion
- 10 g Garlic
- 24 g Kosher salt
- 300 ml Filtered water
- 120 ml White vinegar
- 250 g fresh Tabasco peppers
Equipment
Blender; Cutting board and knife; Digital kitchen scale; Disposable food-safe gloves; Clean 1.5-liter wide-mouth glass jar with a; Glass fermentation weight that fits inside the jar; Measuring jug and spoon; Small tray; Fine-mesh strainer and bowl; Calibrated digital food pH meter; Clean lidded bottles or jars for refrigeration; blender; cutting board and knife; digital kitchen scale; disposable food-safe gloves; clean 1.5-liter wide-mouth glass jar with a; glass fermentation weight that fits inside the jar; measuring jug and spoon; small tray; fine-mesh strainer and bowl; calibrated digital food ph meter; clean lidded bottles or jars for refrigeration
Steps
- Wash the jar and prepare the produce. Wash the jar, lid, weight, and utensils thoroughly with hot, soapy water, then rinse well. Rinse the peppers and carrots. Wearing gloves, remove the pepper stems and slit each pepper lengthwise. Thinly slice the carrots, chop the onion, and slice the garlic. Weigh the prepared produce to match the ingredient amounts: 500 g total.
- 200 grams carrot — peeled and trimmed
- 40 grams onion — peeled
- 10 grams garlic — peeled
- 250 grams fresh Tabasco peppers
Wear food-safe gloves when handling the fresh peppers and avoid touching your eyes.
- Dissolve and weigh the salt. Dissolve all 24 g kosher salt in the 300 ml water. The salt basis is 3% of the combined prepared fresh produce weight: 500 g × 0.03 = 15 g salt. The remaining 9 g salts the added 300 g water at the same 3% rate. Weigh the salt rather than measuring it by spoon.
- 24 grams Kosher Salt
- 300 milliliters water
- Pack and submerge the vegetables. Pack the peppers, carrots, onion, and garlic snugly into the 1.5-liter jar. Pour in all the saltwater, tapping the jar gently to release trapped air. Fit the fermentation weight over the vegetables so every piece stays beneath the liquid. Leave at least 1½ inches (4 cm) of headspace; do not fill the jar to the rim or discard saltwater to make the batch fit.
- 250 grams fresh Tabasco peppers
- 200 grams carrot — peeled and trimmed
- 40 grams onion — peeled
- 10 grams garlic — peeled
Keep every vegetable piece beneath the brine and leave at least 4 cm of headspace; never fill the jar to the rim.
- Secure the lid and ferment. Secure the lid loosely, without tightening it airtight, and place the jar on a tray. Ferment out of direct sunlight at room temperature, ideally 65–75°F (18–24°C), for approximately 7–14 days.
Keep the lid loose so fermentation gas can escape; never seal the jar airtight.
- Check daily and keep the vegetables submerged. Check daily, release trapped gas, and keep every vegetable piece submerged. Use the calibrated food pH meter on a representative mashed sample of vegetables and brine: check for pH 5.2 or lower within 24 hours and below 4.6 within 48 hours. Discard the batch without tasting if either target is missed; do not try to rescue it by adding vinegar. Discard tested samples. Continue checking acidity during fermentation.
Early acidity checks are essential; do not wait until day 7 to measure pH.
- Confirm the fermentation endpoint. After the early acidity checks have passed, begin checking flavor-development readiness around day 7. Bubbling should have slowed and the aroma should be pleasantly tangy. Confirm pH 4.2 or lower in a representative mashed sample before tasting or blending. Discard the tested sample. Discard any spoiled batch, or one that has not reached this endpoint by day 14.
The day-7 check does not replace the first-24-hour and first-48-hour acidity checks.
- Strain and blend the fermented vegetables. Strain the fermented vegetables over a bowl, reserving the brine. Put the vegetables in the blender with 120 ml white vinegar and 60 ml reserved brine. Blend for 1–2 minutes, until very smooth and pourable. The vinegar is added only now, after fermentation, for flavor and final acidity.
- 120 milliliters vinegar
- Check, transfer, and refrigerate the finished sauce. Check that the finished sauce remains at pH 4.2 or lower. Transfer to clean bottles or jars and refrigerate immediately. If desired, let it rest in the refrigerator for 24 hours for the flavors to settle. Shake before serving in 1-teaspoon portions.
Refrigerate the finished sauce at 40°F (4°C) or below and use it within 1 month.
Open refrigerated containers carefully and release pressure if the sauce develops any.
Notes
Serving size: 1 teaspoon; makes approximately 2½ cups (600 ml), about 120 servings
Carrots provide natural sweetness, although some of their sugars are consumed during fermentation. Expect a gently sweet vegetable flavor rather than a sugary sauce.
For an especially silky texture, press the blended sauce through a fine-mesh strainer before bottling. This will slightly reduce the yield.
Refrigeration may cause slight separation; shake well before using.
Cooking safety
Wear gloves when handling fresh Tabasco peppers, and avoid touching your eyes. Wash the knife, board, and work surface afterward.
Keep all vegetable pieces submerged throughout fermentation. Never tightly seal the fermenting jar: accumulating gas needs a daily escape route.
Discard the entire batch if you see fuzzy mold, pink or black surface growth, unusual sliminess, or notice a rotten smell. Do not scrape away mold and use the remainder.
Do not taste a ferment that looks spoiled or has not reached the specified acidity. Smell and bubbling alone do not confirm adequate acidification.
Keep the finished sauce refrigerated at 40°F (4°C) or below and use within 1 month. Fermentation can continue slowly in the refrigerator; open carefully and release pressure if it develops.
https://plumtally.com/recipes/fermented-carrot-tabasco-pepper-sauce-rsnssd312jn5
