Pickle Peppers in a Kimchi Jar!

My hubby's million dollar secret... Revealed.  Need I say more?  Oh, ok. Let me explain...

This is an experiment pickling smaller batches of peppers using my nifty Kimchi pickling jar.  For those of you who have never made Kimchi before, I will write a post or maybe several, about this topic, but for now, let's discuss how to make your own Tabasco hot sauce.

For years, my hubby and I have grown the hottest peppers on the planet, long before it was posh or cool or hip to eat hot foods. I'm a Southern girl, raised on Tabasco.

My first garden here in Minnesota had 45 varieties of peppers growing in it and nothing else...  My husband came to love the really really hot stuff after we started growing peppers on his apartment balcony when we were first dating. The rest is hot sauce history.

I have posted the "recipe" for making pickled peppers the old fashioned way, using a Gartopf fermentation crock.  However, I wanted to show you this way of doing it, too. The Kimchi jar was perfect!  Not only did it allow us to make a smaller batch of hot sauce but we could also see the fermentation in action, which is kinda cool.

As is the case with the Gartopf crock, this jar has a "cup" on top of the mouth of the jar and a wide rim on the well which holds water to create a seal. The seal keeps critters and dust out while still allowing the jar to burp and gurgle to release the gases as the peppers begin to ferment.

The pickling liquid will also go from crystal clear to a milky, cloudy pickling liquid and this is your sign that fermentation has happened and may need to be slowed down. To slow it down, put this little jar in the fridge. This slows down the fermentation process and I find that the refrigeration step also allows the real tang to develop.

Of course you can eat these little devils just like they are. And we do. But another way we enjoy this bounty is by juicing the whole batch and making hot sauce.  This is the trick to making a good hot sauce. You can blend, puree, mash the peppers but juicing them gives you the consistency of real hot sauce and also helps to keep the sauce homogenized. In other words, the sauce won't separate as easily if you put them through the juicer.

As a precaution, we use clean and sterilized herbal supplement bottles (which are quite small and very appropriate) fitted with medicine drippers. This allows hot sauce lovers to drizzle the sauce drop by drop on their food instead of pouring it out of a bottle which can end in trauma if you pour too much. This method, which my hubby thought of, is the most perfect way of doing it I've ever seen.  :)  

Gartopf Fermented Pickles

This is my 10L Gartopf fermenting crock. I've been using these now for several years after doing research and learning that these are the traditional vessels used for making sauerkraut and pickles in Germany and Austria.  I'm sure any old ceramic crock will do and I am antiquing around town in order to locate some of the awesome local crocks from Red Wing, but until then, these are my go-tos. They are sturdy, steady and quite heavy so keep that in mind if you do decide to start pickling this way. 

The nice thing about these crocks is that their lids are specially designed to let the gases escape and of course, since they are covered, bacteria can't get in.  The deep well on the outside is filled with water once the lid is in place and a little hole or gasket that sits above the water line releases any excess gas while the fermentation is in full swing. 

Fatalii, Red Congos, Purira, Punjab, White Habanero
Jalapeno Chili Peppers

If I had to guess, I would say this was around 7 or 8 lbs of homegrown very fresh peppers, picked from our pepper plants that same day.  From here you add the fresh peppers to the crock above and I admit this one is a little full so they will have to be pressed down somewhat so that the stone weights, which the vessels come with, will fit in and keep the peppers submerged in the pickling brine. This is extremely important if you do not want your peppers to rot. That can happen when the peppers are allowed to float on top of the brine and then, you run the risk of spoiling the whole batch.

We put the stones in top, then pour the pickling liquid in so that it covers the stones completely. Put the lid on top and wait about six weeks for the fermentation to stop. The vessel will start "burping" almost immediately so if you smell something funny, don't blame your neighbor, they didn't do it, honest. :)

The standard pickling brine I use for cucumber pickles and pickled peppers is the following:

• 2 cups warm water, not hot
• 2 tbsp white vinegar (I love fancy, but not here, this needs to be standard white vinegar)
• 1 tbsp kosher salt

Repeat this exact measurement as many times as you need to completely cover the stones and peppers. My 10L needs about 6 repeats and 5L about 5. Don't ask me why, doesn't make sense to me why you don't need twice as much for the 10L but I have repeated this enough times to know that you need one more batch more than the 5L, usually.

Shocked? So was I.  But this is the perfect ratio for creating a natural pickling brine that isn't overloaded with vinegar or salt. It will work, trust me. The pickle flavor or the acid you are looking for will be there, I assure you, but it will develop naturally and allow you to store these pickles without hot packing BUT you will need to refrigerate them temporarily to stop the fermentation process. I learned this the hard way when a bottle of recent hot sauce nearly exploded at the kitchen table because we forgot to put it back in the refrigerator just after bottling it.  We put our hot sauce in medicinal dripper bottles because the dropper is the perfect way to distribute really, really hot sauce in moderation. Well, the rubber dropper on top turned into a big round bulbous balloon that was funny at first.

In an attempt to alleviate the pressure, hubby wanted to put it in the fridge. Due to recent events in which other things blew up my fridge, I was a little wary of this idea and insisted he put it outside where temperatures were already quite nippy.  Well, as you might expect during the day, the temps climbed and we forgot to take it back in. It alerted us by exploding with such a force that it literally shot hot sauce to the soffits of our roof, much to my dismay. Alas, putting it in the fridge may have been more prudent but don't tell him that.... :)

After these are done, we take them out of the brine then run it all through a juicer and the hot sauce will surprise you. Of course, you can also pack them into jars to brighten the day when the mood strikes if pickled peppers is more your thing. Just be careful and do your homework so you know exactly how to process fermented food as I'm still a novice (no? really??) myself. Experiment but arm yourself with a bit of google research so I don't lead you astray. But, above all, have fun!

A Chimichurri to Shout About!

Traditional Chimchurri (to the best of my knowledge :)
* 1 bunch flat leaf parsley
* 1 bunch cilantro
* 8 cloves garlic, minced
* 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
* 1/4 cup red wine, sherry or apple cider vinegar
* 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon salt

Hard to express just how incredible this traditional Argentinian "salsa" is... Not one to stray too far from my beloved Mexican sauces, I'm hard pressed to choose between a classic Mexican fresh salsa, pico de gallo or this classic Argentinian Chimichurri.  Truth is, this light, fresh marinade is so good one could be tempted to just throw it back, shot-style. But that would be poor manners, indeed! Still... you may be tempted so if you use it for a marinade, it is traditional to reserve half for serving table side along with you rmeal.  I've eaten Mexican salsa, hot sauce, pico, you name it, my whole life and I had never had chimichurri until we were served this as a table-side sauce at an Argentinian restaurant in Florida.  Long story short: I fell in love with it. 

Traditional American salsas (yes, folks, Mexico is still America!) and chips are the bread and butter of North Americans today. We may not be Mexican, but at heart, we can dig into some chips and dip, depending on where you hail from.  Chips and salsa, chips-n-dip, chips and hot sauce, whatever you call it, this one will become a regular at your table once you see how versatile and easy it is to make yourself! Truly a recipe I went on the hunt for and have used ever since.  Because the consistency is somewhat more liquid than our salsas, it is best suited as a dressing or marinade, but as I said, one could, theoretically drink it and really enjoy it! :)  You'll see what I mean...

And because I have used this recipe so extensively, I have a few variations based on what the garden is presently producing.  Just as every household has its own recipe for salsa, you will eventually modify this recipe for your tastes, too.   Or at least I hope you do! I didn't have parsley handy, so I used the flowering stalks of shallots and it was amazing. More like a shallot pesto, but totally and completely inspired by Argentina grilling. And, of course, Chimichurri. Time to get your chimi on, friends...

Shallot Chimichurri
* 1 bunch of shallot flower stalks
* 2 tablespoons Mirin or rice vinegar
* 2 tablespoons White Balsamic vinegar
* 5 cloves garlic, minced
* 1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped
* 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Additional Flavorings for Traditional Chimichurri
Additional flavorings such as red onion, hot chili, paprika (pimenton dulce), oregano, cumin, thyme, cilantro (coriander leaf), lemon, and bay leaf (laurel), and in the red version, tomato and red bell pepper may also be added to the traditional recipe to create a flavor profile unique to your dish. Experiment and see what is your favorite addition and go ahead, be brave, try a few of your favorite herbs and spices to make it even more complimentary to your meal.