Fermented Habanero Relish Recipe

Ingredients:

15 habaneros

3 jalapeños

1 shallots

3 garlic cloves

1 yellow bell pepper

Filtered water or bottled spring water

Fine sea salt, non iodized

***For the brine (done by weight in grams)

Tools needed:

Mason jar

Digital scale that weighs in grams

Food processor (can cut ingredients small with a knife)

Sharp knife

Cutting board

Ziplock bag filled with some water (this is the weight for the fermentation process)

Strainer

Rubber gloves (highly recommended for cutting the habaneros)

How to make it:

Clean the peppers under cold running water.  Pull stems from habaneros and the jalapeños.  Halve the habaneros and the jalapeños and cut into 1/2 inch thick slices. Cut stem top off the bell pepper, cut off into sections around the seeds and placenta, rough chop.  Check the seeds to make sure that they are not discolored on all of the pepper.  If there are any discolored seeds, scrape them out with paring knife or spoon.  Any peppers that look like they’re starting to go bad on the inside, discard. The idea is that the peppers and shallot are cut up to be about the same size as the halved habaneros and garlic

Peel the garlic, cut off the root ends.  Peel shallot, quarter the shallot removing root end.

Place all ingredients into a food processor and pulse 3-5 times in 5 second intervals.  If you don’t have a food processor, chop ingredients with a knife. The ingredients should resemble a fine dice and not processed to the point of being completely broken down.

If using a knife, cut the ingredients to resemble a fine mince.

Set scale to read grams.

Place the jar on scale, zero out (tare).   Fill the jar with the processed ingredients, fill with filtered water.   Leave enough head space so that you can put a weight in the jar.  Record that weight.

The following equation will get us the amount of fine sea salt for the brine:

Ingredients in the jar plus the water x .03 (3%) = amount of sea salt we need for the brine in grams. Ex: if the ingredients plus water is 312 g, multiply it by .03 which equals 9.36 g. I round down to 9 grams as that decimal place is minimal. Plus, my scale doesn't weight in grams.

Pour out some of this liquid into a mixing bowl.  Place an empty ramekin on the scale, tare the scale.  Add the calculated amount of salt to the ramekin and add to the water that is in the mixing bowl.  Mix thoroughly with whisk and add this salty water back to the jar with the ingredients.  Place a water filled ziplock bag in the jar keeping the ingredients weighted down. It is important to keep the ingredients completely submerged.  Let sit at room temperature away from direct sunlight.  I keep my ferments around 68-75 degrees for best results. I have a special spot in my pantry for my ferments that stays a consistent temperature and is away from light.  Let ferment for 7 days.  Around day 3, you will see some bubbling activity…a good sign that it is fermenting properly.  I taste at day 3 to see if it needs to go longer than 7 days.  If it is too hot in your house, it will ferment faster. 

Check pH if you are able to do so after the 7 days.  Any reading less that 4.6 is acceptable and safe to consume. If the fermentation process worked properly, the brine will read around 3.6-3.8 pH.

Enjoy

-Logan