Lacto Fermented And Smoked Jalapeno Apple Hot Sauce Recipe -Should Be Kept Top Secret!

Beautiful Jalapeno Apple Hot Sauce Smoked On The Offset Smoker.

Ingredients:

10 jalapeños

1 green apple

3 garlic cloves

1 tsp cumin seeds

Fine Sea Salt

Filtered Water

2.5 % brine

Tools needed:

Offset smoker, pellet smoker or equivalent

Sharp knife

Cutting board

Mason Jar

Fermentation weight

Mixing bowl

Digital scale that reads in grams

perforated pan

Blender or nutribullet

How to make it:

Wash and dry the apples and the jalapeños.

Cut the stem end off the pepper and slice into coins. Seed and placenta removal is optional.

Cut apple into sections removing the core. Cut into rough large dice.

Lightly smash garlic on cutting board, remove outer paper layer and cut off stem end.

Place empty mason jar on the scale, tare (zero the scale), set to grams and place in the ingredients. Fill the jar to the bottom of the neck of the jar. Record that weight and multiply it by 2.5%

For example: If the ingredients plus water equal 790 g, multiply it by .025.

790 x .025 = 19.75 This is the amount of salt you will need in grams to make the brine. If your scale doesn’t read decimal points, round to the nearest whole number. In this example, I will go with 20 g salt.

Pour the water from the jar into a mixing bowl, holding back the ingredients.

Place a small dish on the scale, tare and add the 20 g salt.

Add the salt to the water in the mixing bowl and whisk thoroughly to dissolve the salt.

Pour the salty water solution back into the jar with the jar with the ingredients.

Place a small dish on the scale, tare and add the 20 g salt.

Add the salt to the water in the mixing bowl and whisk thoroughly to dissolve the salt.

Pour the salty water solution back into the jar with the jar with the ingredients.

Place fermentation weight in the jar keeping the ingredients submerged underneath the brine level. This is a very important step.  If any ingredients are allowed to be exposed to air, mold will most likely grow and you will need to scrap the project and start over.

I like to place my fermentation projects on a glass baking dish and keep it in a spot in my pantry.  Most importantly, keep this sitting at room temperature in a range of 68-75 degrees F away from direct sunlight.   Let ferment for 2 weeks to 3 months depending on how strong you want the fermented flavor to be.  Normally I like to let my peppers ferment for 1 month.

I check the pH after the first week to see if it is under 4.6.  If so, keep it going and check the pH again after the allotted fermentation period.  It should be in a range of 3.4- 3.7 pH.

How to smoke the peppers, garlic and apples:

I heat the smoke chamber with lump charcoal and keep the heat going once a coal bed is established using half splits of oak. Once the flames are burning clean, close the lid on the smoke chamber and smoke the peppers with that nice and clean smoke.

After the fermentation period, strain the contents of the jar reserving the brine. 

I’m using my offset smoker to smoke the ingredients. This will work with a pellet smoker as well. I smoke around 250-275 degrees f for around 1-1/2 hours or until the ingredients are softened. You may have to add a chink of wood or two during the smoking process. Each peace of wood will give heat for 30-45 minutes.

Add the ingredients to a perforated pan and place on the main chamber if using an offset smoker away from the smoke box. I place mine about halfway from the smoke box so the ingredients don’t burn or cook too fast.

Once the ingredients are fully cooked and soft, place the ingredients in a blender using the brine to adjust consistency.  I like to cover the ingredients by a little more than half to start and add more if it needs to be thinned out.  Of course, adding more brine will result in a thinner sauce and less brine for a thicker suace  You can also use a nutribullet, vitamix or blend with an immersion blender if you don’t have a blender.  Strain the seeds and pulp if desired.

The following is optional and will stop the fermentation process and kill the lactobacillus.  You can skip this part if desired.  If so, you will need to release pressure in your storage container regularly since it will still keep fermenting.  The lactobacillus is what is responsible for the fermentation process to happen.

Add the strained sauce to a small stock pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat.  Once simmering, reduce heat to medium low and keep simmering for 10 minutes. I keep a lid on the pot during this time to reduce the fumes being let into the air as they will irritate your eyes, nose and throat.

Allow to cool, check the pH again (it should be still in the 3.4-3.7 range if nothing else got added) if desired and store in mason jars or hot sauce bottles.  This will keep in the refrigerator for a minimum of 6 months if you don’t use it all by then.  With that low of a pH, it will technically stay good longer than 1 year.

I love the flavor combination of the jalapeños and granny smith apples.  The cumin gives the sauce a nice flavor as well.  The lacto fermentation process gives the whole sauce such a deep, developed flavor that cannot be replicated anyway else especially when the ingredients get smoked. This sauce is in a league of its own!

Enjoy

Logan