Today, we began an experiment of hot sauce fermentations. This controlled endeavour saw us split a batch of yellow habaneros into two equal portions to then be fermented in two different ways: one portion in a salt brine and one portion in vacuum-sealed bags. We’re hoping that, once the fermentation processes have taken ahold of the chillies, we will be better enlightened as to how these methods impact the flavour, heat, and consistency of the hot sauce.

Should there be immediate and clear differences between the two fermentation methods, we intend to document them and then begin exploring how best to match each process with different chilli varieties and ingredients. 

We’re also looking at how to better manage different fermentation methods as a business. Vacuum-sealed bags are, for example, single-use plastics and relatively small, meaning that any BATCH we produce would likely be a true ‘microbatch’ and be less environmentally friendly that we’d like. Perhaps, as our business grows, we will be able to equip ourselves with a piece of equipment that will allow us to deprive the chillies of oxygen on a larger scale. Or, perhaps, we should look into carbonic maceration tanks and further bridge hot sauce making with the wine industry.

Another, albeit minor issue, is that while vacuum-sealed bags compact nicely at first, their size increases dramatically over a relatively short amount of time as the fermenting chillies begin to produce CO2, meaning that, when scaling up the production of a ‘vacuum-sealed hot sauce’, we will need to consider the space required to safely store ‘growing’ pouches of maturing fruits. It’s fun to watch but requires us to rethink our fermentation storage, which is currently geared toward handling large and robust fermentation tubs. 

This, however, is all part of the fun. Constant experimentation is a quality essential to our endeavour. If we as producers are having fun and are continuously fascinated by the process of making each hot sauce, we think that you will be too. We don’t want to make one recipe and produce that bottle ad infinitum. Instead, instead, produce regular and exciting batches of fermented hot sauce that, ultimately, add an element of ‘speciality’ to the world of spice.