I made a batch of hatch chile hotsauce - 1 half gallon mason jar, 4 lbs of mixed heat Hatch chiles, 2 Serrano peppers, 1.5 heads of garlic, 2 bunches of cilantro stems, about 5 oz of water, 3% salt by weight and a splash of sauerkraut brine for kickstarting. (And a handy dandy Brewing America lid with an airlock)
So what did you make? And beer is a perfectly fine answer! 
I just did some pickled onions. Not much …but a nice condiment.
Nice I usually try and keep a jar of quick pickled red onions in the fridge because they’re tasty!
Pending is making a chokecherry mead. The chokecherries will be fully ripe this week and on Saturday will still a bit too green/young.
This post is perfect timing! I am getting ready to make my annual batch of hatch chili hot sauce, and was going to ask what other people do for recipes. Question answered!
I missed Home Fermentation Day because I was coming home from the field (the dinosaurs don’t dig up themselves!), but will be observing it this weekend.
I’ve been slowly working on my fermented hot sauce technique, and I do mead at least a couple times a year, but on 2 Aug this year, I started a normal old stout.
I got two fermentations going today, in my delayed observation of Home Fermentation Day. One is a batch of spicy brown mustard, which is more steeped than fermented, and the other is Hatch chili hot sauce. This is my third year making hot sauce, and I am going with all fresh peppers this time, instead of smoking them. I can’t wait to see how it tastes!
Both homemade mustard and hot sauce are staples in our house…they always run out quickly!
We had a cabbage, carrot, onion, and cucumber slaw without dressing that I put in a 3% brine. It fits in a half pint canning jar, and is a total experiment.
And… Matt how’s it going?
It’s on the calendar to check later this week, but, of course, I’ve looked at it a few times, and there is nothing weird growing on it. I’ll take a pH reading before tasting it, more out of curiosity than caution, and I’ll let you know how it is. We have some outstanding mangos that I’m going to use today to make the chutney from Gabe Toth’s The Fermentation Kitchen, and I will report back on that, too!
Home Fermentation Day update! This morning I packaged my Hatch chili hot sauce (made with garlic that my wife grew in the garden). Although I can’t do direct comparison, I think this is the best batch yet!
