A Louisiana-inspired fermented mash of habaneros with blackberries and blueberries, fermented under an airlock for about a week, then blended with vinegar and sugar to a measured pH of 3.4.
Untested: not yet made in this kitchen. It is here for the Peppers and Hot Sauce pages and is adapted from the source named in the Notes.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces (225 g) blackberries
- 8 ounces (225 g) blueberries
- 5⅓ ounces (150 g) habanero chile peppers (about 25 peppers), stemmed
- 3 tablespoons (30 g) Diamond Crystal kosher salt (for table salt, half as much by volume or the same weight)
- ¼ cup (60 ml) distilled white vinegar
- 2 teaspoons (10 g) sugar
Directions
Key ingredients
- Pulse the berries, peppers and salt in a food processor until the berries release their liquid and the mixture is coarsely puréed, about 12 to 15 pulses.
- Pack the mash into a wide-mouth 1-quart jar and tap out the air. Cover the surface with plastic wrap and a weight, and fit the jar with an airlock lid.
- Keep the jar in the dark at 55 to 75 °F (13 to 24 °C) for 7 days, checking for gas. From day 7, taste it daily; the ferment takes 7 to 10 days in all.
- Blend the mash with the vinegar and sugar for about 1 minute. Measure the pH with strips or a pH meter: it should be about 3.4, and if it is higher, add more vinegar until it reaches 3.4.
- Strain the sauce, bottle it and refrigerate it for up to 1 month.
Notes
Source Adapted from Tim Chin, “Habanero Fermented Hot Sauce With Berries,” Serious Eats (2021, modified 2024), which the page describes as “roughly inspired by a Louisiana-style hot sauce like Tabasco.” It makes about 2½ cups.
Salt 30 g of salt over 600 g of produce is 5.0 percent by weight. Chin’s guide puts the useful range at 2 to 10 percent, with 2 to 4 percent the sweet spot for short ferments and about 5 percent for longer ones.
Strips or meter The source allows test strips; federal rules for acidified foods allow strips only where the pH is 4.0 or lower, and a meter reads the 3.4 target directly.
Acidity An unassisted pepper ferment does not reliably reach pH 4.6, the line below which botulinum cannot grow: in published trials, spontaneous pepper mashes finished around pH 4.8 to 4.9 while mashes given a starter culture reached about 3.7. A sour taste is not proof. This recipe finishes with vinegar to a measured pH of 3.4 and keeps the sauce refrigerated; the fruit sugars can go on fermenting and make it bubble at room temperature. A pH meter is the way to know; see /preservation/measuring-ph/.
The dish The Peppers and Hot Sauce section (/hot-sauce/) covers Louisiana-style fermented mash, salt percentages and how a ferment finishes.
The photo The photograph shows a homemade habanero, bell pepper and garlic hot sauce, not this exact recipe.