Re: [CH] V5 #2 Pepper Mash
Cameron Begg (begg.4@osu.edu)
Mon, 03 Aug 1998 08:30:29 -0500
Hi C-H's,
Ron wrote:
>Has anyone here ever tried their hand at aged pepper mash?
Yes. I had a lot of different kinds of ripe pods left over last Fall and
needed some way of preserving them; so I fermented them. I put the whole
lot through the blender but there was insufficient liquid in the resulting
puree. Therefore I put a portion of this through our KitchenAid ricer/juice
extractor, eventually ending up with about 0.75gal. (US) of red porridge. I
semi-sterilized this by holding it at 65-70deg C for a few minutes and
poured it into a sterile glass gallon jar. I added some sugar and wine
yeast, just to make sure it got the message, although I believe the
"Tabasco" company relies upon wild yeasts on the peppers. After a few days
in a cool place, the contents of the jar started to displace air through
the airlock, albeit slowly, and I left it alone (forgot it!) for about 3
months. At this stage I added some malt vinegar which we had had lying
around for a long time, and which had those cloudy jelly-like "mothers"
floating in it that I assume to be clumps of acetobacter bacteria. I left
it for another long time and when I next examined it, I was disappointed to
see a clump of mould growing on the surface. It was very compact and I was
able to remove it in one piece. The stuff smelled quite vinegary, but did
not taste it. In fact it tasted pretty damn good. In view of the mould
problem I repeated the heat treatment and have kept the stuff in the fridge
since. It is hotter and thicker than "Tabasco" and has a bitterness to it,
which I like, but some probably would not.
If I do this again, I'll probably be a bit more careful about the
ethanol->acetic acid conversion. Perhaps see if I can obtain a small amount
of commercial vinegar culture.
Regards, Cameron.