Pepper Fermentation Recipe: Learn How to Ferment Any Type of Pepper (2024)

How do you make fermented peppers? What is the best salt ratio for fermenting peppers? how long to ferment peppers? With our Easy Pepper Fermentation Recipe you’ll have the best fermented peppers in just 5 weeks! Learn how to ferment peppers at home.

Choosing Peppers for Fermentation Recipes

Here’s my checklist for choosing good peppers:

1. Density:The peppers should feel like they are hydrated and have good turgor pressure. It shouldnotfeel dried out, shriveled up, and floppy.
2. Check for surface mold: Look for indentions and soft spots in the peppers. You do not want to buy peppers that are squishy. Peppers that are close to molding will have dark, small, circular indentions or black “pocks” on the surface and near the stem.
3. Skip the bag:It’s important to note here that you should NOT use peppers that come “triple-washed” in a plastic bag. These do not wild ferment well (or at all, really) because they lack the microorganisms necessary for the fermentation process.
4. Color:Peppers should have a uniform color, but some peppers do change colors as they ripen. For example, it’s fine to use a jalapeno that is green and may also have some reddish colors.

Fermented Shish*to Peppers and Fermented Banana Peppers

At home, I’ve experimented with some fun pepper recipes. My favorite is a mix of banana peppers and jalapeños, but I’ve tried many kinds of peppers.

So You can use this recipe blog for just about any pepper type! I usually stay away from extremely hot peppers that are shades of orange and red, though, because I find that they taste a little soapy after fermentation.

Also, some peppers contain too much capsaicin, so no beneficial fermentation microbes can grow when fermenting those. I’m talking about peppers above 500,000 Scoville units (Trinidad Scorpion, Komodo Dragon, Carolina Reaper, Ghost Pepper, Naga Viper, etc.). I wouldn’t be surprised if there aren’t any bacteria on the surface of a Carolina Reaper pepper, for instance. At such a high concentration, capsaicin is bactericidal.

If you want to ferment extremely hot peppers, mix them in with more mild peppers and maybe some raw cabbage leaves to help initiate the fermentation process.

I suggest trying:

• Whole Shish*to Peppers
• Serrano Peppers
• Poblano Peppers
• Jalapeños
• Banana Peppers
• Anaheim Peppers

How to Make the Best Fermented Peppers

When it comes to fermentation times, the longer the peppers ferment the more the flavor develops. I love peppers that have been fermented for about five weeks. After five weeks they’re perfectly tart and preserved.

I have experimented with fermentation times though! I once fermented peppers for a YEAR and wow.

The wait was long, but the flavor was so unique and good! When fermenting for this long, it’s important to make sure the pH stays low the entire time. Also, when fermenting for extended periods of time, the beneficial bacteria can die off.

When fermenting peppers it’s better to use a slightly higher salt concentration than normal, about 3.5% of the total weight in salt is a good place to start. I like peppers fermented anywhere between 3% and 6% total salt concentration. (Read more about salt concentration here).

If you’re curious about the gut health benefits of fermented vegetables, including fermented peppers, you can read more here.

Mastering Pepper Fermentation

If you’re going to master fermentation, you’ll need to use weight measurements for your fermentation ingredients. That means you need a kitchen scale.

In order to select for the best probiotic bacteria (the ones that are actually beneficial)in your ferments, you mustweigh salt to create a specific salt concentration.Weighing saltis the onlyway to create a salt concentration that will select for only probiotic microbes to thrive. You can read more about why you must weigh your salt here.

Supplies You Need for Pepper Fermentation

• 32 ounce Wide Mouth Mason Jar
• Fermentation Weight
• Standard Metal Mason Jar Lid (this can rust in the presence of salt)
• OR Rust Free Plastic Lid
• or you can use a Weck Jar (without the gasket; only use the clips to secure the lid)
• Sea Salt
• Scale
• Mixing Bowl

To learn more about the best fermentation jars and lids to use, CLICK HERE.

How to Ferment Peppers

During the first few days of fermentation:carbon dioxide and bubbles will be produced. Sometimes jars will become very full of liquid, and this liquid can seep out.It’s important to “burp” the jar during the bubbly stage.

• If using a standard mason jar lid: remove the lid and tamper everything back down using a gloved hand, tamper, or spoon. Make sure everything is still submerged below the brine, and re-secure the lid.
• You may notice pepper seeds floating. You can scoop them out with a clean spoon.

Always Trust your sense of smell: Fermented peppers should smell pleasantly sour and spicy. Never eat anything that smells repulsive.

Never eat anything that had mold growing on it: By following directions, you should not encounter this problem. Note that most vine-growing vegetables that are wild fermented will have something called pellicle growth. This is normal for “vine-growing” vegetables as long as they do not look furry, pink, blue, black, green, or magenta.

A safe pellicle is normally opaque, off-white, and crinkly. If you have surface growth like this, it’s a harmless mixed colony of wild yeasts. It’s not “mold”…you can skim it off the top and still eat your peppers. See the two pictures below as a reference for what a normal pellicle looks like.

How to Avoid a Pellicle in Fermented Peppers

For this recipe, I used about 3.4% total (w/w) salt concentration. I’m usually able to avoid pellicle growth completely by increasing the salt concentration of the pepper fermentation.

Peppers can be fermented with up to a 10% total salt concentration, but I think that’s too high. I’ve tried a few peppers fermented at 6% and I never had pellicle growth with a total salt concentration of 6%. The yeasts simply do not tolerate such high salt concentrations.

This, of course, is a much saltier pepper ferment. However, the peppers come out more sour and this is perfect for hot sauce!

Click here to learn how to make hot sauce with fermented peppers.

What Temperature Should You Store Fermented Peppers?

Keep your fermenting peppers at a temperature between 70-80 degrees F. Keep out of direct sunlight. After fermentation you should keep fermented peppers in the fridge.

How Long Should I Ferment Peppers for?

After 4-5 weeks, remove the fermentation weight and smell and taste test. Your fermented peppers should smell peppery and pleasantly sour. They should taste tart, savory, and spicy.

Do I Need to Refrigerate My Wild Fermented Peppers?

Taste test at four weeks: If you prefer the peppers to be more tart and sour, let them ferment for one to two more weeks. After fermenting for 4-5 weeks, place a regular mason jar lid on the jar and refrigerate. Consume within 6 months for full probiotic benefits

Wild Lacto-Fermented Peppers: Fermentation Timeline

We tracked our peppers throughout the fermentation process. By checking the progress of microbial stages under the microscope we have provided you with this handy timeline! If you follow our recipe and directions, your timeline of pepper fermentation should approximately match ours!

24 – 72 hours: All contents in the jar should be submerged beneath the brine. At this time there are still Gram negative bacteria and possible pathogens present.

72 hours – 9 days: After 72 hours you should start to see lots of bubbles being produced. This is the stage in which you will burp the jar (open the lid and make sure everything is submerged below the brine). This is when the ferment enters stage two of vegetable fermentation.Leuconostoc bacteria begin to thrive and produce a lot of carbon dioxide. Gram negative organisms die off.You may notice an acidic smell and color changes during this time.

9 – 14 days:The bubbles in the brine will decrease, as the ferment leaves stage two and enters stage three. The peppers will become cloudy and start to develop a pleasant sour smell. They will also start to change color from vibrant to more muted colors.Lactobacillusspecies are most abundant during this time period.

14 – 28 days:Lactobacillusmake up the majority or all of the microbial population. They produce copious amounts of lactic acid and make the ferment smell even more pleasantly sour. This is the time in which the vegetable mixture becomes preserved.

30 days:Wait for the peppers to smell and taste as you like, and refrigerate when you find the smell and taste most pleasant! We like ours best when we refrigerate at about five weeks, but they are also good at around 30 days. The longer the peppers ferment, the more the flavors develop.

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