Easy DIY: How to Make Fermented Jalapeños
Have you been wondering how to make your own delicious fermented jalapeños? Learn how easy it is in this DIY guide!
Fermented jalapeños are one of my favorite condiments for many meals! I have been making them for five years and love how their crispy, crunchy, bright, and spicy flavor adds a zing to my plate.
Don’t drop extra dollars at the store on gourmet ferments! Instead, enjoy your own homemade fermented jalapeños and be in control of the ingredients you put into your jar of goodness!
This method is also a great way to use up and preserve your summer bounty if you’ve had a happy successful pepper growing season in your garden or greenhouse. They are also loaded with beneficial bacteria for your gut so it’s a win-win to make your own.
Preserve your spicy summer beauties and make them even more nutritious (and delicious) through the process of lacto-fermentation.
🌶️ How to Make Fermented Jalapeños
Once you learn how to ferment this ubiquitous tasty pepper, you may find yourself fermenting everything you can, just like me. I fully admit that I have become quite the fermenting fanatic!
In recent summers I have been fermenting the main portion of my pepper harvest that is not used fresh for exciting summer meals. It’s the best way for me to preserve the harvest quickly and easily in bulk, without canning.
We grow a wide variety of peppers in our greenhouse every summer in Central Vermont. Regulars include Ring of Fire Cayenne, Italian Long Hot Pepper, Sugar Rush Peach, Jimmy Nardello, Orange Habaneros, and classic jalapeños.
Honestly, you may not believe you haven’t tried doing this sooner after completing your first fermentation project with jalapeños.
I was absolutely amazed when I realized it took only a few minutes of my time to start the process and was even further excited when I tasted the resulting product!
Ingredients
JALAPEÑOS: Use fresh and firm jalapeños without blemishes for fermentation.
SALT: Unrefined sea salt is the best option.
Instructions
- Wash the jars or crocks well that you intend to use for fermentation. We will get into this in more detail on this below but I use wide-mouth pint jars for fermenting jalapeños.
- Wash whole peppers and drain in a colander or lay on a towel to dry.
- Make a brine. Use 2 tablespoons of sea salt for one quart of water. Or, you can make a bulk batch of 1/2 cup of sea salt for 1 gallon of water.
- Slice the jalapeños into pieces. The thickness doesn’t matter as you can even ferment halved peppers just as easily. I slice mine into 1/8″ to 1/4″ slices because I enjoy mine on top of dishes such as tacos or stews so I prefer this size.
- Pack and tuck the jalapeños into the clean jars or crock, leaving a 1″ space at the top for the fermentation weight.
- OPTIONAL: Add sliced or whole garlic, lemon wedges, or thin slices of onion throughout the jar while adding the sliced peppers.
- Add your homemade brine to the packed contents of the jar, leaving a 1″ space at the top.
- Put a glass fermentation weight in the jar to hold down the peppers under the brine. It will disperse any extra brine so use a bowl underneath the jar to catch the mess.
- Lay a clean cloth secured with a rubber band OR use a tight lid OR use a fermentation lid and pump to seal the jars. More on this below.
- Store the jars on plates or bowls (to catch any liquid) out of direct sunlight and at a preferred temperature of 60-70°F.
- Admire the beautiful green hue of the jalapeños as they transform daily!
- Burp the jars every day to release the pressure.
- Ferment for 2-3 weeks, checking the taste daily at the two-week mark. The peppers will deepen in hue at first and then turn an olive green toward the end of the process.
- Simply continue to taste the jalepeños after the two-week mark if you think they need longer to ferment. This will come with experience but also trust your taste buds. Only you can determine what level of fermentation flavor you like!
Supplies for Making Fermented Jalapeños
It is not a long list but making sure you have everything you need prior to starting your fermentation project is key.
Be sure to have a good knife and a large cutting board handy.
Be realistic with how much ferment you would like to be left to consume and start small (with mason jars) at first! You can start new ferments daily if you wish but go slow to understand the process fully before starting a new one.
✅ Canning Jars (with lids or without)
I only recommend wide-mouth canning jars because they are so much easier to get things in and out of as well as use fermentation weight in. You can use fabric and a rubber band to cover your ferments to lessen your costs.
Why not enjoy the rainbow option for mason jar lids? They also come in white but I adore these brightly colored lids.
✅ Mason Jar Fermentation Kit
While you don’t NEED anything except a mason jar and a classic ring top, these accessories really help keep things clean and encourage the burping process. You can avoid explosions by burping—in other words, opening—your jars daily.
I have never had a jar explode, don’t worry! I do now use fermentation lids from my kit to help make things easier. Simply pump out the excess air and burb daily by pushing the nipple to the side!
✅ Weights
You absolutely must keep your produce submerged in liquid for it to ferment properly and not turn mushy or mold.
✅ Crock
Crocks are a beautiful and effective choice for fermenting larger batches. Traditionally used for centuries, ceramic fermentation crocks let gas escape while keeping air out, for the perfect oxygen-free environment.
✅ Salt
Fermenting with unrefined salt (sea salt) is recommended since it is full of natural vitamins and minerals. You shouldn’t add table salt or refined salt to a ferment; it contains iodine which may negatively affect your ferment.
ℹ️ Fermentation: FAQs
There can be confusion around the idea of fermentation that may delay or entirely scare off newbies to the process but I assure you, it really is quite simple! All you need is clean fermentation supplies, fresh produce, salt, and water.
We are introduced to new and unpredictable flavors when we ferment food, which is bursting with good bacteria.
What is Lacto Fermentation?
Lacto fermentation is the process that transforms regular produce into delicious things like pickles, kimchi, and sauerkraut! No canning, no fancy equipment is required for this simple fermentation process. Salt is the key here alongside the water used for the brine. In fruit and vegetables, lactobacillus bacteria transform sugars into lactic acid.
This natural preservative helps prevent bad bacteria from growing in food, preserving its flavor and texture and preserving its nutritional value as well.
How Do I Store the Ferment?
Once your ferment reaches the level of flavor you desire it is best to move it to cooler storage that will slow the fermentation process down. The process doesn’t stop completely and you can marvel at how the flavor changes over time. Fermented jalapeños can simply be stored in the refrigerator with, preferably, plastic mason jar lids.
I find that the metal lids are prone to rusting from the acidic nature of the contents.
How Long Will Fermented Jalapeños Last?
One of the main reasons that people have been fermenting foods throughout history is food preservation. Storage time for fermented hot peppers is variable and they usually last at least 2 months and keep for up to a year. The real question is how long can you stand to keep them without gobbling them up?
Regardless, the basic rule of thumb is to ENJOY your creations, use them often, and don’t consume anything that smells off.
Can You Ferment Frozen Peppers?
YES, you can! Frozen hot peppers can be fermented once they have thawed out. The peppers will appear to be slightly wilted and mushy but will taste fine.
You should only ferment RAW frozen peppers that have been defrosted. Did you know that peppers are one of the vegetables you can quickly freeze raw without blanching first?
This makes it easy to freeze a batch when time runs short.
Freezing and fermentation are the methods of preservation that I found to help retain the freshest flavor in the peppers.
I only use fresh peppers for fermentation because I prefer to roast our greenhouse peppers first before freezing them. I flash-freeze roasted peppers and then put them into air-tight containers for use throughout the winter months. Give it a try!
How to Use Fermented Jalapeños
Use your pickled jalapeños as you would any other spicy garnish!
My family’s favorite use for these jalapeños is atop any Mexican dish such as enchiladas, tacos, or nachos. They are used as a garnish and not cooked or heated to preserve their nutritious benefits.
Another idea is to use the fermented jalapeños inside a Middle Eastern pita such as one with falafel, hummus, and cucumbers. Or atop any dish that you want to add a spicy element to!
ELEVATE your picnics, camping trips, pot luck contributions, and BBQs by being a total star and bringing your ferment along to share! This will be a favorite condiment for those who love spicy food!
✨ Conclusion: Fermented Jalapeños
My hope is that this fermented jalapenos recipe and detailed information on the process helps you start or further explore your fermentation journey!
The best time to start is right now, so get your supplies and follow the simple instructions I have outlined for you.
Fermented jalapeños are some of my favorite jarred items from my garden each summer. We enjoy them all winter long, as long as they last.
Let me know how yours turn out and what you enjoyed using them for. Happy fermenting!
🌿 Grandpa’s Hot Peppers 🌿
A mini-memoir by Heather Kasvinsky
My memories of encounters with hot peppers are dappled heavily throughout my childhood where I was raised immersed in the Italian side of the family’s love for homemade food. Below is a piece I wrote a few years back. Perhaps it is a pleasant read for those who enjoy memoirs.
The smell of the evening’s dinner, fresh garlic, and wine-infused red pasta sauce with sausage and meatballs permeates the walls of the lake cottage. It bubbles away gently in the background and my stomach rumbles with excitement.
I am six and am sitting at the old round gray enamel kitchen table with my Grandpa Sam. It is just the two of us and it is special. Sun pours in from the weathered screen door behind me and dances across our spread at the table.
The sound of motor boats mixed with laughter and my grandmother’s humming to classical music on the radio fades in and out with the summer breeze.
My grandfather has just opened a jar of hot cherry peppers. They sit awaiting our consumption as he slices into hard stinky cheese and salami for us to eat upon soft Italian white bread.
It is our time to consume these delicacies together. My grandfather loves spicy things and I love to watch him eat them even more. He slurps up one entire cherry pepper with a grin that takes over his entire expression.
After a couple more peppers slide down his throat, the sweat slowly begins to bead on his forehead, which is my favorite part and it makes me giggle every time.
I take little nibbles, brine dripping down my chin, accustoming my taste buds to the bite of the hot peppers, alternating them with bites of meat, cheese, and bread to soften the sting.
As I take a sip of ice-cold spring water from my treasured shiny green aluminum cup, my grandfather, with his thinned slicked back hair, opens his can of beer and smiles at me.
Lacto Fermented Jalapeños
Ingredients
- 20 jalapeños
- 2 tbsp sea salt
- 1 quart water
OPTIONAL
- 1/2 lemon, sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, sliced or whole
- 1/4 onion, sliced
- 1 carrot, sliced or made into matchsticks
Instructions
- Wash the jars or crocks well that you intend to use for fermentation.
- Wash whole peppers and drain in a colander or lay on a towel to dry.
- Make a brine. Dissolve 2 tablespoons of sea salt in one quart of water. Or, you can make a bulk batch of 1/2 cup of sea salt for 1 gallon of water and set aside for future use.
- Slice the jalapeños into 1/8″ to 1/4″ slices, pieces or strips. The thickness doesn’t matter as you can even ferment halved peppers just as easily.
- Pack and tuck the jalapeños into the clean jars or crock, leaving a 1″ space at the top for the fermentation weight.
- OPTIONAL: Add sliced or whole garlic, lemon wedges, carrot pieces, or thin slices of onion throughout the jar while adding the sliced peppers.
- Add your homemade brine to the packed contents of the jar, leaving a 1″ space at the top.
- Put a glass fermentation weight in the jar to hold down the peppers under the brine. It will disperse any extra brine so use a bowl underneath the jar to catch the mess.
- Lay a clean cloth secured with a rubber band OR use a tight lid OR use a fermentation lid and pump to seal the jars.
- Store the jars on plates or bowls (to catch any liquid) out of direct sunlight and at a preferred temperature of 60-70°F.
- Ferment for 2-3 weeks, checking the taste daily at the two-week mark. The peppers will deepen in hue at first and then turn an olive green toward the end of the process.
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