The Waning Days of Summer

I have an abundance of cayenne peppers in the garden this summer.  So what am I doing with all of these?  Making hot sauce.  I don't know why I never have before.  I am trying many different recipes.  I think I like the fermented ones the best.  In Louisiana, where they make their famous hot sauce, they ferment their peppers for three years in oak barrels. 

My problem has been finding bottles.  I found some online, but shipping was horrendous.  I'd have to be a hardcore fan or starting a business.

Though I love pepper sauce on many things, here is my new favorite.  I have to make this when my husband isn't here as he wouldn't eat it.  Garlic cheese grits, an egg and bacon.  Now I know you think the grits would be a pain to make, but I found these instant ones in the oatmeal section of the store.  They cook in a minute.  Lately, I have been dropping the egg into the grits and it bakes inside the grits.  All done in the microwave I might add.  

I am also making jalapeno pepper sauce (which is hotter than cayenne) and pepper jelly, to be added atop cream cheese for appetizers.  Mmmmm....

Fermentation Bandwagon

I have been canning and putting up my garden bounty of late; I'm getting burned out.  But, I am beginning to learn about fermentation, and want to try it out.  I was going to begin with kimchi, but these cayenne peppers fell off the plant early and I decided to go with pepper sauce.  

What is fermentation?  Think probiotics.  Good for your gut health.  Supposedly, there are numerous health benefits from fermented foods, which is basically food left in a slurry of live bio-cultures and a lactobacterial-salt slurry of microorganisms. For thousands of years, humankind has preserved food thusly; think wine, milk, bread, soy sauce, kimchi...  Food wasn't pasteurized or refrigerated like today's food.  I do draw the line at rotting fish and/or birds buried underground to ferment. 

Did you know cocoa beans must first be fermented in the production of chocolate?  I have to let these peppers ferment for two weeks, then place them in a blender, and voila, pepper sauce.  I'll let you know how they turn out.  Fermentation - it's the new/old thing in food.