Market Recipe: Fermented pickled peppers

Fermented Peppers

yields 1 pint

1. Seed and slice 1 lb mixed peppers into thin strips. (photo above is this recipe doubled)

2. Pack the peppers into a wide-mouth, pint-sized mason jar—sprinkling 2 tsp fine sea salt evenly throughout the peppers as you pack them. Condense the salted peppers by firmly pushing them into the bottom of the jar. Weight them with an 8-oz. jelly jar. Within 20 minutes, the salt will begin extracting moisture from the peppers to create a brine. After a couple of hours all of the peppers should now be submerged under the brine with the jar weight in place. Cover this set-up with a large piece of cheesecloth or muslin bag to keep fruit flies out.

3. Store the jar, unrefrigerated, out of direct sunlight for 7-10 days. Assess the progress of the jar daily, skimming off any foamy residue. Begin tasting peppers after day 7. When they are no longer too salty and are soured to your preference, remove jar weight, cap the jar and place it in the refrigerator.

Use peppers as a lact0-fermented addition to any meal or to culture salsas. When culturing with fermented peppers, dice up peppers into desired size for the salsa, cook or combine finished salsa and allow to cool to room temperature. Mix in peppers, cap jar or cover bowl and allow to culture for 24 hours at room temperature. Refrigerate like usual after the salsa is cultured, where it will keep for weeks.

Visit Kate’s blog for small-batch canning and preserving recipes.