Choosing Peppers for Fermentation
Here’s my checklist for choosing great peppers to make the best fermented peppers at home:
- Density: The peppers should feel like they are hydrated and have good turgor pressure. It should not feel dried out, shriveled up, and floppy.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 Shishito 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 Shishito 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 must weigh salt to create a specific salt concentration. Weighing salt is the only way 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
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 small and taste test. Your fermented peppers should smell peppery and pleasantly sour. They should taste start, 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. Lactobacillus species are most abundant during this time period.
14 – 28 days: Lactobacillus make 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.
The Best Fermented Peppers
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 any type of pepper at home.
- Prep: 15 minutes
- Ferment: 4 weeks
Ingredients
- 330 grams Peppers
- 26 grams sea salt
- 400 grams water
Instructions
- This recipe at 1x works best with a 32-ounce jar. Please use peppers below 500,000 Scoville units. Anything higher may not ferment well.
- Wash your fermentation equipment, including the jar, weight, and lid.
- Wash your peppers and chop to your desired consistency. You can chop into pepper rings, slices or minced.
- Using a kitchen scale, measure out the water, salt and peppers.
- Add the water, salt and peppers to a 32-ounce mason jar. You may need to really pack the peppers in and tamp them into the jar with a wooden spoon.
- Place your standard mason jar lid on the jar, and secure it. Shake the jar for 2 minutes.
- Remove the standard mason jar lid. Place your fermentation weight in the jar making sure to submerge all of the pepper pieces and weight fully in the liquid.
- Secure the jar lid to the mason jar.
- Ferment for 4 to 5 weeks at room temperature, then refrigerate.
Notes
- Peppers above 500,000 Scoville units contain an extremely high concentration of capsaicin. At those levels, capsaicin is bactericidal and can prevent natural fermentation.
- Taring/zeroing the scale with a container on it subtracts the weight of the container, allowing you to weigh only what is added to the container. After taring/zeroing the scale, the scale should read 0.0 with the container on it.
- Peppers sold in a bag are triple-washed and lack essential microbes for fermentation. If using bagged peppers, I highly suggest adding two fresh cabbage leaves to this recipe as a “starter” for fermentation. You can eat the cabbage leaves after or compost them.
- During the first few days of fermentation, carbon dioxide is produced, and you must burp the jar.
- Yes, you can turn these into hot sauce after they’re fermented. Just strain the brine into a separate jar/bowl, throw the fermented peppers in a blender. Blend on high and add a bit of the strained brine into the blender little by little until it’s the consistency you want. Store sauce in an airtight container and keep refrigerated.
Yes, like the ingredients list said, 14g of salt…
but it seems that the instructional html copy was typed wrong in the recipe code. I’ve corrected it to say 14. Thanks for pointing it out!
Hello, I’m confused and hope someone can advise me. In the ingredients list and instructions or says 21g of salt for 400g of water, so that is what I did. Then I read the comments and see that it should have been 14g of salt instead. I just put up about 30 peppers this way yesterday. Should I dump some of the water and add fresh water? I don’t want them to be ruined.
The comments are old, before the recipe was updated for a larger quantity of peppers. With 21 grams of salt, 400 grams water and 200 grams peppers, you have about a 3.5% total salt concentration, perfect for pepper fermentation. If you read the body of the blog post, fermented peppers are great anywhere between 3% and 6% total salt.
To safely achieve your desired salt/brine ratio you should always weigh the entire contents of your ferment (fruit & water) not including the weight of your container. Then multiply that by your desired salt/brine concentration (3.5% or 0.035) to get the correct amount of salt by weight. ex. 800g peppers & 200g water = 1,000g x 0.035 = 35g salt.
I’ve just tried fermenting banana peppers and Serrano peppers for the first time, and I have a couple of questions. I’ve fermented both for 4 weeks.
The banana peppers are super salty and don’t taste tangy at all, but there was a lot more brine than peppers in the jar. I thought the jar was more full than it was but once I put the weight in the jar it pushed the peppers down to fill about 1/3 of the jar and the brine was at the top. I had a normal plastic lid on the jar.
For the Serrano peppers, I used one of the silicone fermenting tops and secured it with a metal ring. I haven’t tasted them yet because when I took the silicone lid off, it had what looked like black mold around the edge. It seemed to just be where the glass rim of the jar touched the silicone lid. I washed everything before I used it as well. Should I throw out the Serrano peppers? It doesn’t look like the black stuff got inside the jar, but not sure I want to take any chances. I wanted to make sure you agree or not agree I should dump them before I do.
I appreciate everything you put on your blog to help us!!
Never eat anything with mold growing on it—safety first! I personally don’t recommend silicone lids because I’ve found they can cause issues like mold.
As for your fermented peppers not tasting sour enough, it’s important to remember that fermented peppers won’t have the same tang as pickled peppers. Fermentation produces lactic acid, which has a milder, subtler sourness compared to the sharpness of acetic acid in vinegar pickling. If you’d like a stronger flavor, make sure everything stays fully submerged under the brine, keep the lid clean, and let them ferment at room temperature a bit longer. Another option is to add a bit of raw apple cider vinegar to the jar when you refrigerate.
FIRST: Great site! Thank you! Regarding the Silicon “Pickle Pipe” lids, I’ve read many accounts of problems but never once experienced any. My 2x daily routine for anything I’m fermenting, REGARDLESS of the type of top/lid, is to tilt the jar about 45 degrees and rotate it once or twice to assure both the lid and any floaters {always a few no matter what I do} are moistened by the brine. Again, never had a failure. Seems the brine is protecting the lid from bad beasties.
I think that’s the thing about the pickle pipe lids too… most people see them as an excuse to neglect the jar while it’s fermenting. They don’t check things at all or tend to it because its “self burping” so then things get moldy.
Before this new blog/website you guys had a recipe up that recommended a 4% brine. Why 3.5% now?
I’m not completely sure, but I think I remember the last recipe saying just making a 4% brine and adding it to the peppers. Basically not taking the pepper weight into account. Am I wrong?? And if not what changed
We transferred all of our blogs to our newly designed website as-is. So we havent changed our pepper recipe. All of our fermented vegetable recipes account for the weight of water and vegetables to calculate a total salt concentration. You can safely make fermented peppers with any total salt concentration between 3% and 6%. We get the best results with 3.5%… 4% is fine too.
Hey Kaitlynn!
Do you ever find that the peppers form a pellicle (similar to how you say the cucumbers do) with this method? I tried a batch awhile back and it formed what looked like one on the top and they still smelled okay, but I was skeptical so discarded it. But after reading the pickle post, the pellicle you mention there looks pretty much just like the one that formed with my peppers so I was just wondering if that’s something you have run into as well
Thanks!
Yes! Fermented peppers oftentimes form a pellicle just like the cucumbers. It’s very common amongst all fermented vine-growing vegetables, since their microbiomes are similar. I was finally able to get a good picture of a pellicle when I was writing the pickle blog, but I’ll add those pelicille pictures to this pepper blog too.
You said, “I usually stay away from hot peppers that are shades of orange though, because after fermentation they tend to taste like soap.”
I’ve been fermenting Cheyenne Peppers which are a bright orange colored hybrid chili pepper of about 30,000- 50,000 Scovilles (ours are usually on the spicier side) and taste lovely once lacto-fermented. They’re impossible for me to eat raw but once lacto-fermented some of the Capsaicin is killed off and they’re perfectly sour spicy and zingy. Go great in omelets, pizzas, salads, or how I eat them straight from the jar.
I’m just curious what exact peppers you’re saying taste “soapy”, but it certainly isn’t the case for these peppers.
Hey there,
yes, I phrased it the way I did because this is my personal experience using the recipes I develop. I’ve never tried to ferment Cheyenne peppers, so I’ll have to experiment with that! Thanks for sharing your experience 🙂
I’ve experienced the soapy end flavor when fermenting yellow-orange Caribe peppers and habaneros using this recipe, specifically. I’ve had success fermenting both using a much higher salt concentration of 6% and an 8-week fermentation time.
Did you mean Cayenne peppers?
They may have, I have fermented cayenne peppers, but Cheyenne peppers are a type of pepper as well. They are hybrid cayenne peppers.
Hi Gurus,
I’m a new reader of your blog. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. I’ve just started on my vegetable fermentation journey.
The two times I’ve fermented Serrano peppers, I noticed a white sediment at the bottom of the jar. I’ve been using it hoping it’s safe since it’s still submerged in brine. What could this be? Have you seen anything like this?
Thank you 😊
Lakshmi
Hey there!
Cloudiness and sediment at the bottom of the jar is completely normal! It’s simply dead microorganisms and fermentation byproducts from the first two stages of fermentation.
Hello Kaitlynn,
Officially addicted to your blog. I also ferment Taiwan chilis. (90 pesos, $1.80 a kilo here) I usually cut the tops off, (with gloves on)should I leave leave them whole and just poke a hole in them? I make a sauce with them and add roasted red peppers, cider vinegar and salt then blend. I will now let them ferment for 5-8 weeks and try a 4 and 6% salinity. I make mine by the gallon jar, sharing is caring. Thanks again for your recipes. I really appreciate them.
Justin
Hi, Kaitlynn,
Would a fermentation crock yield the same results, potentially?
Thank you 🙂
Trisch
Yes! a fermentation crock will work well. You still need to keep everything submerged with a fermentation weight, even with the water seal crock lid.
This is so helpful! I have not fermented peppers before so I’m excited to try. Your instructions are clear and concise! I do have two questions. 1. Do you think shoshito peppers would ferment well with their thin skins? And 2. In your last paragraph you say, “ We like ours best when we refrigerate at about five, but they are also good at around 30 days. ”. Can you please clarify? Do you refrigerate at 5 days?
Thanks!
Shishito peppers work great with this recipe! When I originally published this recipe I used shishito peppers, and they were delicious. Just don’t use shishito peppers that come in a bag. Those are usually triple washed and do not ferment well.
That last sentence was supposed to say five weeks, just like the timeline above that paragraph. I fixed it, thank you for pointing it out.
Hello! I am new to the fermenting process and can not wait to try your recipe! I was curious, is it ok to add seasonings such as garlic to this recipe to add other flavors to it? Again, I am new to the process but I was just wondering.
Well, welcome! I’m glad you found your way to our safe and healthy fermentation recipes.
Yes! you can add seasonings like a bit of garlic or onion, just keep all the other ingredients and quantities consistent as written in the recipe.
Can a pellicle develop on the vegetables themselves and not just on the surface of the brine? Is this still safe?
Yes, it’s possible if the vegetables are floating above the brine. Everything within the brine will get cloudy, but there shouldn’t be anything growing on vegetables if they are submerged below the brine.
Hi there, should I de-stem the whole shishitos or just cram em in there with a bit of the stem attached?
Thanks so much!!!
either way is fine! I left the stems on when I fermented shishitos
I have read that one should use cheese cloth or a fermenting lid rather than a mason jar lid. It was said there was danger of the jar exploding during the fermentation process. What has your experience been
You should never use cheesecloth for vegetable fermentation, the lid should always be solid and fully closing. I don’t know who “it was said” by… but if you read this blog post and the recipe notes, I indicate three times that you should burp the jar while it is in the bubbly stage. I’ve never had a jar of fermented vegetables explode with a standard mason jar lid.
Been fermengting for years. Just made these. Everything was cut from small fresh peppers from my plants into small rings. There is not enough water in this recipe. Using a 32 oz jar does give enough liquid, and the rings and peppers have to be.severely crushed down, pressing to make barely enough to hardly cover the weight. I weighed everything out to the gram and make tons of fermented foods. Also, despite the recipe calling for 3.5% brine, this recipe is 6.5%. I have even double verifying a brine calculator. 26 grams of salt to 400 grams water is 6.5. is a step missing where you top up with water after adding everything?
I’ve tested this recipe too many times to count and there is enough water in this recipe. There should be more than enough room to properly pack it all into the suggested 32 ounce jar.
And no, my fermented pepper recipe does not call for a “brine percentage”
My recipes call for total salt concentration, which is far more accurate and safe. Fresh peppers are approximately 92% water, so we also account for the water inside vegetables when calculating salt concentration, because osmosis is… a thing.
Thank you so much for including the information on the change in bacteria based on days fermenting and acid content. I was beginning to get worried as my tomato/pepper ferment was very sour smelling. I am on day 4 and will keep burping! It smells a little good and a lot sour. But I expect that it will soon change to smelling very good and a little sour. I appreciate you adding the science in!!!! So very helpful!
BTW, I used Thai chilis (red) and Sungold Cherry Tomatoes (bright orange and sweet) that I have grown in the garden. It is such a lovely bright orange shade right now! I wish that it would stay that bright. But if I understand correctly it will be a bit more dull in color when it is finished. Either way, I am so excited and glad that I have come across your blog. It is very helpful to be able to reference something so well written. Thank you and please keep it coming!
Most excellent site! I have wanted to try preservation by fermentation for quite a while… I am finally starting with this pepper recipe today. It is already twigging my taste buds!
Glad you found us here! Enjoy the recipe! 🙂
Hi, I’m new here as well. Quick question. Is the weight absolutely necessary to keep the peppers submerged? Would filling the water line to the near top keep the peppers submerged since there wouldn’t really be space for them not to be submerged? And if the weight is necessary, is there anything I can use in place of? Instead of buying a weight.
Hey there, and welcome to the fun world of fermenting!
Yes, you need to keep them submerged, it’s very important. But here is a fun trick if you don’t have the means to get a fermentation weight:
Fill the jar as much as possible and secure a solid mason jar lid. Place the jar in a glass dish to prevent messes. Every morning gently flip it upside down and leave it to stand on the lid for about 12 hours. Before bed, gently flid it back to stand upright. In the morning upside down again, at night right side up.
This will keep any of the pepper pieces from being out of the brine for too long.
You’ll still need to burp the jar to release the gas in the bubbly phase. If you are using a metal mason jar lid, you can take the lid off for a moment and rinse it off before replacing it to keep it from rusting.
love this very detailed, but I do have a question as your article says do not use red peppers because they will taste soapy? so no cayennes or red hots? I have so many cayennes and I would love to do this with them
I am a big fan of Kosher salt but I noticed you did not list that in your list of salts to use.
I ha
you can totally use cayenne peppers! They work great. I just stay away from extremely hot peppers that are shades of red/orange—ones that are above 300,000ish scovilles.
Hi there,
I really appreciate the science you’ve presented in this blog! I just started some 2 days ago and I check them about 5 times per day, LOL!
I have a question about pellicle. Since it’s a yeast, is it possible to use it to make bread?
I think it would definitely be possible! I’m unsure what kind of flavor would develop, but it would be a fun baking experiment. Let me know if you try it!
Hi Kaitlynn,
I’ve gotten everything I need to ferment jalapeno peppers following your instructions, although I am a little confused on one aspect. Although you state clearly several times that any salt concentration between 3% and 6% will work for peppers, on this particular page your pepper fermenting instructions recommend 3.5% salt. Sounds great, I’m ready to go! But, then I notice on your “Complete Guide to Safely Using Salt in Vegetable Fermentation” page, you list 4.0% being best for peppers. Please clarify which concentration between 3% and 6% you think would be best for jalapenos. 3.5% or 4.0% ? Thanks, loads!
Also, if I may ask? What are the four types of salt in the fermenting mix that you used to sell on this site, that is no longer available? Thanks again! Love your work!
Any salt concentration between 3% and 6% works… so both 3.5% and 4.0% work well. I like them anywhere between 3% and 6%. It’s not a matter of clarification of which is best. As long as you stay in that range, it’s just a matter of flavor preference. If you want to use this exact recipe, just use the salt concentration I used here… 3.5%
It’s a blend of two flake sea salts, Himalayan salt, and sel gris.
Thanks so much for your reply. 3.5% it is then!
You are awesome!
Hi, I’m so glad our found your site 😀
Is it ok to use cabbage leaves to keep the veggies submerged? I don’t have enough weights and they are ridiculously expensive in Australia. Tia
of course! Cabbage leaves will work fine.
About a month ago I started a jar of peppers following about the mentioned proportions of salt and water. I used red bird, habanero and ghost peppers, as well as garlic from the grocery store. I’m concerned they haven’t really fermented. They dont look like they’ve changed as much as i expected. They smell okay and I tasted the liquid which is quite hot. I’m just uncertain if the fermentation has worked.
Is there anything I shouid do at this point to save this batch?
Hi there!
What do you mean by “about the mentioned proportions”? Did you measure your ingredients by weight? This is the only way to ensure consistently good results.
Did the liquid bubble and become cloudy?
I haven’t tried this recipe as it’s pretty similar to mine but I cannot seem to get peppers that are crispy, they always go soggy. Any advice? They’re always super firm when I start them.
Hi there! If your peppers always go soggy, it’s most likely because you are not using enough salt.