Fermented Peppers (How to Ferment Any Type of Pepper)

Choosing Peppers for Fermentation

Here’s my checklist for choosing great peppers to make the best fermented peppers at home: 

1. Density: The peppers should feel like they are hydrated and have good turgor pressure. It should not feel 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.

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

Kitchenaid Dual Platform Scale

Wide Mouth Fermentation Weights

32 Oz Mason Jars

Australian Sea Salt

Regular Mouth Rust Proof Mason Jar Lids

Plastic pH Test Strips (pH 0-14)

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.

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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.

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• Prep: 15 min 15 minutes
• Ferment: 4 weeks 4 weeks

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Ingredients

• 330 grams Peppers
• 26 grams sea salt
• 400 grams water

Instructions

1. 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.
2. Wash your fermentation equipment, including the jar, weight, and lid.
3. Wash your peppers and chop to your desired consistency. You can chop into pepper rings, slices or minced. 
4. Using a kitchen scale, measure out the water, salt and peppers.
5. 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.
6. Place your standard mason jar lid on the jar, and secure it. Shake the jar for 2 minutes.
7. 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.
8. Secure the jar lid to the mason jar.
9. 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. 

Kaitlynn Fenley Food Microbiologist and Fermentation Specialist

Kaitlynn is a Food Microbiologist and FSPCA-certified fermentation specialist. An alumna of the LSU College of Science, she combines her academic background in microbiology with her Cajun heritage to create safe and delicious recipes.

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