Name: Fermented Hot Sauce
Yield: About 2 cups
Ingredients: 1 lb fresh hot peppers (cayenne, Fresno, habanero, jalapeño, or a mix — your choice based on heat preference); 4 cloves garlic, peeled; 1 tablespoon fine sea salt; 1 cup filtered water; 1/2 teaspoon sugar (optional — feeds fermentation)

Homemade hot sauce with depth, complexity, and probiotics. This is closer to what hot sauce tasted like before it all came from factories. You control the heat. You control the flavor. And it gets better every week.

Ingredients

1 lb fresh hot peppers (cayenne, Fresno, habanero, jalapeño, or a mix — your choice based on heat preference)
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tablespoon fine sea salt
1 cup filtered water
1/2 teaspoon sugar (optional — feeds fermentation)

Method

Remove the stems from the peppers. Cut them in half lengthwise (wear gloves for hot peppers). Leave the seeds in for more heat, remove some for milder sauce.
Pack the peppers and garlic cloves into a quart jar.
Dissolve the salt (and sugar, if using) in the water. Pour over the peppers until fully submerged.
Weight the peppers down below the brine. Seal with an airlock lid.
Ferment at room temperature for 7-14 days. The brine will become cloudy and you'll see active bubbling. Taste the brine at day 7 — it should be tangy and pleasantly hot.
When the flavor is developed, strain the peppers and garlic from the brine, reserving the brine.
Blend the peppers and garlic in a blender or food processor, adding brine a little at a time until you reach your desired consistency. Start with 1/4 cup of brine and add more as needed.
For a smooth sauce, strain through a fine-mesh sieve. For a chunkier sauce, skip this step.
Bottle in clean glass bottles or jars. Store in the fridge.

Notes

**Heat guide**: Jalapeños = mild. Fresno/cayenne = medium. Habanero = hot. Mixing varieties gives the most complex flavor.
Add 1-2 tablespoons of vinegar after blending for a thinner, more shelf-stable sauce (this is what commercial hot sauces do, but it's optional).
The longer it ferments, the more complex and less raw-hot the flavor becomes. Patient hot sauce is better hot sauce.
Fermented hot sauce makes an incredible gift. Small bottles with a handwritten label — people will ask for more.