Go Back
–+ servings
Fermented maple hot sauce in a small dish with a wooden spoon.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
No ratings yet

Fermented Maple Hot Sauce

A simple sriracha-inspired hot sauce made from fermented peppers and maple syrup. Makes about 3 cups
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time5 minutes
Fermenting time14 days
Total Time14 days 20 minutes
Course: Condiment
Cuisine: American
Keyword: maple hot sauce recipe
Servings: 30 Servings
Calories: 21kcal
Author: Alan Bergo
Cost: 5

Equipment

  • 1 gallon vacuum bag and sealer or a 1 qt mason jar, ideally narrow mouth
  • 1 Blender like a Vitamix
  • 1 3 quart sauce pot ideally stainless steel
  • 1 Spice grinder or mortar and pestle

Ingredients

  • 1 lb red fresno peppers or other hot peppers
  • ½ tsp Kosher salt 1 % of the peppers weight, plus more to taste
  • ½ cup maple syrup
  • ¼ cup rice wine vinegar
  • ¼ cup water
  • ½ tsp cumin seed lightly toasted
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Fermentation

  • Remove the stems from the peppers and most of the seeds.

Vacuum Sealed Method

  • Toss with the salt and garlic and vacuum seal. Allow the mixture to ferment at room temperature for two weeks.
  • I like to ferment the peppers in a warm room where I have a dehydrator going in the summer which helps speed up the process.

Glass Jar Method

  • Grind the peppers to a paste in a food processor with the garlic.
  • Transfer the pepper paste to a jar, add the salt and water, stir, screw on a lid and allow to ferment for two weeks.

Cooking and Finishing the Sauce

  • Toast the cumin seed and grind to a powder.
  • Pour the fermented pepper-garlic mixture into a non-reactive pan, adding the water, vinegar, and maple syrup.
  • If you use the ground pepper method you will skip adding the water as it was added prior to fermentation.
  • Bring the pot to a boil, turn off the heat, then carefully puree the mixture in a blender until smooth-ish.
  • Pureeing hot sauces can be dangerous as it causes pressure to build in the blender. Make sure there's a way for air to escape through the lid before pureeing so the top doesn't blow off.
  • Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning for salt. I usually add an additional ½ teaspoon or so.
  • Transfer the sauce to a jar, cool, and store in the fridge. If it was fermented for the full two weeks it will last a long time. It can likely be water-bath canned but I haven't tried it yet.

Video

Notes

  • Maple syrup is my first choice for sweetening this sauce, but honey will work fine too. Maple sugar works too, but is more expensive than syrup. 
  • This can be a good recipe for dark maple syrup or syrup of lower quality as it's used as a sweetener instead of all by itself. 
  • To speed up fermentation, you can add a few scrapes of fresh ginger, or a piece of sauerkraut. 

Nutrition

Calories: 21kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 0.3g | Fat: 0.1g | Saturated Fat: 0.01g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.04g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.004g | Sodium: 41mg | Potassium: 61mg | Fiber: 0.2g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 144IU | Vitamin C: 22mg | Calcium: 8mg | Iron: 0.2mg