We all know and love that little green capped bottle of spicy goodness! Hot sauce, like Tabasco or Louisiana-brand hot sauce, is actually fermented peppers with vinegar added. Pickled corn is a great way to preserve that excess corn from the garden. It is delicious! The fermenting process is simple but there are some steps that must be followed to make your own hot sauce and corn at home.
Once you get the hang of this sauce, you can add in different types of peppers and you can also use different vinegars. You do need to use pickling salt because it is a pure salt with no anti-clumping additives. The mash can be finished and bottled as soon as a week after it is made, but 4 weeks fermentation is better. One gallon of mash will make ½ gallon of sauce. The recipe can be increased or reduced.
Homemade Hot Sauce
Ripe red cayenne type peppers
Picking salt
Apple cider vinegar
Remove the stems from the peppers but leave the caps on them. Wash and dry them then roughly chop the peppers in a food processor. Measure the “mash” and for every 2 cups of mash add 1 tablespoon of pickling salt. Mix well.
Sanitize a glass jar or a stoneware crock and dry it thoroughly. Add pepper mash and salt to the container.
Cover with either a loose fitting lid or cover with a cotton cloth and secure with a rubber band. Let this sit at room temperature for 30 days to ferment.
It will begin “working” (bubbling) within a few days. If any fuzzy stuff appears on the surface, simply skim it off. After 30 days, measure out the mash again. Add in 2 tablespoons of vinegar to every 2 cups of mash. Stir it in very well.
With the back of a spoon, press the mash through a fine mesh strainer. Bottle, cap and enjoy!
Pickled Corn
There are 2 ways to pickle corn. One is on the cob and the other is in niblet form.
Niblet Pickled Corn
Pickling salt
Water – bottled spring water – not tap water
Remove shucks and silks, blanch corn in boiling water for three minutes. Remove and place into ice water. Cut the corn from the cob but do not scrape cobs. Pack niblets into a sanitized glass jar or into a stoneware crock. Make a brine by adding 1 cup of salt to 1 gallon of water. Cover the corn with the brine. Add an upside down plate and put a clean brick or rock on top of the plate.
If using an odd shaped container, fill a plastic bag with water and set on top of the corn. The goal is to keep the corn in the brine at all times so air can’t get to it while it is pickling.
Cover with a cotton cloth and secure with rubber bands. Let sit for 4 weeks. Check often to see if more brine is needed and if any fuzzy stuff appears, skim it off.
After 4 weeks, it is ready. Either leave it in the jars and add brine as needed, OR place into jars with lids and refrigerate OR place into canning jars (corn and brine) and water bath 15 minutes for pints and 20 minutes for quarts. If leaving in the pickling container, keep a check to make sure the corn is covered, adding more brine if needed and removing any fuzz that may appear. To use, eat as is, or rinse and heat with a little water and butter.
Cob Pickled Corn
Remove shucks and silks, blanch corn for 3 minutes in boiling water. Place into cold water. Lay corn on its side in glass jars or crocks. Cover with brine and proceed as directed above. To make this corn taste like fresh corn, remove what you will need from crock, rinse, cover with water and bring to a boil, drain and repeat. Then boil the corn with water and some butter for fresh corn on the cob.
