My first hot sauce ferment went from zero to hero in one jar

I started a batch of habanero and pineapple hot sauce on June 1st and honestly thought I had botulism in there after three days. The brine got super cloudy and a layer of white stuff formed on top, but I let it ride for 14 days anyway. Turned out it was just kahm yeast and the final sauce is the best thing I've ever made - my buddy Tom from work said it's better than his grandma's recipe. Has anyone else had a ferment look totally sketchy but end up amazing?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_abby1d ago

Wait, wasn't your pH test scary too? My first ferment looked like a swamp and tasted like heaven.

kelly_hart281d ago

My first batch hit 3.8 pH after 5 days and I was sure I'd killed everything. Tasted fine though, just needed another week to mellow out. Now I don't even bother testing until day 10, the numbers always stabilize if you let it ride.