Commercial hot sauce usually contains raw peppers and vinegar, as well as other chemicals and additives. While it may taste good, it has no nutritional value and the added sugars and raw pepper lectins likely contribute to poor metabolism.

Enter fermentation! By using our standard salt brine and leaving it on the counter for a couple of weeks, we can create a delicious, nutritious probiotic hot sauce!

I use organic or farmers’ market peppers, giving them a quick wash with baking soda. Cut off the stems and slice them in half. You can leave the seeds and pith — the white, spongy material that holds the seeds — in, or remove them. The pith contains the most heat. The spiciness of your sauce depends on how much pith you include. The seeds have little heat.

Weigh and salt the peppers at two or three percent by weight. Let them sweat.

Optional: Add garlic cloves, but be careful as garlic intensifies with fermentation.

Optional extras: raw ginger slices and garlic cloves.

Optional: raw turmeric slices.

Optional: raw honey – not the processed stuff you find in shops!

Use whatever sounds good to you! This is your hot sauce. Have fun!

Cover them with a 2% salt brine and leave to ferment for 2–3 weeks or longer.

Once they have reached the desired level of sourness, strain them into a bowl. Using a blender, start blending and add as much brine as you wish. The amount you add will determine how thick or thin your sauce is.

Store in the refrigerator and enjoy.