How To Make Fermented Jalapenos

Written by Michael Grant in Recipes

Fermented Jalapenos in a swing top jar

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Jalapenos have a wonderful flavor as well as some nice heat making them a great addition to Taco salad, chili, sandwiches, scrambled eggs or any other recipe you want to spice up a bit. 

This recipe is for naturally brined jalapeno peppers which makes them not only flavorful but also good for you as well.  The fermentation process here uses lactic acid bacteria which acidifies the peppers while preserving them.  The lactic acid bacteria are known for their health giving properties as well as bringing out the flavors of the food they are fermenting.

Equipment:

  • Kitchen knife
  • Cutting board
  • One jar with a sealable lid

Ingredients:

  • Jalapeno peppers
  • Salt
  • Filtered water

Instructions:

Cut the jalapenos into slices of your choice of thickness

Jam them into the jar

Make a brine of about 3% (two parts salt to 100 parts water by weight)

Pour the brine into the jar until the jalapenos are covered

Place the lid on the jar and put somewhere out of the sun

Burp the jar daily for about a week and to prevent mold or other unwanted growth tip the jar upside down daily to break the surface of the liquid and spread the brine around the inside of the jar

In about a week try a jalapeno slice.  If it is to your liking then place the jar in the fridge. 

I like the swing top jars depicted in the picture as I don’t have to burp these jars.  They have a rubber seal which lets pressure out of the jar when it gets high enough but will not let any air into the jar. 

This prevents any spoilage bacteria or mold from getting into the jar before the LAB have had a chance to acidify the environment.  I still tip the jar upside down daily for a week to ensure the salt and lactic acid bacteria are spread around killing any spoilage organisms which may be present in the jar prior to closing the lid.

Note:

If you like to flavor of jalapenos but not the heat then slice the peppers lengthwise and remove the white pith which the seeds are attached to as this is where most of the heat of the pepper is.  Once the pith is removed ferment the peppers as usual.

Michael Grant

Mike has been an enthusiast of fermentation for over ten years. With humble beginnings of making kombucha for himself to the intricacies of making miso, vinegar and kefir. He makes a wide variety of fermented foods and drinks for his own consumption and family and friends. Being a serial learner he began experimenting with a wide variety of fermented products and learning widely from books, online from content and scientific studies about fermentation, its health benefits, how to use fermented food products in everyday life and the various techniques used to produce them both traditionally and commercially. With a focus on producing his own fermented products in an urban environment with little access to garden space he began Urban Fermentation to help others who want to get the benefits of fermentation in their lives. He provides a wide variety of content covering fermented drinks like kombucha and water kefir, milk kefir and yogurt, vinegar production and lacto-fermentation such as pickles, sauerkraut for those who have to rely on others for food production. With an insatiable hunger to know more about fermentation from all nations and cultures he also has learned to make natto, miso and soy sauce, with more to come as the body of knowledge about fermentation is constantly expanding and becoming more popular as time passes.

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