Fermented Hot Sauce With Fruit: How to Nail It

Fermented hot sauce with fruit isn’t the easiest hot sauce type for a beginner to make.

Not all fruits go well with hot peppers, and sugars may accelerate spoilage if the ingredients aren’t handled correctly.

For this reason, I’ve created a detailed guide on how to nail hot sauce with fruit that will be useful both for beginners and experienced hot sauce lovers.

Generally speaking, the best fruits for hot sauce are ones that balance heat. These include sweet peach, apricot, and mango.

However, if you prefer to enhance the heat, you may add acidic fruits such as apples, oranges, or sour cherries.

Keep reading for more tips on preparing fermented hot sauce with fruit and the best peach hot sauce recipes.

What Fruits Are Good for Hot Sauce?

The choice of fruits for hot sauce should be based on your choice of pepper.

Tropical fruits such as pineapple, mango, and guava are some of the best options for any fruit-based hot sauce.

In contrast, sweet and soft fruits such as peach are great at balancing the heat of the pepper.

Cherry or kiwi, however, will make the sauce slightly sour.

What Fruit Goes Well With Ghost Pepper?

Ghost pepper has an intense, sweet chili flavor with fruity undertones.

Unsurprisingly, it goes well with an array of fruits, though some combinations will make your ghost pepper hot sauce truly spark.

If you wish to reduce the sauce heat, choose sweet fruit such as apricot or peach.

Citrus fruits like orange or lime also pair perfectly with ghost pepper and will make the sauce even hotter.

However, one of the most interesting additions to ghost pepper is mango.

Overall, ghost pepper has a bright orangey-red color, and all these fruits will make the sauce look even more appetizing.

What Fruit Goes Well With Habanero?

Habanero pepper color ranges from yellow to bright red.

It’s one of the hottest peppers in existence, scoring over 100,000 Scoville Heat Units, which is over 20 times hotter than jalapenos.

Habaneros have floral, sweet flavor undertones, yet you may not be able to sense them due to the intense heat.

Habanero heat needs to be balanced to enhance the taste undertones, so citrus fruits aren’t the best choice for this pepper.

Instead, I suggest using peach, mango, pears, or guava to mellow the searing heat of habaneros.

Fresh figs or dates will also add sweetness and richness to the sauce.

How Long Does Hot Sauce With Fruit Last?

Typically, hot sauces have a long shelf life due to the intense heat that doesn’t let bacteria breed.

However, fruits contain natural sugars that may speed up the process.

Thus, the average shelf life of hot sauce with fruit is about six months, provided all safety precautions were followed and the recipe contains at least 20% vinegar.

Tips for Making Fermented Hot Sauce With Fruit

The most important factor in making fermented hot sauce with fruit is following safety precautions to avoid fruit spoilage.

Thoroughly wash all ingredients you put in the sauce to remove bacteria from the surface.

Don’t add any oil to the sauce, as it can form botulinum that’s harmful to human health.

Remember that if you use less than 20% vinegar or lemon juice, your sauce must be stored in a refrigerator.

The perfect pH level for sauce stored on a shelf is about 3.4. A pH, while above 4.6 isn’t acidic enough.

You should also sterilize the sauce bottle and any instruments used in preparation to minimize the risk of contamination.

Pasteurize your sauce by boiling it before bottling to make it last longer.

Boiling it for two minutes will suffice. Let the sauce sit for about 20 minutes before bottling.

As for the flavor, don’t be afraid to experiment and mix fruits with veggies.

For instance, mango and peach create a delicious blend with pumpkin and are ideal for extremely hot peppers such as habanero.

Orange can be mixed with carrots and dates – a combination that’s seen in carrot cake. Apricots make a perfect blend with sweet potato.

Fermented Peach Hot Sauce Recipe

One of the best fruits to use in hot sauce is peach as it can mellow the heat and enhance pepper flavor undertones.

Read on for peach sauce recipes every hot sauce enthusiast should try out.

Peach and Fresno Pepper Hot Sauce

For the peach and Fresno pepper sauce, you’ll need:

• Ripe peaches
• Red onion
• Fresno peppers
• Chili peppers
• Salt
• Vinegar or lemon juice
• Optionally – a few habaneros if you prefer hotter sauces.

First, finely chop the ingredients.

Place a layer of Fresno peppers into a fermentation jar and cover it with a layer of peaches.

Then, add a thin layer of the onion.

Continue to layer your jar, leaving some free space, and top it with a layer of chili.

Then, dissolve two tablespoons of salt in a quart of water and pour the mixture into the jar.

Add some vinegar or lemon juice to increase the acidity.

Lock the jar and leave it in a cool (not the fridge, this will slow the fermentation) and dry place for at least two weeks to ferment.

Once the fermentation is complete, open the jar and transfer its content to a blender.

You can add another cup of brine and vinegar if you prefer a thinner sauce.

Blend thoroughly and bottle up your sauce.

Peach Scotch Bonnet Hot Sauce

For the peach Scotch Bonnet hot sauce, you’ll need:

• Scotch Bonnet peppers
• Tomatoes
• Peach
• Garlic
• Apple cider vinegar
• Honey
• Mustard powder
• Salt
• Ground cardamon
• Black pepper

First, finely chop all peaches and veggies.

Pack them into a fermenting jar but leave about an inch of free space at the top.

Mix one quart of water with three tablespoons of salt and pour the brine into the jar.

Airlock the jar and place it in a cool, dry place for at least two weeks.

When you consider your sauce to be fermented, open the jar and transfer the contents to a pot.

Add honey, cardamon, pepper, mustard powder, and vinegar.

Bring to boil and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Then, let the sauce rest.

Finally, transfer the pot contents to a food processor and blend until smooth. Bottle your hot sauce and refrigerate it.

In Summary

Hopefully, my tips will help you make a well-balanced and delicious fermented hot sauce with fruit.

Success comes with practice, so keep experimenting to find your favorite pepper and fruit combinations

Remember that you can also add other ingredients such as dried fruit, honey, or spices to the mixture to make the flavor even richer.