Just tried a salt brine vs a whey brine for my hot sauce ferment

I've been making fermented hot sauce for about 2 years now, and last week I tested two batches side by side with the same peppers. One used a 3% salt brine and the other used leftover whey from making yogurt. After 10 days, the whey batch had way more bubbles and a tangier, funkier flavor. The salt batch was good but more one note. I'm thinking the whey gave it a head start with lactobacillus already active. Has anyone else experimented with different liquid starters for their ferments?

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2 Comments

the_anna5mo ago

The whey might just be masking some of the pepper flavors though.

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felix_bailey455mo ago

Is it really that deep though? Like yeah cool it bubbled more but 10 days isn't that long for a ferment to really develop.

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