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Scarred wooden table scattered with split habanero peppers, mortar and pestle dusted with chili powder, and a half-filled hot sauce bottle with a handwritten label
🌶 Since 2019Vol. 7 · Fermentation Season

Grow It.
Ferment It.
Bottle It.
Share It.

A kitchen-stained notebook of recipes, fermentation logs, and heat confessions from people who grow their own peppers and label their own bottles.

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4,200+

Sauce Makers

380+

Fermentation Logs

12

Pepper Varieties Tracked

∞

Brine Ratio Arguments

01

Marcus Webb

Tucson, AZ · Backyard Grower

Close-up of weathered hands holding a cluster of bright orange habanero peppers just picked from the vine

The Garden

Habaneros. August harvest. 2.3 lbs.

1
Glass mason jars filled with fermenting pepper mash on a kitchen counter with pH strips nearby

The Ferment

Day 6. pH 3.8. Smells right.

2
A thick amber hot sauce being poured from a handmade bottle with a hand-written paper label reading Desert Sun

The Sauce

Desert Sun. Bottle #1 of 40.

3

“I pulled my first habanero crop in August. By September I had 40 bottles labeled with a Sharpie. By October I had opinions about brine ratios.”

Aug 14, 2025

Fermentation Log #47

Habanero & Mango Brine

Peppers450g habanero, stems removed
Salt2.5% brine by weight (non-iodized)
Add-insHalf a mango, 4 garlic cloves, 1 tbsp honey
Vessel1L mason jar, cloth-covered
Day 3Bubbling active. pH: 4.2. Good sign.
Day 7Smell: funky, fruity, sharp. pH: 3.7. Nearly there.
Day 10Blend. Strain. Bottle. Done.

Don't rush the brine. The jar knows.

~200,000 SHU after fermentation mellows it.

02

Elena Vasquez

Portland, OR · Weekend Fermenter

A lush raised garden bed with serrano and green pepper plants heavy with fruit in soft morning light

The Garden

Serranos & Fresnos. Raised beds.

1
Kitchen counter with fermentation jars, a pH meter, notebook open to fermentation log entries, and dried pepper flakes scattered nearby

The Ferment

pH log, Day 4–12. Notes on temp.

2
Bright green hot sauce drizzled over a taco, vivid and glossy against a rustic wooden board

The Sauce

Cascadia Green. Bright. Sharp. Honest.

3

“The pH meter was the best $18 I ever spent. That, and accepting that my kitchen smells like a taqueria for three weeks every fall.”

Field Reference

Scoville Field Notes

From the garden to the scale

Jalapeño

2,500–8,000 SHU

Entry point. Don't apologize for it.

Serrano

10,000–23,000 SHU

The jalapeño's meaner sibling.

Cayenne

30,000–50,000 SHU

What most people think is "hot."

Habanero

100,000–350,000 SHU

This is where it gets personal.

Ghost (Bhut)

800,000–1M SHU

Respect it. It doesn't care about you.

Carolina Reaper

1.4M–2.2M SHU

Why? Because you can.

SHU is a starting point, not a finish line.

03

Priya Nair

Austin, TX · First-Timer

Small patio container garden with Fresno pepper plants growing in terracotta pots on a sunny Austin porch

The Garden

Fresnos in containers. Patio garden.

1
First fermentation jar with red peppers visible through glass, sitting on a bright kitchen counter with a handwritten label taped to it

The Ferment

First jar. Nervous. Excited.

2
A small bottle of bright red vinegar-based hot sauce with a hand-drawn chili pepper on the label, sitting on a worn wooden cutting board

The Sauce

Fresno Vinegar. Batch #1. 8 bottles.

3

“I thought cayenne powder was hot sauce. Then I tasted Marcus's habanero brine and had to sit down. I grew my first peppers that spring.”

Hot sauce bottles lined up with handwritten labels on a wooden shelf

You've seen enough. Trust the craft.

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380+ fermentation logs. Pepper variety guides. Community debates about brine ratios at midnight. Written by makers who taste-test before breakfast.

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