Our local, fermented jalapeño and garlic hot sauce!
As we settle into this fall transition, we reflect with gratitude on another successful growing season in the Berkshires. This summer and fall, we've grown two varieties of cabbage, carrots, garlic, jalapeño and sweet red peppers, and various other storage crops for our own personal consumption. We've also continued to partner with local, sustainable farms in the region, which include: Atlas Farm in South Deerfield, MA; MX Morningstar Farm in Copake, NY; Winter Moon Roots in Hadley, MA; Red Fire Farm in Montague, MA; and Abode Farm in New Lebanon, NY. Thank you to all of our farmers! Your work is essential to building a thriving and sustainable local food economy, and we are so happy to be a part of what you do.
And while many of our ferments combine ingredients from multiple farms (including our own), our hot sauce is the exception, prepared with jalapeños and garlic exclusively grown by us on farmland right near our kitchen in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts. This season we were blessed with an abundant pepper crop, and amazed at the flavor and spice of our jalapeños and sweet red peppers. And the jalapenos, of course, are the primary ingredient in our fermented hot sauce.
Our co-founder Maddie Elling processing peppers in the kitchen.
After harvesting, the jalapeños are processed in our kitchen and fermented with sea salt in the same way that we prepare our sauerkraut and kimchi: using the traditional lacto-fermentation method of combining vegetables, sea salt, and time. Part magic, part microbiology, the fermentation process enhances the flavor and probiotic content of our hot sauce, creating a flavourful, sour tang without the addition of vinegar.
This year, we are also experimenting with new hot sauce recipes. Many of you have seen our jalapeño hot sauce appear in both red and green varieties. This is the result of producing the same recipe with red, ripe jalapeños and green, fresh jalapeños. Moving forward, we are now experimenting with a distinct, additional recipe to differentiate the two colors in both appearance and taste, and to provide a milder variety for those who prefer a hot sauce with less fire. Stay tuned!
And so keep an eye out for our hot sauce at select retail locations and various farmer's markets in the region, including Berkshire Grown in Great Barrington and Williamstown, MA; Basilica Farm and Flea in Hudson, NY; the Shindy at Shire City Sanctuary in Pittsfield, MA; and GBAM, the GB Arts Market in Great Barrington, MA. Locally grown and naturally fermented, we see our hot sauce as a celebration of local agriculture and the community of farmers, retailers, and customers that makes what we do possible.
At work in the garlic patch this summer: this garlic also produces the garlic scapes used in our Scape Kraut!