Watermelon Beets Hot Sauce
Beets and watermelon are both wonderful ingredients to consider for fermentation. The beets provide an incredible color, in addition to some deep, earthy flavors that you don’t normally find in many hot sauce varieties on supermarket shelves.
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Fermentation Time: 1 week, or longer if desired
Yield: 2 quarts
Instructions
13 steps1
Clean a 2-quart mason jar with hot soapy water, and set aside to completely dry.
2
Add the fresh dill sprigs to the bottom of the jar, along with the chiles, beets, watermelon, onion, and carrot.
3
In a separate container, mix together the water with the Kosher salt, and mix until the salt is completely dissolved in the water.
4
Add the salt water brine on top of the vegetables and watermelon, and press the contents down until they are submerged beneath the surface of the brine.
5
Cover the submerged contents with a glass or ceramic weight, and close the lid on the jar.
6
Allow the contents to ferment at room temperature for roughly one week, or until you are satisfied with the degree of fermentation and acidity.
7
Make sure to carefully open the jars at least once per day as they ferment, and make sure the contents remain submerged.
8
When you are ready to finalize and bottle your hot sauce, discard 1/3 of the liquid brine.
9
Remove the fresh dill sprigs from the solid contents.
10
Stir together the apple cider vinegar with the white granulated sugar until the sugar has dissolved, and add the sugar and vinegar mixture to your fermented hot sauce mixture with the remaining brine.
11
Blend the contents using an immersion blender or food processor, and taste the contents.
12
Add more salt, sugar, or vinegar, if desired.
13
Transfer the blended hot sauce into individual bottles, and store the bottles in the fridge to cool down.
