Throwing this out there in case it's not been added to comments: a great alternative for this variety of chili is to smoke them. They are thin skinned, so smoking them on a low temp (~200F) with a sweet smoking wood (e.g. apple or peach) will accomplish BOTH dehydration while adding tremendous depth in flavor.
I respect how you mention your success:to:failure ratio when it comes to experimenting with new things. Like they say, "If you are not failing, you are not trying" Great videos brother 👍
i would recomend a brine fermentation with this pepper. the colour of my sauce got a much brighter yellow, almost the original colour of the fresh peppers. and at the end you can use the brine to dilute the sauce.
My fermentations are always in brine. My batch fermentations have too frequently been subject to kam yeast, I had to keep an eye on it, check often. With vegetables properly settled under brine, I just wait 3-4 weeks for chili, and proceed to next steps. My choice is pure laziness!
I was going to ask if doing this in brine would save that awesome color. I also like the idea of turmeric as was mentioned. Great video
4 года назад
I really like the Lemon Drop. Last year I picked two from the tree and gave one to my mother and I had the other one and only seconds after that I realized, that my comment "they are not so bad, but they taste really fruity" was not that correct. My mother requested eminently some milk. :D They are really nice and I will grow them again.
Dude, PREACH the whole coriander seed gospel. That has got to be one of the best smelling spices, so underrated. Thanks for the good vid! Made my first hot sauce from last year's dried peppers -- very excited to try more this year. Cheers!
Great vid as always! Also, thanks for including links to equipment you use! I have my first crop of superhots (C. Reapers and Choc. Scorpions) are outside growing now and I look forward to fermenting some sauce from them after harvest. Your vids are really educational and entertaining!
@@ChilliChump Lost mine today too, reserved the last similar 2m*2m*1.5m one in the local Argos to collect tomorrow. They're already like gold dust with so many people stuck at home, they'll be as rare as unicorn farts by monday when everyone's polytents are destroyed in the wind! Glad to say I saved the majority of my chillis, I think the only carolina reaper I had sprout is gone though :'(
Hi @chillichump, I am a huge fan of your channel. I love watching you make sauce, because I live in Japan where having a garden is almost an impossible dream, living in a cramped Japanese apartment. But you do give me inspiration to try and experiment with flavours. We also recently hired a south African woman to our company. So I was happy to realize that fact the other day. I am always happy to see your new videos. Keep up the great work. Thanks so much for your hard work.
We grow a medley of chilies like piquines,tepines,rat shit Thai marbles. Over the years they have crossed and have evolved to have a really special character of spicy and flavor. They are labor intensive but the rewards are worth it. They will grow back after cutting down the stalks.They love the heat here in Texas and can be picked about every 5 days. Some are dried and some are frozen. Now you got me fermenting!! Thanks for answering my post and Keep On Keeping On!
Love the Aji peppers. I made a sauce similar but used some garlic and smoked Aji lemon drops. It had good heat and the flavor was outstanding. You got notes of each ingredient but the flavor of the pepper was out in front.
Thanks for sharing your process, and for the vac seal method! I'll try that this year. The sauce looks great. I grew Lemon Drop last year, actually shot a review but haven't published yet. I didn't do a whole lot withthe peppers but I do remember liking the powder I made from them.
Instead of using water, use orange juice! It's great, better than vinegar in my opinion. Just try it I promise it's good and you'll love it, especially in a sauce that's already made with a citrus tasting pepper like Aji Lemon Drop anyway.
After watching your videos I grew some Aji lemon drops this year. I made a small batch of sauce using just the fermented peppers, some pineapple, and a bit of lime juice. And of course some white vinegar and salt. It turned out great!
Really enjoyed this video I learned a lot. I have just grown Lemon Drop Chillies and now I know what to do with them. You present very well and it was a pleasure to listen to you. Thank you. Linda
Looks like Aji amarillo from Peru, my nephew is Peruvian and he makes the most delicious sauce with it. Floral is the word, with a little bite to them, hot but palatable. BIg thumbs up from French France I watch all your videos 😀 and lucky we are that a local organic farmer/friend produces them
I grow lemon drops and I usually make a fresh Mexican type salsa with them...onion...cilantro...salt...a little fresh garlic...served with crisp tortilla chips... You can kinda roast off the lemon drops first...excellent flavor! Oh, and a small splash of red wine vinegar!
You mention yourself for every succes theres 20 failures and its actually nice to hear that even someone as experienced as yourself runs into issue. I'm sure I saw a video where you demonstrated some issues youve had with ferments. maybe you could consider doing a similar thing with actual plants and issues you encountered during your grow and potential causes and solutions.
The failures are more down to the flavour combinations at this point thankfully. I haven't had a failed fermentation in years now! But you have to keep trying different things, to see what works etc. I am doing a new beginners guide this year, and will certainly add what I can about common issues with plants. Good idea!
try the Aji Pineapple which is similar to the lemon but sweeter and no soap flavor. Also excellent video production, you are really upping your game! nice work.
This is such an amazing video. Love the way you explain everything, as well as the factoids on the left. Really good walk through of adding water, citric acid, vinegar, etc. Also love how you have the guts to eat the dehydrated pepper even though you hate it!
I love growing these because of the prolific amount of peppers you get from them and also my friends cant get enough of them for some reason. I'm like you not my favorite but a Interesting pepper.
When you began talking about how the water brought the pH of the sauce up to dangerous levels, I was thinking that you should add a food-safe buffer such as citric acid. Looks like you really thought of everything! Genius as always.
Ahh I’m glad someone else gets zoflora as well as lemon from this chilli! It seems to be the placenta that has the kitchen cleaner flavour to me. I fancy trying the madre vieja as it’s meant to be thicker skinned and more productive as an alternative but if I manage to overwinter the lemon drops for another year I’ll still grow them!
I found the Aji Lemons to have a way more earthen flavor fermented. Also has perfumey note that comes through but the flavours almost conflict not compliment eachother if you know what I mean. I like adding them to salsas raw (they remind me of jalapeno burn with citrus punch) but probably won't run them in 2022 season. 🤷♂️
Great to see you CC! Love those Ajis! Thanks for the tips about citric acid. Don't taint your sauce bro - use a mother of pearl spoon for tasting, not metal. ;)
I’m growing these this year . Excited to try to try them . Never ate one or seen one in person .My plan is to try my first cross pollination with these and Tabasco. Great video once again !
I wonder if this pepper would pair well with saffron in a hot sauce, that would both improve the colour and hopefully complement the floral flavours. That or just turmeric. By the way I'm growing this pepper for the first time this year.
ChilChump, you’ve inspired me to make my own sauces. I actually started my first fermentation 2 days ago. It is a vacuum seal fermentation, and I’m curious why you recommend against re-vacuuming the bag after releasing CO2. Love your videos. Stay Spicy 🌶
Hey CC! My job requires me to neutralize very alkaline suspension with HCl (so I understand there's some big differences between what I do and what you're doing here). While your research was correct, I've noticed that there isn't so much an exponential volumetric correlation when you're measuring your acid to bring the pH down. Basically what I'm saying is, if you were to constantly feed a solution at pH 2.0 into a solution at say, 11.0, as the pH comes down, it doesn't cross pH 8.0 10x faster than it passed 10.0 from 9.0. I hope that makes sense.
@@ChilliChump Lol, I meant "passed from 10.0 to 9.0" I knew something didn't sound right! Best of luck! I enjoy your experiments, and have great respect for your chilli knowledge!
Great vid! Lemon drop was actually the first pepper I grew. This is now my 4th or 5th season after that, all thanks to lemon drop. Althou probably mostly because how great it is with salmon! And because it was very productive
Another method for decreasing the pH is by adding ascorbic acid (Vitamin C). Food manufacturers often do this as they can advertise "now with Vitamin C" so people think it's healthier. Vitamin C is a good natural preservative. This was a good video. I really like the transparency and honesty of the content you create.
I’m going to check it out. Thanks 🙏.. I got some naga vipers that kickstart my heart and cry and sweat. The flamethrower and flavor was earthy, but no sweetness lik a habanero. Love your show man, keep up the good work 👍
i have dried peppers of all sorts. after drying i then take my Vitamix and turn them to powder... i usually add/mix the top 5 hottest pepper powders in various combo's/amounts. Word to the wise. do not open that lid for a good 5 minutes after powdering the peppers.. go outside and be up wind from it ... they are amazing in a powdered state.
Hello from Peru where that aji lemon drop is from , we eat it raw here usually on ceviche our signature dish, too bad you dont like that chilli we love it here, btw great channel. Im looking forward on making my own brand of chilli sauces since we have so many types of chillies here.
This was my favorite hot pepper I grew last year. It has a great lemon flavor, the floral notes weren’t too heavy imo. I can’t wait to try to make hot sauce when they’re in season again. Thanks for the inspiration!
@@salpine Thanks! I've been looking for peppers that I can substitute for habs. I really like more of a citrus flavour. The floral can be a bit overpowering, especially in sauces.
Currently growing tabasco and habanero here in South Africa. Hoping to copy some of your sauces and use those chilies instead. Made one hot sauce before with a brine fermentation (don't know the pepper type, was store bought and I'm a chili novice).
I fermented my aji limon in a jar with air lock and they stayed a nice vibrant yellow. They made a great sauce. I wonder what it is about the vacuum bag method that turns them that nasty brown color.
Nice video as usual :) Hope it gets a litte bit warmer soon here in sweden soo I can move out all my peppers and I can't wait until your recipe book arrives in the mail! :D
Vacuum seal fermenting 🤯 Wow awesome idea Love this guys videos Going to be doing some sauces using his techniques this fall Really love the video with the stir plate…
Too funny! Where do I start? LD's have been my mainstay for the past 3 years. Used to get soooo excited about them but now I can hardly taste one. Go ahead and say it, tastes like soap! Great for powders mainly. It's been a good run and they have served me well, but time to move on. Thanks for a great video and laugh at the end👍.
That's interesting, I used to like them when I grew them a few years ago but the difference between peppers on the same plant could be huge. Some soapy and outright bad and some very floral and tasty without the soapy flavour. Nowadays I'm growing Aji Cito instead as they have way less of the soapy flavour but still quite a similar taste profile.
@@TheEvilGod I still have 2 legacy LD plants going cause I like the powder. My new plants are Aji Golden and Guyana (which is struggling but think is gonna make it). I really hope the flavor isn't quite sooo soapy.
Love your videos dude. I have 2 questions for you. 1. What's the best temperature for fermentation to occur? 2. Approximately how much extra space is needed so the bag doesn't explode during the fermentation process with the vacuum sealer? Thanks in advance!
Hi Trevor, I would aim to have the temperature between 19 and 21 Celsius. Lower temperature for longer ferments. And have a look at the part of this video where I show the result of the vacuum ferment, you can see what I do about "exploding bags" Thank you for watching and being part of my channel!
I was pleasantly surprised by a British sauce I found by accident. "The sauce shop" Habanero hot sauce. Literally just salt, Habaneros, and some vinegar. Absolutely love to spice up my dishes with it.
They do a lemon drop sauce that's incredible. Little difficult to find (I've seen it occasionally in sainsburys and bought a few bottles whenever have!) but flavorful and a nice level of heat
I did last year a fermentation with lemon drops but I did a brine and they did not discolour at all 🤔 And tried your killer Cajun the other day and it was AWESOME 😋
Did you test the pH? When the pH drops below about 3.7 it seems that discolouration starts. I had a similar discolouration with a brine ferment I did with some aji lemon drops
@@ChilliChump unfortunately nevever got to to test ph and had nothing but desasters this year with my chilli crops, 😔 ma's losses cos of virus and not being able to to get wot I need and wen 😭😭 Hopefully next year will be kind for me lol 🙏🏻🙏🏻
I'm new to making hot sauces, I usually buy commercial sauce. I love the idea of fermented peppers to make sauce. I wondered if the common hot sauces are cooked ? your vids are great. Can't wait till my garden gives up her peppers.
Thanks for your video, I enjoy them very much and I plan to start making sauce, I started by growing chilis and the last couple of months starting to get the fruits, I live in Valencia, Spain so it's warmer than the UK :) I have a question when you say that every success you have 20 failures, to what exactly do you call a failure? is it the taste? or it's so bad that you need to throw it? And again, thanks for your channel and the information. :)
Thank you! I'm glad you are enjoying them! A lot more to come from our new homestead! I have looked into getting a vacuum chamber, instead of a vacuum sealer. Haven't yet made my mind up ...cost is one factor!
@@ChilliChump definitely a chunk cost upfront, but I feel it may be worth it especially if the vacuum is maintained without the need of constantly running pump. Guess I'll have to wait to see you spend the money first 😂
The Aji Lemon is my favorite Chili. I use it in Salads and very often I add them to when I cook Asian or Indian dishes (fresh or dried chilis). Unfortunatelly all my Aji Lemon plants died this spring.
I just discovered this chilli this year and its my favourite by far! i wanna cross it with my aj charapita this year, do you think they will match? the charapitas have a really unique flavour I think Great video as alwasy, thank you
White wine vinegar is a nice one to use. But it really depends on the sauce I am making.....each one is different, and will influence my decision for which vinegar
Where can I find the same pH testing kit that you used in this video? I have searched on Amazon.com and cannot find a full kit that comes with the meter and pH powders. A link to a website, Amazon, etc., would be appreciated. Thanks!
Very interesting, thanks for sharing! Where did you learn about the ph, you got me surprised, i always wanted to add water to the sauces instead of vinegar! Please let me know 👍
Hi! I've seen in many of your videos that you use white distilled vinegar. I'm from Sweden and it's a little tricky to understand what type of vinegar to use, especially what the acetic acid percentage of white distilled vinegar is. In Sweden the percentage is between 12-24%, but for apple vinegar it is 5%. So my question is, what acetic acid percentage are you using? Thank you! Great video as always!
Hi there, it is also known as spirit vinegar. The one I use is 5% usually. I also like to use white wine vinegar more these days, depending on the sauce I am making. But apple cider vinegar would be good too.
After seeing this video im hopeful i didnt mess up my fermentation i made a salt water brine and used Chile Tepin Chile pequin jalapeño poblanos hot banana peppers and a huge red sweet bellpepper from Mexico its been fermenting in a jar loosely closed for 5 days now
Fascinating vid Mr CC - I’ve been growing Aji Lemons for twenty odd years and love them all-which-ways - about the fermenting angle, I think it’s a shame to kill off the beneficial Lacto bacteria via over-acidity for sauce preservation reasons. Live foods like kimchi are revered not just for flavour...my personal experiments with ferments (lab checked) have offered encouraging signs. 👍🏻🍻
I prefer red hot sauces as well. I have some wicked hot peppers growing in my house(over the winter) for the second year now. I will make hot sauce, but what scollville? Mystery. I am thinking 700,000. It burns. Love your show.
