From right, freshly picked peppers and tomatoes, grilling the peppers to char, fermenting the peppers in a jar in brine, and then the finished salsa.Photo: Amanda Blum
Now, I enjoy a pickled jalapeño, and a pepperoncini right out of the jar is my secret shame food. Please: Buy and enjoy. I’m not talking about those. I’m talking about making lacto-fermented peppers and impressing everyone you know while bathing in a tub of your own salsa. Trust me.
Pick a selection of peppers that fits your spice profile. I start with a selection of larger mild peppers and chuck in a few spicier options. Peel the labels off and char them. In the summer, I use a grill; in the winter, I use my broiler. Once one side is blistered, flip them over and do it again.
Remove the peppers and let them cool. Pull out the stem and seeds (they come out easily). I don’t really peel these peppers, I like the char.
Pack the peppers into a glass jar, and add a 3% brine. (Here’s a charming brine calculator to help.) Add an air lock to the top and wait a week or two. You’re looking for fermentation, so bubbles are good. White mold is OK (that’s kahm yeast, strain it off and try again), but any other kind of mold is not OK, so chuck it if you see it.
Now, you could blend these peppers with vinegar and have a completely delightful homemade pepper sauce. I say, level up.
Chop the peppers and add them to a glass, ceramic, or food-safe plastic container. Now add diced garlic, chopped tomatoes, chopped scallions, tons of cilantro, a healthy amount of lemon and lime juice (at least 2 tablespoons per quart of salsa), and the liquid from the peppers. Season with salt to taste. Cover and let it sit at least overnight, but I prefer waiting two or three days. The result is the most delicious fermented salsa you’ve ever had. You can process it, though it loses a little bit of its magic (and obviously, the live fermentation), but it’s a great use of a pickle.
Pickled peppers appear to have originated in the Middle East. I owe my deep and unending appreciation for salsa to growing up in Arizona around an endless array of salsa options. The above recipe for salsa is a pretty basic one, but if you want to really dig in, I recommend checking out La Santisma Taco Shop in Phoenix, which sports a vast array of salsa options the likes of which I had never experienced before. While Mexican and Latinx food is obviously an absurdly huge spectrum, I love celebrating Silvana Salcido Esparza (of Barrio Cafe fame) as someone to look towards.
