r/spicy

Like a lot of folks on this sub, I have had a massive love/hate relationship with the superhot sauce market for years. Every time I bought a sauce claiming serious heat, it usually ended up being one of two things: either it was pumped full of capsaicin extract that tasted like bitter pennies and ruined whatever food I put it on, or it was watered down with a tsunami of white vinegar that killed the natural pepper flavor.

I wanted a thick, savory daily driver with legitimate high heat (sitting around 70,000 SHU) where you actually taste the fruit and smoke before the burn kicks in—with zero artificial extracts and zero xanthan gum.

After about two years of experimenting in my kitchen, dialing in fermentation salinity, and testing different mash ratios, I finally scaled up and bottled my first official small batch through a local commercial kitchen. I call it Embermash.

It is built on a 60-day lacto-ferment of smoked Bhut Jolokia (ghost peppers) and chocolate habaneros, blended with slow-roasted black garlic, charred sweet onions, and just enough apple cider vinegar to keep the pH shelf-stable (3.6) without overpowering the mash. The heat is a slow creeper that hits the back of the palate about 10 seconds after the roasted garlic notes settle.

Full disclosure: I am the creator and founder behind Embermash, so this is my own baby! I know self-promo is heavily watched here, but I wanted to share this with the community that originally inspired me to start fermenting peppers.

I would love to get honest feedback from experienced chiliheads on the heat balance, and I am happy to answer any questions in the comments about fermentation timelines, mash ratios, or pH testing!

“Regardless of who came up with the recipe first, McIlhenny's Tabasco sauce was in production by 1868, and it wasn’t long before it began to spread far beyond the great state of Louisiana. In 1872, the company hired a traveling salesman named John C. Henshaw to travel up and down the east coast touting Tabasco. Henshaw, a former Union soldier who served as the company’s first sales rep, peddled the sauce to restaurants and oyster houses in an effort to drum up demand. “This sauce is the special want of the poorer and more numerous classes, and a thorough canvassing of the oyster houses, saloons, restaurants, etc. by the party who has taken hold of it will, it is hoped, create such a general demand as to compel the grocers to apply for it,” Henshaw wrote to McIlhenny in 1872. 

A ledger book uncovered by Tabasco historian and archivist Shane K. Bernard indicates that the company first began shipping the sauce overseas two years later, with exports to France and England.”

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Public Service Reminder…. 🥵

Enjoying the early Fall warmth in our area, with peppers still getting ripe this first wof October. Lemon Spice Jalapeños turning wonderfully yellow on the bushes. I have snacked on them along with their neighbor jalapeno M’s since they started to cork. Brought in a dozen of the yellow a couple days ago and have been enjoying them with meals and in passing. Just ate one while preparing salsa and it has taken my breath. Watch yourselves. You may get lucky too.