Fermented Hot Sauce & Pepper Flakes: I took roughly a half bushel of Hinklehatz peppers, purchased from Who Cooks For You Farm, and simply ground them up in a blender with enough water to make a slurry. After they were all processed, the peppers were placed in a bucket with a breathable cloth lid to ferment. After about two weeks (when a little bit of funky flavor was developed but not enough fermentation to disintegrate the pepper solids) I strained out the pepper solids to dehydrate into flakes. The remaining liquid is a delicious and spicy. I added a quart of persimmons to add sugar, garlic, and salt. The sauce is continuing to ferment.
Amazake Bread: With the recently made koji rice I added more cooked rice and water for amazake and let it ferment a couple days to a nice sweetness. The amazake was then cooked down to a thick porrage. I added the porrage to a naturally leavened rye bread. The result was not necessarily a sweeter or more sour bread, but definitely one with a deeper nuttiness and caramelized flavor.
Koji Tea: I love the flavor variations of koji. I simply toasted some koji rice in a dry pan until light brown. The result is a grain that tastes reminiscent of fruit loops with hints of nuttiness. I’ll steep it as a tea or use it as a texture addition to a dishes.
