This jar used up the last of my yellow and orange chillies — a mixed batch of habaneros, short yellows, and long oranges from my second La Caja Saludable box, packed into brine for 34 days. I had no idea what to expect. What I got was fiery. Too fiery, if I'm honest. It was that moment — tasting something that needed taming — that led me to the pineapple. One tin later, Tropical Sunset was born: a fermented habanero hot sauce that still bites, but now it does it with a smile.

How to Make a Fermented Habanero Hot Sauce

I'm hoping Tropical Sunset will sit nicely alongside my Fruity Almería Red — a mandarin and pineapple fermented sauce that confirmed fruit and chilli is very much my thing.

Ingredients

For the ferment

• 4–5 yellow habaneros
• 8–10 short yellow chillies
• 6–7 long orange chillies
• 3 small slices of carrot
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 small piece of fresh ginger
• A few black peppercorns
• 8 g fine sea salt (2% of total solids weight)
• Filtered water to fill a 750 ml jar — tap water contains chlorine or chloramine, which can inhibit fermentation.

To finish

• 165 g tinned pineapple rings in natural juice, drained (juice reserved)
• 100 ml pineapple juice (from the tin)
• 80 ml reserved brine

Yield: just under 700 ml

A note on water — use filtered, not tap. Chlorine and chloramine can inhibit fermentation. I use my Ecofiltro.

Method

Ferment (34 days)

1. Pack your habaneros, yellow chillies, orange chillies, carrot, garlic, ginger, and peppercorns into a 750 ml jar.
2. Dissolve 8 g of fine sea salt in a small amount of filtered water, then top up the jar until all the solids are submerged. Use filtered water — tap water contains chlorine or chloramine, which can inhibit fermentation.
3. Weight the solids down below the brine line using a fermenting weight — far more reliable than the improvised food-grade zip-lock bag filled with brine I used to use. Cover loosely and leave to ferment at room temperature for 34 days.

To finish

4. Strain the ferment, reserving at least 80 ml of brine.
5. Add the fermented solids to a blender along with the drained pineapple rings, pineapple juice, and reserved brine.
6. Blend until completely smooth and sunset-gold.
7. Heat gently to 80–85°C to stabilise the sauce.
8. Bottle hot into sterilised jars.

Yield: just under 700 ml

After Bottling

I've left the jars in a cool, dark place. Heating to 80–85°C stabilises the sauce but doesn't stop fermentation entirely — expect a slow, gentle continuation, which in this case is no bad thing. The pineapple will soften the heat further over the first few weeks, and the flavour will keep developing. Don't be alarmed by a little pressure under the lid or a slight colour shift — both are normal.

My first real test will be in a few weeks when my French friends arrive, as they always do, laden with charcuterie. My contribution: hot sauces and sourdough. Tropical Sunset should hold its own on that board.

How Does It Taste?

I haven't cracked open a jar since bottling – that's a pleasure still to come. What I can tell you is that adding the pineapple did exactly what I hoped: it mellowed the fieriness of the base ferment without killing it. Tropical Sunset is a fermented habanero hot sauce that still has a kick. It just delivers it with a little more charm.

For something sweeter and non-fermented, my Baked Banana with Lychees leans into the same tropical fruit territory.

This post is part of the Fermentation Hub. It joins Fruity Almería Red in my growing Ferment Series, which you can explore in the Fermentation Hub—a space where I'm gathering all my experiments, notes, and lessons learnt.

Keep fermenting - more live cultures, pickles, and preserves here.

Wonky photos, proper food, genuine adventures — The Flexible Chef