In traditional fermentation, it’s not just the sodium in salt that's important, but the entire sodium chloride compound, which is table salt. Both components of salt-sodium and chloride-play critical roles in the fermentation process. **Sodium ions** help control osmotic pressure in the fermentation environment, which affects the movement of water out of the cells of the fermenting material (like vegetables). This helps in texture and consistency. **Chloride ions** contribute to the inhibition of harmful microbial growth. They help create an environment where beneficial bacteria, such as lactic acid bacteria, can thrive and dominate, lowering the pH through the production of lactic acid and making the environment hostile to harmful pathogens. When you replace salt with MSG in a fermentation process, you're essentially replacing sodium chloride with sodium and glutamate. The sodium might still play a role in the osmotic pressure, but you lose the antimicrobial properties provided by the chloride ions. Moreover, glutamate does not contribute to microbial inhibition; it mainly enhances flavor. Thus, while MSG can still contribute sodium, it does not replicate the comprehensive protective and functional roles that salt provides in fermentation. This can lead to different microbial dynamics and could potentially impact the safety and success of the fermentation without additional controls and measures.
Thanks for the extra information. Yes, this was very much an experiment to see what would happen. The ferment showed all the normal signs of a healthy lacto ferment, the ph dropped nicely, and no signs of spoilage. I intentionally kept the fermentation short as I wasn't sure how it would behave.
Yeah I think you could definitely get some really interesting flavors by fermenting in a fish sauce. I think that would be perfect for some nice, stanky pickled eggs and onions.
@kdme oh yes. Definitely too strong as it is. I'd have to check the sodium content on the ingredients table, compare that to table salt, and calculate how much to add, with water to dilute. 👍
Thanks for the feedback! 😀 if you have access to some nice chillis, homemade hot sauce is great 👍. I have a few hot sauce videos on my channel now if you're interested in more 😋
Cheers!, I try to get the best production quality I can, with some very basic equipment and no real training. It's a lot of effort but very satisfying. I appreciate the sub!, the channel has really started picking up lately. Hopefully more growth to come. Stay tuned...
I think it's a mistake to go for "umami, with extra umami and umami". Instead, try to use things that *aren't* rich in glutamates to see if it creates a nice balance and flavor profile.
That would be amuch more sensible approach 😊. I was trying to push the extremes for the sake of experimentation. Something more balanced would be much nicer.
Shitaki pairs well with crimini, you could use some seaweed when you soak them, after the first soak, remove the seaweed, and strain thru a coffee filter to remove the residual dirt left behind from the mushrooms.
I almost started a nuoc mam inspired hot sauce (Thai chili, thai basil, ginger, garlic) using fish sauce this morning, but I decided to go with salt to be safe. I wasn't sure how low you can dilute the sodium concentration in fish sauce safely, since fish sauce is preserved with so much sodium that nothing could lactoferment in pure fish sauce. I know it must work since fish sauce is used in many kimchis, and I'll definitely give it a try soon. Looking forward to seeing what you might come up with
Yes, you would definitely need to dilute the fish sauce. The ingredients list should tell you the sodium content. You should be able to work it out from there. 👍
Absolute mad lad. I'm going to do this with my final harvest this year before the frost hits. I will say that I have tasted sauces before and after cooking and it really dulls the flavor but like you said, it makes it much easier to blend. I think you could probably get the same softening-effect by freezing and thawing it, if you are willing to wait a day for it. That would eliminate needing to cook it. Or you could freeze and thaw the fruit before fermenting.
Good luck with the harvest! I think my main takeaway from this experiment was that a regular salt ferment followed by adding some msg to taste would have been better, but feel free to experiment yourself. Freezing instead of cooking might work. I find that cooking rounds out the flavours more than dulling it, but that's just me. It also stops the fermentation so you don't get fizzy sauce.😊
This is a great idea, or experiment. I use a mushroom pellet blend I found at an Asian market to add a mountain of umami to dishes, it's so fine it blends in nicely. I always thought that it was the sugar that was the fermentation and salt kept down the bad bacteria.
Ah, the mushroom pellets are a good idea. You are correct, the salt provides an environment where lacto bacteria can thrive, but mould and other nasties are suppressed. Here I've used msg as the sodium source instead of regular salt. Perhaps I could have explained it better.
In Japan's Niigata prefecture they make a fermented pepper paste and hotsauce out of these peppers called Kanzuri and they are packed with umami. I do like very hot sauces, but I've never been much a fan of the overly acidic and vinegary tastes of most hot sauces. These kanzuri sauces, however, are more savory than anything. They almost remind me of a spicy fish sauce. If you can get your hands on some, it's definitely worth a taste.
Hooray! I guess if you enjoyed it, the algorithm is doing its job. I'm happy you found it and am grateful for you watching and commenting. 😀. I hope you find more on my channel to enjoy. 👍
Glad you enjoyed the video. Home made hot sauce it nice and easy to make. You could also start with one that isn't ferment to keep it simple for your first time.
I was tempted by bonito flakes. I didn't know enough about the food safety of using them in this way. It's probably fine, but I wanted to play it safe. 😊
Fermenting foods with MSG (monosodium glutamate) instead of salt is an interesting idea, but it comes with some considerations. Traditional fermentation processes typically rely on salt for several key reasons: 1. **Preservation and Safety**: Salt inhibits the growth of harmful bacteria while allowing beneficial bacteria (like Lactobacillus in sauerkraut or kimchi) to thrive. This creates a safe environment for fermentation. 2. **Texture and Flavor**: Salt draws out moisture from the ingredients, which helps in creating the right texture and enhances the natural flavors of the food. 3. **Control of Fermentation Speed**: Salt can slow down the fermentation process, giving a more controlled and gradual fermentation, which can affect the final flavor profile. MSG, on the other hand, is primarily used as a flavor enhancer and doesn’t offer the antimicrobial properties that salt does. It won’t inhibit harmful bacteria in the same way, potentially leading to safety issues. However, MSG could possibly be used alongside a reduced amount of salt to enhance flavor without fully replacing it. If you're interested in experimenting with MSG in fermentation, you could start with small batches and see how it affects the safety, flavor, and texture of the fermented product. It’s also a good idea to monitor the pH and microbial activity to ensure the food is safe to consume.
Totally. As I mention in the end of the video, I think sticking with regular sea salt for the fermentation and just adding some MGS to taste at the end would be a much more sensible approach.
So glad to see someone doing lacto fermenting sauce where you went for flavor rather than just people who do lacto fermenting because they're just health freaks Food is supposed to taste good
Yeah, i love a good fermented saurkraut or kimchi, but you're not going to get much probiotics from hot sauce. This was only a quick ferment, too, so there's a bit of funk but it hasn't really had a chance to fully develop complex probiotics.
RUclips Alex made in his ramen episode a video with a Asian person who did a study about umami and where it comes from. It has to do with a certain salt level that hits yours taste receptors
Really neat experiment. About your method, I would say that multiplying the amount of salt required by 3 because you were solving for the molar mass of sodium and ending up with an ungodly amount of msg may not have been necessary. I'm not a chemist, but from my understanding the antimicrobial properties of salt are a result both of the sodium ions AND the chloride ions, and it's bold to assume that centering your calculations on sodium content alone is all that's necessary for a successful ferment. You might already know this, you might not, but I figured I'd point it out. I'd definitely be interested to see this sorta experiment repeated with a few different concentrations of MSG, as well as mixtures of MSG/salt to really find out what is necessary for a ferment to go alright. Sick video!
Thanks for the input! 😊 Yes, I definitely oversimplified the calculations and didn't factor in all of the variables. The ferment was fairly active and seemed healthy, so maybe I got lucky to some extent. It was only a short ferment, too. I wasn't game enough to let it go too long.
what a cool experiment. I've lacto fermented lots of vegetables but never done a fermented hot sauce. I'm curious to see the difference flavor wise between a non-cooked and cooked ferment. I love the idea of creating a mushroom broth for the brine -- seems like that would be plenty of umami!!
Never ferment chillies and cherry tomatoes at the same time in the same jar. 🌶 ferment on home setup = +- 30 days. Tomatoes = 5 days. Time it right and you can do it in the same jar. But to prevent contamination I use 2 separate glass container with airlock.
@heyjohnsmith From my experience, it's not necessarily that chillis NEED to ferment for longer, but they can, so a lot of people will let them go for several weeks, to really get sour and funky. I've not fermented tomatoes for that long, but I imagine they would turn to mush. The extra sugar might make them more prone to spoilage in longer ferments, but I'm not sure. @D.d.d.28r7fj4i might be able to explain from their perspective.
@heyjohnsmith The lactic acid bacteria take longer to ferment chillies due to them having less sugar for the bacili to feed on. Longer fermentation = more flavor and more acidity, meaning you have to add less vinegar to the end product to preserve it. Tabasco does up to 3 year fermentation, which is really hard to do with a home setup. But then for mass production and shelf life they really dilute it with a load of vinegar.
@D.d.d.28r7fj4i Thanks for elaborating 😊. I often do a quick mixed ferment just to get a bit of extra flavour. I'll definitely be doing some longer straight chilli ferments once the growing season is back in full swing here 👍
I'm gonna add a little detail about the pepper. A single pepper has more Vitamin C than an orange, if I'm not mistaken. Take it with a grain of powdered ocean or, in your case, umami powder. Edit: Subbed. Thank your dino nuggets and a typo haha
There is a Thai sauce called prik nam pla that uses fish sauce, sugar, garlic, lime juice and Thai chilies. Might be able to get some inspiration from that. Probably a less spicy chili like serranos.
I would have let it sit and ferment for WAY longer than a week, considering regular hot sauce is fermented for something like 2-3 _years_ I think I would have let it sit for a month at the very least.
I find I usually get a good lactic sourness after a couple of weeks, but yes, letting it mature for longer develops the flavour more. I intentionally kept this one short as it was an experiment, and I didn't want to push my luck in case the msg didn't work as I'd hoped 😊. Also as I didn't use an airlock I didn't want to commit to frequently burping the jar for several years.
I blend dried mushrooms into a powder for use in soup mixes, wonder if you blended them before fermenting if you would need to cook it for a shorter time at the end
Powdering first would definitely help to blend it smoother. 😊 It might be tricky to keep the powder submerged below the brine in the fermentation, though.
Dried shitake is my current favorite food hack. Any time I'm boiling water, I just throw a couple fistfulls of them into the water, then pull them out before adding other things. Last 3 things I've made, I found myself eating it, pausing, looking at my food and saying, "Are you fucking kidding me rn?" and then diving back in.
This was an interesting experiment. I would recommend just using it to enhance flavours. Using it to ferment seems a little over the top from my experiments 😊
I'm getting this feeling that there has been a conflation of salt with sodium. Salt is what you need to make a saline solution that controls what's allowed to grow, and what remains inhibited from growth in the fermentation. Sodium is just a metal contained in both salt and MSG. I'm thinking the MSG calculation is out of whack because you were targeting sodium - next time I would suggest to simply amend a regular saline solution with MSG - that way you won't need so much of it to get the desired effect.
My understanding (which may be entirely wrong and I'm happy to be corrected) is that the sodium ions in salt play a bigger role in inhibiting nasties than chloride does and that other sources of sodium can have a similar effect. Again, I could be wrong, but it seemed to work here as I had a nice clean ferment. You're definitely right that a regular saline solution, accented with some MSG, would be more effective. That's essentially the conclusion I came to at the end of the video. 😊
A lot of people go by liquid percentage, you are right. I like to go by volume for both types of ferment for consistency. That way, I always know that the total salt % in the ferment. Otherwise, you get variation (more salt in a loosely packed jar, less if tightly packed). You usually need to use a bit lower percent this way, though. If a recipecalls for a 3% brine and you go for 3% based on total contents, it will be a lot more than the recipe requires.
I'm not sure that would work. I'll do some research on it, though. I'm not sure that it will have the same effect of making an environment that suppresses bad bacteria, but let's lacto bacteria thrive. I'm happy to be proven wrong though😊
@@AdventuresInSnacking i ve googled the thing . And for baking in can help make the fermentation last longer cause it neutralize the acids , so yeast can work longer . Can it work for this type of fermentation?? 🤞. Let s ask scientific friends or do it ( there is no try)
Problem with too much Umami is that the extra amount that your umami taste buds can not handle will be catched by bitter taste buds that gives this weird sticky feels we Japanese call “Egumi”
Thanks, I wasn't familiar with that term, but that's certainly a good way to describe this. It was a fun experiment, but next time, I'll just add a pinch to taste at the end. 😊
I personally really dislike the taste of too much msg without salt to balance it. And so the ratio I found to work really well for me is a 3:1 Salt to MSG mixture. I dissolved some msg in water and gradually added salt into it. I only licked the spoon to get the pure taste of it. And once I enjoyed the ratio, this is what I was left with. However, I do think natural MSG like mushrooms, tomatoes etc. can add even more umami, without overpowering the salt.
I find the same. This sauce was very much out of balance in that regard. It was a cool experiment, and it gave me some good ideas for future sauces, but just too much msg 😊
Next time you should filter the mushroom water a with cheese cloth before adding the other ingredients. Dried mushrooms can have a lot of dirt on them.
That's a really good point. It's always labelled "apple cider vinegar," but I've never questioned that before. It does seem redundant. Maybe I should switch to grape white wine vinegar next time 😊
I like so called umami rich ingredients, like dried mushrooms, tomato, fish sauce etc.mainly for their aroma, but I don't really taste anything in particular from pure MSG.. To me if I taste the crystals directly, it has just a very faint salty taste and a little "slimy" texture similar brine but without the intense salt taste. But in food I cannot tell if it's there or not. I've tried a pinch of MSG and a couple of topped teaspoons in one 2 person dish and I honestly cannot tell the difference. It's a way bigger difference (but mainly in aroma) with a few drops of fish sauce than a lot of pure MSG has. I've certainly never felt anything prompting me to say something has "tons of umami". I'm not even sure what it's supposed to taste like; theres absolutely nothing in my experience that is similar in the taste of tomatoes and fish sauce. Am I lacking the gene to taste MSG?
I just tasted pinch of pure MSG again just to remind me of what it tastes like, and although I think that's mainly an illusion because I'm told to expect it to be "meaty" I can sort of half convince myself that it tastes _very_ faintly of chicken stock but without the flavour. As if I have a pot that I used to make stock in that was rinsed out twice but without scrubbing it well and then used to boil pure water. It has the a similar intensity of salty taste and faintly fatty feel as if I'm tasting a sip of that water while having lost my sense of smell during covid. Also the salty taste is not just a weak salty taste, but it feels kind of like how when another flavour like salt, sour, sweet (i.e. those 3 I'm certain that I can identify) is so intense that it starts to affect the other receptors. Like extremely salty things starts to overpower the tongue and taste sort of faintly sour even if it has no acidity. The faint salty taste of pure MSG reminds me of that but without any primary taste; which makes me thing I'm not actually tasting it at all but that the MSG is so saturated that it sort of accidentally triggers the salt receptors too. Either that or there's trace amounts of salt that I'm detecting. (Pure salt tastes at least 100 times more salty than MSG does) and one single grain of salt completely overpowers and masks any taste of a large pinch of MSG.
@@AdventuresInSnacking yeah. And toxic. I was joking. But, on a serious note, I wonder if you can use potassium chloride. It’s an edible salt. And better for blood pressure (which I have to be careful of due to a stroke). Basically, is it the sodium, or the salinity, that matters? Would any electrolyte solution work? 🤷
@timtyndall4025 all very good questions. I don't really know what it is about salts that inhibits spoilage and allows for clean fermentation. This was just an experiment to see if msg would work, which it seemed to. It stands to reason that other salts would work too, but I would need to experiment to find out. Or find someone who has actually studied this stuff properly 😊
I made hummus a few months ago and I was in a hurry so just added citric acid instead of lemon juice But then I tried it and oh no. That was not citric acid. That was MSG 😬
[7:20] - "Yes, yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it 'This Land'." - _"I think we should call it your grave."_ - "Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal." - _"Agh, agh, agh. Mine is an evil laugh. Now die!"_
That's what I was trying to test with this experiment 👍. I don't know enough microbiology to be able to say that it definitely does, but in this experiment, I used only msg, and it seemed to ferment like a normal salt ferment, so it seems like it does a similar job. From this one experiment, anyway.
@@AdventuresInSnacking "Improperly fermented food can even become home to Clostridium botulinum, the bacterium whose excreted toxins cause the deadly paralytic disease botulism" "Keep in mind You cannot see, smell, or taste the toxin that causes botulism" So my conclusion is that one should not ferment with less than 2% salt per weight unless you have lab equipment to test toxins from invisible bacteria like Clostridium Botulinum.
I try to. This video has got more views than my usual uploads, so it's been hard to keep up. If someone has taken the time to leave a comment, I think it's nice to reply if I can. 😊
Lol, it does 😊, but filming makes everything take way longer, and the scale resets. I need to write it down before it disappears and then do the maths.
So...here's the thing. You don't get mroe umami by adding thing with glutemic acid to MSG. Msg is already at the max. You're just adding other flavors or diluting it. You can add other umami compounds like inosinic acid, which will give it a more complex umami, though. Using fish sauce + MSG is a bomb.
I am happy to be your puppy image supplier 😊. My next video will feature a guest appearance from my own puppy 🐶. Well, he's 3, so not technically a puppy, but he's a very good boy.
North Americans calling Sodium Chloride just "Sodium" always kills me. Luckily in this video you left some room for interpretation Edit: (And you're basically the furthest from North America one can get)
Dehydrated mushrooms have much deeper flavor. I don't know the chemistry that causes it, but if you're trying to make a mushroom stock or something along those lines then dehydrated is the way to go.
That, my friend, is an excellent question. People say that using dried Shitake over fresh will give a "deeper" flavour. I actually have no idea why this would be the case, and I've never done a side by side to test that it actually makes a difference. Maybe I'll do that as an experiment sometime. 🤔
dehydrated mushrooms have a longer shelf life and weigh much less and take up less room. Also they aren't very good when dehydrated and don't cook well, so you rehydrated them so you can do cooking things with them. Concentrated flavor is silly, it's still the same amount of flavor but maybe you can fit more dry mushrooms in your pot.
Fresh mushrooms are like 90% water by weight. Even rehydrated dry mushrooms don't absorb as much water as present in fresh ones. So dried mushrooms have more concentrated flavor, because they're more mushroom per mushroom.
2:40 Goddamn those puppies... I was just about to mention the differences (molar weight) between various Na based salts per unit weight but after the 20s you had "x3" on the screen... so that's cool, glad you caught that (I intermittant fast and I use 'Lo-Salt' for my electrolytes per day so needing to know the ratios of sodium, potassium and chloride is key. I also add MSG to the mixed-nuts I eat in my window so that was also in my personal ratios)... nice!
In traditional fermentation, it’s not just the sodium in salt that's important, but the entire sodium chloride compound, which is table salt. Both components of salt-sodium and chloride-play critical roles in the fermentation process.
**Sodium ions** help control osmotic pressure in the fermentation environment, which affects the movement of water out of the cells of the fermenting material (like vegetables). This helps in texture and consistency.
**Chloride ions** contribute to the inhibition of harmful microbial growth. They help create an environment where beneficial bacteria, such as lactic acid bacteria, can thrive and dominate, lowering the pH through the production of lactic acid and making the environment hostile to harmful pathogens.
When you replace salt with MSG in a fermentation process, you're essentially replacing sodium chloride with sodium and glutamate. The sodium might still play a role in the osmotic pressure, but you lose the antimicrobial properties provided by the chloride ions. Moreover, glutamate does not contribute to microbial inhibition; it mainly enhances flavor.
Thus, while MSG can still contribute sodium, it does not replicate the comprehensive protective and functional roles that salt provides in fermentation. This can lead to different microbial dynamics and could potentially impact the safety and success of the fermentation without additional controls and measures.
Thanks for the extra information. Yes, this was very much an experiment to see what would happen. The ferment showed all the normal signs of a healthy lacto ferment, the ph dropped nicely, and no signs of spoilage. I intentionally kept the fermentation short as I wasn't sure how it would behave.
Yeah I think you could definitely get some really interesting flavors by fermenting in a fish sauce. I think that would be perfect for some nice, stanky pickled eggs and onions.
Ooh, extra funky eggs. That could be interesting. It might stink out the house a bit, but it might be worth it.
wont fish sauce be too strong? maybe delute it in something?
@kdme oh yes. Definitely too strong as it is. I'd have to check the sodium content on the ingredients table, compare that to table salt, and calculate how much to add, with water to dilute. 👍
You can also go next level and ferment some fish to create the fish sauce yourself. Using whatever fish sounds most interesting to use
@@megustAslagt that's genius. A fermentation within a fermentation. It's like Inception. Fermenception?
I absolutely love this experiment 👨🔬
Not just the msg hotsauce, but the whole spirit of the experiment! Lovely stuff!
Thanks! It's always fun to experiment in the kitchen. Even when if doesn't turn out quite right 😊
first time viewer. loved the vid. great editing,and humor while still taking the content seriously. makes me want to try making my own hot sauce!
Thanks for the feedback! 😀 if you have access to some nice chillis, homemade hot sauce is great 👍. I have a few hot sauce videos on my channel now if you're interested in more 😋
For the level of production quality i did not expect a channel with this little sub, you've earned a new subscriber mate, keep on rocking
Cheers!, I try to get the best production quality I can, with some very basic equipment and no real training. It's a lot of effort but very satisfying. I appreciate the sub!, the channel has really started picking up lately. Hopefully more growth to come. Stay tuned...
I think it's a mistake to go for "umami, with extra umami and umami". Instead, try to use things that *aren't* rich in glutamates to see if it creates a nice balance and flavor profile.
That would be amuch more sensible approach 😊. I was trying to push the extremes for the sake of experimentation. Something more balanced would be much nicer.
Shitaki pairs well with crimini, you could use some seaweed when you soak them, after the first soak, remove the seaweed, and strain thru a coffee filter to remove the residual dirt left behind from the mushrooms.
I almost started a nuoc mam inspired hot sauce (Thai chili, thai basil, ginger, garlic) using fish sauce this morning, but I decided to go with salt to be safe. I wasn't sure how low you can dilute the sodium concentration in fish sauce safely, since fish sauce is preserved with so much sodium that nothing could lactoferment in pure fish sauce. I know it must work since fish sauce is used in many kimchis, and I'll definitely give it a try soon. Looking forward to seeing what you might come up with
Yes, you would definitely need to dilute the fish sauce. The ingredients list should tell you the sodium content. You should be able to work it out from there. 👍
Absolute mad lad. I'm going to do this with my final harvest this year before the frost hits. I will say that I have tasted sauces before and after cooking and it really dulls the flavor but like you said, it makes it much easier to blend. I think you could probably get the same softening-effect by freezing and thawing it, if you are willing to wait a day for it. That would eliminate needing to cook it. Or you could freeze and thaw the fruit before fermenting.
Good luck with the harvest! I think my main takeaway from this experiment was that a regular salt ferment followed by adding some msg to taste would have been better, but feel free to experiment yourself. Freezing instead of cooking might work. I find that cooking rounds out the flavours more than dulling it, but that's just me. It also stops the fermentation so you don't get fizzy sauce.😊
Great video, mate! What a fun idea with interesting results. I might give this a try next time I do a ferment!
Thanks for the feedback! 😀 It was a fun experiment.
This is a great idea, or experiment. I use a mushroom pellet blend I found at an Asian market to add a mountain of umami to dishes, it's so fine it blends in nicely. I always thought that it was the sugar that was the fermentation and salt kept down the bad bacteria.
Ah, the mushroom pellets are a good idea. You are correct, the salt provides an environment where lacto bacteria can thrive, but mould and other nasties are suppressed. Here I've used msg as the sodium source instead of regular salt. Perhaps I could have explained it better.
@@AdventuresInSnacking No, you explained it perfectly, I just understood it slightly differently before this video.
In Japan's Niigata prefecture they make a fermented pepper paste and hotsauce out of these peppers called Kanzuri and they are packed with umami. I do like very hot sauces, but I've never been much a fan of the overly acidic and vinegary tastes of most hot sauces. These kanzuri sauces, however, are more savory than anything. They almost remind me of a spicy fish sauce. If you can get your hands on some, it's definitely worth a taste.
I will definitely be on the lookout. These sound really good! 👍 If I can't find the sauce I'll try to find some seeds to grow 😊
8:30 pure sodium metal. definetely not unsafe in any way.
Ah, yes. If I remember my high school chemistry, adding pure sodium would be a bit more explodey, yes?👍
Explosion of flavor
@@marinamaddox6285 lol, a whole different kind of spicy. 😊
This channel is gonna blow up
Let's hope so! 😀 Thanks for the support 👍
I dunno why this was suggested to me, but i loved every minute of it.
Hooray! I guess if you enjoyed it, the algorithm is doing its job. I'm happy you found it and am grateful for you watching and commenting. 😀. I hope you find more on my channel to enjoy. 👍
@@AdventuresInSnacking the beef wellington sushi was worth the sub.
@@lococomrade3488 lol nice. 👍 I've got a few more Fusion sushi ideas planned for the future...
Fish sauce is the best, and you are not ingesting too much MSG
Yes, I use fish sauce all over the place too 👍. It's really good in spaghetti bolognese.
Super interesting video! I've never made my own hot sauce before, but I loved seeing the process and the results. Excited to see more!
Also, I really enjoyed the puppy section, even if I did enjoy the math as well *^____^*
Glad you enjoyed the video. Home made hot sauce it nice and easy to make. You could also start with one that isn't ferment to keep it simple for your first time.
@saraa5690 lol, I thought puppies might be more popular than math. 😊
Definitely interested in seeing the fish sauce added to a ferment!
Sticking the end of the strainer in your belly button is genius 😂
Gotta be versatile in the kitchen 😋. You can never have too many hands!
I hadnt gotten to that part in the video yet, and this comment out of context had me scratching my head
Loved this learned a lot and enjoyable to watch! You deserve more subs!
Thanks so much! 😀. I really appreciate the feedback and support! The subs are growing slowly but surely. 👍
Salt and msg with some mushrooms and cherry tomatoes sounds like a really good hot sauce. Maybe, like you mentioned, fish sauce or even bonito flakes.
I was tempted by bonito flakes. I didn't know enough about the food safety of using them in this way. It's probably fine, but I wanted to play it safe. 😊
Fermenting foods with MSG (monosodium glutamate) instead of salt is an interesting idea, but it comes with some considerations. Traditional fermentation processes typically rely on salt for several key reasons:
1. **Preservation and Safety**: Salt inhibits the growth of harmful bacteria while allowing beneficial bacteria (like Lactobacillus in sauerkraut or kimchi) to thrive. This creates a safe environment for fermentation.
2. **Texture and Flavor**: Salt draws out moisture from the ingredients, which helps in creating the right texture and enhances the natural flavors of the food.
3. **Control of Fermentation Speed**: Salt can slow down the fermentation process, giving a more controlled and gradual fermentation, which can affect the final flavor profile.
MSG, on the other hand, is primarily used as a flavor enhancer and doesn’t offer the antimicrobial properties that salt does. It won’t inhibit harmful bacteria in the same way, potentially leading to safety issues. However, MSG could possibly be used alongside a reduced amount of salt to enhance flavor without fully replacing it.
If you're interested in experimenting with MSG in fermentation, you could start with small batches and see how it affects the safety, flavor, and texture of the fermented product. It’s also a good idea to monitor the pH and microbial activity to ensure the food is safe to consume.
Totally. As I mention in the end of the video, I think sticking with regular sea salt for the fermentation and just adding some MGS to taste at the end would be a much more sensible approach.
Great video, I'm curious to try this!
So glad to see someone doing lacto fermenting sauce where you went for flavor rather than just people who do lacto fermenting because they're just health freaks
Food is supposed to taste good
Yeah, i love a good fermented saurkraut or kimchi, but you're not going to get much probiotics from hot sauce. This was only a quick ferment, too, so there's a bit of funk but it hasn't really had a chance to fully develop complex probiotics.
RUclips Alex made in his ramen episode a video with a Asian person who did a study about umami and where it comes from. It has to do with a certain salt level that hits yours taste receptors
Hey, Unvle Roger, you gotta see this!
Lol, I'd happily have a roasting from Uncle Roger for this. I think he'd approve of the msg levels 🤣
I second that!
Really neat experiment. About your method, I would say that multiplying the amount of salt required by 3 because you were solving for the molar mass of sodium and ending up with an ungodly amount of msg may not have been necessary. I'm not a chemist, but from my understanding the antimicrobial properties of salt are a result both of the sodium ions AND the chloride ions, and it's bold to assume that centering your calculations on sodium content alone is all that's necessary for a successful ferment. You might already know this, you might not, but I figured I'd point it out.
I'd definitely be interested to see this sorta experiment repeated with a few different concentrations of MSG, as well as mixtures of MSG/salt to really find out what is necessary for a ferment to go alright. Sick video!
Thanks for the input! 😊 Yes, I definitely oversimplified the calculations and didn't factor in all of the variables. The ferment was fairly active and seemed healthy, so maybe I got lucky to some extent. It was only a short ferment, too. I wasn't game enough to let it go too long.
what a cool experiment. I've lacto fermented lots of vegetables but never done a fermented hot sauce. I'm curious to see the difference flavor wise between a non-cooked and cooked ferment. I love the idea of creating a mushroom broth for the brine -- seems like that would be plenty of umami!!
Yes, the mushrooms alone would have had plenty of umami without the other ingredients,😊👍
Never ferment chillies and cherry tomatoes at the same time in the same jar. 🌶 ferment on home setup = +- 30 days. Tomatoes = 5 days. Time it right and you can do it in the same jar. But to prevent contamination I use 2 separate glass container with airlock.
This was a quick ferment, just a week. You're right, that the chillies could have gone a lot longer 👍
Why not though, why must chilli ferment longer? beginner here..
@heyjohnsmith From my experience, it's not necessarily that chillis NEED to ferment for longer, but they can, so a lot of people will let them go for several weeks, to really get sour and funky. I've not fermented tomatoes for that long, but I imagine they would turn to mush. The extra sugar might make them more prone to spoilage in longer ferments, but I'm not sure. @D.d.d.28r7fj4i might be able to explain from their perspective.
@heyjohnsmith The lactic acid bacteria take longer to ferment chillies due to them having less sugar for the bacili to feed on.
Longer fermentation = more flavor and more acidity, meaning you have to add less vinegar to the end product to preserve it.
Tabasco does up to 3 year fermentation, which is really hard to do with a home setup. But then for mass production and shelf life they really dilute it with a load of vinegar.
@D.d.d.28r7fj4i Thanks for elaborating 😊. I often do a quick mixed ferment just to get a bit of extra flavour. I'll definitely be doing some longer straight chilli ferments once the growing season is back in full swing here 👍
I'm gonna add a little detail about the pepper. A single pepper has more Vitamin C than an orange, if I'm not mistaken. Take it with a grain of powdered ocean or, in your case, umami powder.
Edit: Subbed. Thank your dino nuggets and a typo haha
Yes, peppers are very healthy. I've read they have many other health benefits too 👍
There is a Thai sauce called prik nam pla that uses fish sauce, sugar, garlic, lime juice and Thai chilies. Might be able to get some inspiration from that. Probably a less spicy chili like serranos.
That sounds great! I was thinking along similar lines 🤔 😊
I like to do a mix of tomatoes garlic and beets to my pepper bill. Makes a phenomenal hot sauce
I'll have to give Beets a try. I've never used them in a hotsauce, but that sounds really good 👍
@@AdventuresInSnacking good luck! Also with a powerful blender I find I don't need any water and just to 3% of all the weight of the veggies
@@ardenthebibliophile I really should get a better blender one of these days. 😊
@@AdventuresInSnacking another prime day is coming up, always worth looking to see if the Vitamix is discounted!!
awesome experiment.
Thanks! 😊. It was a lot of fun 👍
I would have let it sit and ferment for WAY longer than a week, considering regular hot sauce is fermented for something like 2-3 _years_ I think I would have let it sit for a month at the very least.
I find I usually get a good lactic sourness after a couple of weeks, but yes, letting it mature for longer develops the flavour more. I intentionally kept this one short as it was an experiment, and I didn't want to push my luck in case the msg didn't work as I'd hoped 😊. Also as I didn't use an airlock I didn't want to commit to frequently burping the jar for several years.
I blend dried mushrooms into a powder for use in soup mixes, wonder if you blended them before fermenting if you would need to cook it for a shorter time at the end
Powdering first would definitely help to blend it smoother. 😊 It might be tricky to keep the powder submerged below the brine in the fermentation, though.
Judging you right now for the Dino Nuggies...
The verdict is you're awesome and picked up a sub.
Lol, thanks for the support. Rraawrrr! 🦕 🦖
5:21 whoo boy that's a lot of fingers
Lol, yeah. AI "art" isn't great with hands. 😆
I counted 13
Dried shitake is my current favorite food hack. Any time I'm boiling water, I just throw a couple fistfulls of them into the water, then pull them out before adding other things. Last 3 things I've made, I found myself eating it, pausing, looking at my food and saying, "Are you fucking kidding me rn?" and then diving back in.
They're a great hack for adding a depth of flavour, aren't they? Nice work 😊
Nice. I got some msg but wasn't sure what to do with it.
This was an interesting experiment. I would recommend just using it to enhance flavours. Using it to ferment seems a little over the top from my experiments 😊
You had me at belly button hold 😆
It works surprisingly well! 😊👍
Try shrimp paste, it's used in kimchi and other asian fermented products.
Ohh, yeah! That stuff is super funky. 👍
This came up on my feed, i dont even like hot sauce but i watched the whole thing lol
Thanks! I'm glad I was able to hold your attention. If you're not into hot sauce, I have many other videos that may be of interest 😊
I'm getting this feeling that there has been a conflation of salt with sodium. Salt is what you need to make a saline solution that controls what's allowed to grow, and what remains inhibited from growth in the fermentation. Sodium is just a metal contained in both salt and MSG. I'm thinking the MSG calculation is out of whack because you were targeting sodium - next time I would suggest to simply amend a regular saline solution with MSG - that way you won't need so much of it to get the desired effect.
My understanding (which may be entirely wrong and I'm happy to be corrected) is that the sodium ions in salt play a bigger role in inhibiting nasties than chloride does and that other sources of sodium can have a similar effect. Again, I could be wrong, but it seemed to work here as I had a nice clean ferment. You're definitely right that a regular saline solution, accented with some MSG, would be more effective. That's essentially the conclusion I came to at the end of the video. 😊
From my experiences, when making a brine you only do a percentile of the liquid, not all contents. When you do a mash, its when you use total mass
A lot of people go by liquid percentage, you are right. I like to go by volume for both types of ferment for consistency. That way, I always know that the total salt % in the ferment. Otherwise, you get variation (more salt in a loosely packed jar, less if tightly packed). You usually need to use a bit lower percent this way, though. If a recipecalls for a 3% brine and you go for 3% based on total contents, it will be a lot more than the recipe requires.
love it, gives off early days Brad Leone vibes before all the nightmare stories of BA came out. Keep it up.
Thanks! I will keep it up 😊. Hopefully, without the nightmare stories 👍
Brad has his own channel now
Looks like you could use a flessenlikker (bottle scraper) in your toolbox.
That would actually be really handy. I'll have to try and find one 😊
Whowowow 🤤
Have you tried to ferment foods/ sauce with baking soda or baking powder(why_not?) ?
I'm not sure that would work. I'll do some research on it, though. I'm not sure that it will have the same effect of making an environment that suppresses bad bacteria, but let's lacto bacteria thrive. I'm happy to be proven wrong though😊
@@AdventuresInSnacking i ve googled the thing . And for baking in can help make the fermentation last longer cause it neutralize the acids , so yeast can work longer .
Can it work for this type of fermentation?? 🤞. Let s ask scientific friends or do it ( there is no try)
I'm interested!
MSG is harvested from multiple sources, including mushrooms. You basically added MSG to MSG....
Lol, yep! That's a pretty good summary 😊
Problem with too much Umami is that the extra amount that your umami taste buds can not handle will be catched by bitter taste buds that gives this weird sticky feels we Japanese call “Egumi”
Thanks, I wasn't familiar with that term, but that's certainly a good way to describe this. It was a fun experiment, but next time, I'll just add a pinch to taste at the end. 😊
have you tried making Garum?
I've not yet, but it's on my list of things to try. Do you have any experience with garum? I'd be keen to share experiences.
Try to do it with Indian black salt or kala namak. It'll be an out of the world experience.
Ooh, that's a good idea! 👍 I've not played around with that ingredient before 😊
I personally really dislike the taste of too much msg without salt to balance it. And so the ratio I found to work really well for me is a 3:1 Salt to MSG mixture. I dissolved some msg in water and gradually added salt into it. I only licked the spoon to get the pure taste of it. And once I enjoyed the ratio, this is what I was left with. However, I do think natural MSG like mushrooms, tomatoes etc. can add even more umami, without overpowering the salt.
I find the same. This sauce was very much out of balance in that regard. It was a cool experiment, and it gave me some good ideas for future sauces, but just too much msg 😊
Would love to see the fish sauce
I'll add it to my "to do" list. 😊
"Curse your sudden but inevitable umami trail" - Wash probly
You should try doing it with the fake salt potassium chloride
Next time you should filter the mushroom water a with cheese cloth before adding the other ingredients. Dried mushrooms can have a lot of dirt on them.
That's a good tip. I'll keep that in mind next time 😊
It wouldn’t be coconut cider vinegar would it? Cider is always apple
That's a really good point. It's always labelled "apple cider vinegar," but I've never questioned that before. It does seem redundant. Maybe I should switch to grape white wine vinegar next time 😊
Winning signature move 🎉💪😂
Works every time! 😀👍
I like so called umami rich ingredients, like dried mushrooms, tomato, fish sauce etc.mainly for their aroma, but I don't really taste anything in particular from pure MSG.. To me if I taste the crystals directly, it has just a very faint salty taste and a little "slimy" texture similar brine but without the intense salt taste. But in food I cannot tell if it's there or not. I've tried a pinch of MSG and a couple of topped teaspoons in one 2 person dish and I honestly cannot tell the difference. It's a way bigger difference (but mainly in aroma) with a few drops of fish sauce than a lot of pure MSG has. I've certainly never felt anything prompting me to say something has "tons of umami". I'm not even sure what it's supposed to taste like; theres absolutely nothing in my experience that is similar in the taste of tomatoes and fish sauce.
Am I lacking the gene to taste MSG?
That's really interesting. I guess everyone perceives flavour differently. Maybe you're just built different 😊
I just tasted pinch of pure MSG again just to remind me of what it tastes like, and although I think that's mainly an illusion because I'm told to expect it to be "meaty" I can sort of half convince myself that it tastes _very_ faintly of chicken stock but without the flavour. As if I have a pot that I used to make stock in that was rinsed out twice but without scrubbing it well and then used to boil pure water. It has the a similar intensity of salty taste and faintly fatty feel as if I'm tasting a sip of that water while having lost my sense of smell during covid.
Also the salty taste is not just a weak salty taste, but it feels kind of like how when another flavour like salt, sour, sweet (i.e. those 3 I'm certain that I can identify) is so intense that it starts to affect the other receptors. Like extremely salty things starts to overpower the tongue and taste sort of faintly sour even if it has no acidity. The faint salty taste of pure MSG reminds me of that but without any primary taste; which makes me thing I'm not actually tasting it at all but that the MSG is so saturated that it sort of accidentally triggers the salt receptors too. Either that or there's trace amounts of salt that I'm detecting. (Pure salt tastes at least 100 times more salty than MSG does) and one single grain of salt completely overpowers and masks any taste of a large pinch of MSG.
@@SteinGauslaaStrindhaug I find it fills my palate with a satisfying flavour reminiscent of broth, but without saltiness. It's hard to describe.
Just found you here, I'll be checking out more. Happy Dinosauring
Rraaawrr 🦕 .Thanks for the support!
Fish sauce is basically a mixture of msg and NaCl anyway.....so... (Yes I know it's got fish flavor too... But that's neither here nor there)
Try using super salt 👍
I might give that a go. Thanks for the idea!
Would MSG Sauerkraut be possible??!!
I don't see why not. If this fermentation worked OK, then theoretically, fermenting cabbage this way should be possible, too.
Why not blend the ingredients a bit to begin with? So you really get all the flavours.
Hmm, maybe I'll try that next time 👍
Im guessing you'll have the same opinion with fermenting with only fish sauce. That a mix of fish sauce and salt is better, like in a kimchi :d
Yes, I think a mix might be best, so it's not overpowering. 👍
Why not pure sodium?
If I remember my high school science correctly (and I probably dont), I think pure sodium would be a little too explodey 💣
@@AdventuresInSnacking yeah. And toxic. I was joking. But, on a serious note, I wonder if you can use potassium chloride. It’s an edible salt. And better for blood pressure (which I have to be careful of due to a stroke). Basically, is it the sodium, or the salinity, that matters? Would any electrolyte solution work? 🤷
@timtyndall4025 all very good questions. I don't really know what it is about salts that inhibits spoilage and allows for clean fermentation. This was just an experiment to see if msg would work, which it seemed to. It stands to reason that other salts would work too, but I would need to experiment to find out. Or find someone who has actually studied this stuff properly 😊
Your maths is wrong. It should be 26.7 / 0.3 = 89g. You were lucky that x3 is reasonably similar to /0.3.
Lol, maths has never been my strong point.
I made hummus a few months ago and I was in a hurry so just added citric acid instead of lemon juice
But then I tried it and oh no. That was not citric acid. That was MSG
😬
Oh no! Probably not the flavour addition you were looking for.
funky fish sauce ferment please
No worries. When my thai chilli produces fruit later this year, I'll make a Thai, fish sauce ferment 😊
I don't think that sodium promotes fermentation, it will prevent the growth of other stuff mostly, but it doesn't promote fermentation.
Perhaps I could have chosen my words better. Keeping the nasties at bay so that the good bacteria can do their thing is kind of what I meant. 👍
Def use fish sauce!
Sounds like a good plan! 😊
[7:20] - "Yes, yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it 'This Land'."
- _"I think we should call it your grave."_
- "Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal."
- _"Agh, agh, agh. Mine is an evil laugh. Now die!"_
Lol, I had to google this reference, but it's a good one 🤣
The reasons ferments have salt is to kill harmful bacteria. does msg sodium have the same effect?
That's what I was trying to test with this experiment 👍. I don't know enough microbiology to be able to say that it definitely does, but in this experiment, I used only msg, and it seemed to ferment like a normal salt ferment, so it seems like it does a similar job. From this one experiment, anyway.
@@AdventuresInSnacking
"Improperly fermented food can even become home to Clostridium botulinum, the bacterium whose excreted toxins cause the deadly paralytic disease botulism"
"Keep in mind You cannot see, smell, or taste the toxin that causes botulism"
So my conclusion is that one should not ferment with less than 2% salt per weight unless you have lab equipment to test toxins from invisible bacteria like Clostridium Botulinum.
This seems discriminatory towards people with outies
Do you reply to every comment?
I try to. This video has got more views than my usual uploads, so it's been hard to keep up. If someone has taken the time to leave a comment, I think it's nice to reply if I can. 😊
@@AdventuresInSnacking you get a sub from me then man. I appreciate your time, and your quality of uploads. Thank you for respecting your viewers.
@@leecsaszar4575 thanks! I put in a lot of effort to get the best quality I'm able to. 😊 I'm glad it's appreciated 👍
Does your scale have a button labeled “tare”? It could save you some maths.
Lol, it does 😊, but filming makes everything take way longer, and the scale resets. I need to write it down before it disappears and then do the maths.
+1 for the belly button trick 😀
Simple yet practical 😊
So...here's the thing. You don't get mroe umami by adding thing with glutemic acid to MSG. Msg is already at the max. You're just adding other flavors or diluting it. You can add other umami compounds like inosinic acid, which will give it a more complex umami, though.
Using fish sauce + MSG is a bomb.
Technically, yes, adding things to MSG will mean there's less MSG, but without adding the things, it wouldn't be hot sauce. 👍
Congratulations! You’ve made traditional catsup 😂😂
Never blend raw tomatoes - tomato seeds cut in this way release the gosh flavor.
Thanks for the puppies
I am happy to be your puppy image supplier 😊. My next video will feature a guest appearance from my own puppy 🐶. Well, he's 3, so not technically a puppy, but he's a very good boy.
@@AdventuresInSnacking looking forward to that brother.
I dig the belly button trick dude! Always need a third hand in the kitchen!
😁 That trick has served me well over the years! 👍
North Americans calling Sodium Chloride just "Sodium" always kills me. Luckily in this video you left some room for interpretation
Edit: (And you're basically the furthest from North America one can get)
Lol, I'm definitely a cook, not a chemist. 😊
@@AdventuresInSnacking it's a cool experiment in any case! Good luck on your next batch! May it not taste like umami for absolute hours 😅
@@insu_na Thanks! I'll get the balance right next time 😊
Why get dehydrated mushrooms just to rehydrate them?
Dehydrated mushrooms have much deeper flavor. I don't know the chemistry that causes it, but if you're trying to make a mushroom stock or something along those lines then dehydrated is the way to go.
That, my friend, is an excellent question. People say that using dried Shitake over fresh will give a "deeper" flavour. I actually have no idea why this would be the case, and I've never done a side by side to test that it actually makes a difference. Maybe I'll do that as an experiment sometime. 🤔
dehydrated mushrooms have a longer shelf life and weigh much less and take up less room. Also they aren't very good when dehydrated and don't cook well, so you rehydrated them so you can do cooking things with them. Concentrated flavor is silly, it's still the same amount of flavor but maybe you can fit more dry mushrooms in your pot.
Fresh mushrooms are like 90% water by weight. Even rehydrated dry mushrooms don't absorb as much water as present in fresh ones. So dried mushrooms have more concentrated flavor, because they're more mushroom per mushroom.
@GoldenPantaloons that's a great explanation. Thanks 😊
80 grams...80 grams of MSG...
Yes.
It's too much.
Next up: I fermented hot sauce in sodium hydride.
Lol, I'm not sure I could make that work 😅
@@AdventuresInSnacking 🤣
I'm suscribing exclusiely for the belly button trick
Thanks 😊. It's a real game changer!
Vi-ta-mix
One day, I'll be able to afford a vitamix! 👍
🤔I wonder what Uncle Roger would think of this
@mrnigelng
With this much msg, how could he not? 😊 It would be great to get his take on it, though 👍
@@AdventuresInSnacking haha, exactly!
2:40 Goddamn those puppies... I was just about to mention the differences (molar weight) between various Na based salts per unit weight but after the 20s you had "x3" on the screen... so that's cool, glad you caught that (I intermittant fast and I use 'Lo-Salt' for my electrolytes per day so needing to know the ratios of sodium, potassium and chloride is key. I also add MSG to the mixed-nuts I eat in my window so that was also in my personal ratios)... nice!
Lol, I kept the maths simple for myself. I'm not savvy enough with chemistry to fully understand molar weights. I'd much rather look at puppies 🐶 😊
@@AdventuresInSnacking 😂🐕
Just use sodium metal for an explosive taste
Sodium permanganate
What could possibly go wrong? Lol
never had a sauce like this, weird.
Yeah, it's a weird one. It's more of an experiment than a recipe 😊
Super Umami? So label it Tsumami
Lol, That is brilliant! 😀 I wish I'd thought of that 👍. Bonus points to you!
Sodium bicarbonate
Borax
Sodium benzoate
Sodium citrate
Sea salt is only 40% sodium, so the math is wrong. You added way more msg than you had to, so that's why it tasted too much of msg in the end.
Lol, I'd hoped the puppies would distract people from my terrible maths. 🤣