Skip to main content

Featured post

Fermented Hot Sauces: Culturing chili peppers for unique flavor profiles. Making your own fermented hot sauce is a journey that turns your kitchen into a flavor laboratory. It’s a process that blends the patience of a gardener with the precision of a chef and just a hint of "mad scientist" curiosity. Unlike the mass-produced hot sauces you find on grocery store shelves—which often rely on a heavy-handed pour of white vinegar for preservation—fermented sauces derive their signature tang and complexity from a natural biological process known as Lacto-fermentation. This is the same ancient alchemy that gives us the distinctive sour snap of a real deli pickle, the airy tang of sourdough bread, and the pungent, savory fire of traditional Korean kimchi. When you ferment a chili pepper, you aren’t just making it last longer; you are fundamentally transforming its DNA. It creates a depth of flavor often described as "the funk"—a profile that is savory, rounded, and surprisingly smooth. If you’ve ever wondered why Tabasco or Sriracha have that unmistakable back-of-the-throat depth, you’ve already experienced the power of fermentation. In this guide, we are going to walk through every step of the process, ensuring you have the confidence to start your first jar today and the intuition to experiment with your own signature blends for years to come. The Philosophy of the Funk: Why Ferment? Before we start chopping, we need to understand the science behind the magic. Why do we submerge peppers in saltwater and leave them in a dark cupboard for weeks? It all comes down to a microscopic battlefield. When you create a saltwater brine, you are establishing an environment where "bad" bacteria—the kind that cause food to rot or mold—cannot survive. However, there is a specific group of beneficial bacteria, primarily from the Lactobacillus genus, that absolutely thrive in salty conditions. These little allies go to work immediately. They consume the natural sugars found in the flesh of the peppers and convert them into lactic acid. This acid acts as a natural preservative, lowering the pH of the mixture until it becomes an environment where no harmful pathogens can grow. But the real benefit for us is the flavor. Lactic acid is "softer" on the palate than the acetic acid found in store-bought vinegar. It rounds out the sharp, stinging heat of a raw pepper, replacing it with an "umami" richness and a complex acidity that lingers on the tongue. In short, fermentation makes a pepper not just "hot," but alive. Phase 1: Designing Your Flavor Blueprint The beauty of hot sauce is its versatility. You can keep it minimalist with just peppers and salt, or you can build a complex profile using fruits, spices, and aromatics. Think of your sauce as a symphony: you need a melody (the heat), a harmony (the aromatics), and a rhythm (the salt). 1. The Peppers (The Melody) Your choice of pepper dictates the soul of the sauce. * For Extreme Heat: If you’re a "chili-head," you might reach for the Carolina Reaper, Ghost Pepper, or Trinidad Scorpion. These are incredibly potent but low in sugar, meaning they ferment slowly. * The Caribbean Classic: Habaneros and Scotch Bonnets are favorites for a reason. They have a natural tropical fruitiness (notes of apricot and citrus) that pairs perfectly with the sour notes of fermentation. * The Workhorses: For your first batch, Fresnos or Jalapeños are ideal. Fresnos turn a beautiful, vibrant red and have a high sugar content, which gets the fermentation bubbling quickly. * The Bulkers: If you want a sauce you can pour generously without burning your taste buds off, mix your hot peppers with red bell peppers or sweet Italian frying peppers. This adds "body" and extra sugar for the bacteria. 2. The Aromatics (The Harmony) This is where you make the sauce your own. * Garlic: Essential for almost any savory sauce. During fermentation, garlic loses its sharp "bite" and becomes buttery, mellow, and incredibly fragrant. * Onions or Shallots: These provide a savory sweetness and help give the final blended sauce a thicker, heartier consistency. * Fruit: Adding mango, pineapple, peaches, or even blueberries can create a stunning sweet-and-sour profile. Because fruit is high in sugar, it will make your fermentation much more active and bubbly. * Spices: Stick to whole spices during the ferment. Black peppercorns, cumin seeds, coriander, or even a cinnamon stick can add layers of mystery to your sauce. Avoid powders at this stage, as they can make the brine muddy. 3. The Brine (The Magic Liquid) You need two things: non-iodized salt and filtered water. * Salt: Use Sea Salt, Himalayan Pink Salt, or Kosher Salt. Avoid standard table salt, as the iodine and anti-caking agents can inhibit the growth of good bacteria or turn your brine a murky, unappealing color. * Water: Chlorine in tap water is designed to kill bacteria—exactly what we are trying to grow! Use filtered water or spring water. If you only have tap water, boil it and let it sit uncovered for 24 hours to let the chlorine dissipate before using it. Phase 2: The Setup You don't need a professional laboratory, but you do need a "closed system." Oxygen is the enemy of fermentation. If your peppers are exposed to the air, mold will grow. Here is your essential kit: * Glass Jars: Wide-mouth Mason jars are the gold standard. They are non-reactive, easy to clean, and inexpensive. * Weights: You need something to keep the peppers submerged under the brine. You can buy glass fermentation weights, or use a "heirloom" method: a clean, heavy cabbage leaf tucked over the peppers, or a small zip-top bag filled with a little extra brine (in case it leaks) to weigh everything down. * Airlocks: These are ingenious little devices that fit on the lid. They allow the CO_{2} produced by the bacteria to escape without letting any oxygen back in. If you don't have one, you’ll just need to "burp" your jar daily by slightly loosening the lid to release pressure. Phase 3: The Step-by-Step Process Step 1: Preparation Wash your peppers and remove the stems. You can leave the seeds in for extra heat or scrape them out for a smoother, milder sauce. Chop the peppers roughly. There’s no need for precision here because everything will eventually be blended. Slice your onions and smash your garlic cloves to release their oils. Step 2: Packing the Jar Toss your peppers and aromatics together in a bowl, then pack them into your jar. Pack them tight! You want to minimize the amount of air trapped between the pieces. Leave about two inches of "headspace" at the top of the jar, as the mixture will likely expand and bubble once the fermentation gets going. Step 3: Mixing the Brine For peppers, a 3% brine is the sweet spot. It’s salty enough to keep the "bad guys" out but gentle enough for the Lactobacillus to thrive. * The Quick Measure: Dissolve about 1 tablespoon of sea salt into 2 cups of filtered water. Stir until the water is clear. * The Pro Method: If you have a kitchen scale, weigh your water in grams and multiply by 0.03 to get the exact amount of salt needed. Pour the brine over the peppers until they are completely covered. Step 4: Submerging Place your weight on top of the pepper mixture. Ensure that no small seeds or bits of onion are floating to the surface. If they are, fish them out with a clean spoon. If it touches the air, it can grow mold. Seal your jar with your airlock or lid. Phase 4: The Wait (The Hardest Part) Place your jar in a relatively cool, dark spot—a kitchen cupboard away from the stove is perfect. Now, the bacteria take over. * Days 1–4 (The Active Phase): You will start to see tiny bubbles rising to the top. The brine might become cloudy. This is a fantastic sign! It means the colony is healthy and active. If you aren't using an airlock, remember to "burp" the jar once a day. * Days 5–14 (The Flavor Phase): The bubbling will slow down. The bright colors of the peppers will begin to dull slightly into a more "pickled" look. The aroma will change from "raw vegetable" to "tangy, sour, and spicy." * The Sweet Spot: You can ferment for a week or for several months. For a first-timer, two to three weeks provides a perfect balance of complex "funk" and bright pepper flavor. Phase 5: Blending and Finishing Once you’re happy with the smell and the level of tang, it’s time to turn those pickled peppers into a gourmet sauce. * Strain: Pour the contents of the jar through a colander over a bowl. Do not discard the brine! This liquid is "liquid gold"—it is packed with probiotics and incredible flavor. * Blend: Put the fermented solids into a high-powered blender. Add about half a cup of the reserved brine to get things moving. * The Acid Kick: While the fermentation created lactic acid, adding a splash of apple cider vinegar or white vinegar now can provide a sharp "front-end" acidity that brightens the whole sauce. * The Texture: For a professional, "shelf-stable" feel that doesn't separate in the bottle, you can add a tiny pinch (about 1/8th of a teaspoon) of xanthan gum while blending. It’s a natural thickener that gives the sauce a silky, velvety mouthfeel. Phase 6: Storage and Safety You now have a "live" sauce. Because it contains active cultures, it will continue to slowly ferment. * The Raw Route: If you want the health benefits of probiotics, bottle the sauce and keep it in the refrigerator. The cold will "sleep" the bacteria. It will stay good for up to a year. * The Pasteurized Route: If you want to give the sauce as a gift or keep it in the pantry, you must stop the fermentation. Simmer the blended sauce on the stove at 180°F for about 10 minutes. This kills the bacteria, making the sauce shelf-stable and preventing "bottle explosions" from pressure build-up. Troubleshooting the "Funk" * Cloudy Brine: This is normal and expected! It’s a sign of successful bacterial growth. * White Film (Kahm Yeast): If you see a thin, white, spiderweb-like film on the surface, don’t panic. This is Kahm yeast. It’s harmless, but it can affect the flavor if left too long. Scrape it off and keep going. * Fuzzy Mold: If you see actual "fuzzy" mold (blue, green, or black), it means oxygen got into the jar. Unfortunately, you should toss the batch and start over. Safety first! * The Smell Test: A healthy ferment should smell sour, like a pickle. If it smells like sulfur, rotten eggs, or putrid trash, something went wrong. Trust your nose! Making fermented hot sauce is an addictive hobby. You’ll find that every batch is a little different depending on the season and the peppers you choose. It’s a way to capture the heat of summer and enjoy it all winter long. Would you like me to suggest a specific recipe blueprint to get you started, such as a "Garlic-Heavy Habanero" or a "Smoky Chipotle-Lime" ferment?

Cox's Bazaar- the longest sea beach in the world

Cox's Bazaar- the longest sea beach in the world

1. Cox's Bazaar- the longest sea beach in the world
1. Cox's Bazaar- the longest sea beach in the world

2. Cox's Bazaar- the longest sea beach in the world
2. Cox's Bazaar- the longest sea beach in the world

3. Cox's Bazaar- the longest sea beach in the world
3. Cox's Bazaar- the longest sea beach in the world

4. Cox's Bazaar- the longest sea beach in the world
4. Cox's Bazaar- the longest sea beach in the world


Johan Smits comments on his Bengal trip saga in Cox’s Bazar

After bisecting Bangladesh by boat and bus, Johan Smits concludes his Bengal  trip saga in Cox’s Bazar and gets down from it all on the longest beach in the world.   Where on our crowded earth, you can still walk long,  continued hours along  vacated  strands. No over tourism, no concrete  structures  demeaning the  geography and no washed- up  stacks of cheese.  precisely  lookouts of  putatively  everlasting  sand and  ocean.  

Which is the longest beach in the world in my experience?

The answer is Cox’s Bazar Beach. I be to prefer  mounts over seascapes, but my two- hour  sole  turn along the  sand of Cox’s Bazar, a  harborage  megacity in Bangladesh, confirms there’s  invariably an  expostulation that proves the rule. It’s vast, assorted and blessed with a raw, natural  goddess. The  sunshine is  formerly  prepping itself for a dip into the Indian Ocean as I watch a  unique fisher  daring the surf to cast his nets. Thanks to the low  drift and the seabed’s gentle  pitch, he’s wading far into the waters. Completing the picture is an  portentous  tenebrous  unheroic sky that turns all into a  melodramatic scene of man against the rudiments.  Daring the surf for a late  gimmick at  evening before on I passed by a  bitsy fishers’s village with a number of eye- catching fishing vessels lined up on the beach.  twisted  vessels and high  curvatures and sterns give them an  interesting half- moon shape. These  consequently- called moon  crafts are made by original Bengal carpenters  utilizing conceptions- old  ways. The  presence of their black, half- moon biographies set against the open  ocean is mesmerising, but then on the  sand I  respect their  fineness and artificer from over  near.  

How long is the Cox’s Bazaar Beach?

 Consisting of a whopping 125 kilometres of tropical beach, Cox’s Bazar’s is the longest  sand in the world that's natural and  continued. It’s taking ‘ a  perambulation up and down the  sand ’ to another  position – it would keep me  assiduous walking for a week. There are  nonidentical names for distinct sections of this long breadth. Himchari and Inani  strands are amongst the  further familiar bones, located independently eight and 23 kilometres south from Cox’s Bazar’s  sightseer  locus. It’s along these  further  isolated  corridor I prefer to take my  ranges.

What are the Bangladeshi “ moon boats ” lined up on the beach in Cox’s Bazar?

 Despite its natural coastal beauty, Cox’s Bazar isn't the tropical paradise you  detect in  leaflets. Huge sandbags and long  reaches of conifer colonies  cover the seacoast against surging  runs, while the waters then come in  tones of  slate and  filthy,  preferably than turquoise. Yet, what actually sets Cox’s Bazar  piecemeal is its hosting of the world’s largest  exile population. 

What effects did Rohingyas cast on Cox's Bazaar?

When at the end of 2017 hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas fled  country- inflicted violence and genocide in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, they  rounded  up  precisely across the  rim in Cox’s Bazar. Then they joined Rohingya deportees from  former persecutions who are riding  in confined conditions in camps that now shelter closely a million of them. As a consequence, an army of original and  transnational aid employees  is now also  veritably  important  portion of the  present-day  geography of Cox’s Bazar. 

What does the Cox’s Bazar beachfront  face like?

The presence of international relief employees  who hail from Africa to Europe and from the Middle East to the Americas; of  print  intelligencers and  television crews  transferred by global broadcasters; of agitated  middle ground- class Bangladeshi holidaymakers  sheathe  in  various  headdresses and cheap sunglasses; and of a deeply beggared member of original  residers riding  in  shacks next to four- star  hospices – all of this makes for a  blend of  monstrously  nonidentical worlds convening in a many blocks in Cox’s Bazar’s beachfront called the  hostel- motel belt. It’s a strange micro-cosmos of humanity you would  typically never anticipate at a beach resort.

What's the Tourist season in Cox’s Bazar?

 When I explore this  hostel- motel belt, my aversion is held at bay only by an actually  doubtful  sort of  seductiveness. I witness holidaymakers  prepping food in the  middle ground of rubbish dumps. Children are  rollicking around wide open seamsters while their parents have  regale on rustic boards that only  incompletely cover the  sinks  under. I can hardly  buy the medieval scenes of cheese  ditched from multi-purpose  structures onto the  thoroughfares below.  poisonous airs of burning waste hail me at every other  road corner. Amongst all this, cows,  scapegoats and  cravens bat the dirt roads  provisioning on plastic and other  reprobate until they themselves end up on  regale plates. Meanwhile an  unbridled construction carousal of  poorly  budgeted apartment blocks and  hospices – some remaining untreated – has turned the area into an asthma  peril belt.

How could Cox’s Bazar  asset much more from its tourism profit?

Every high season( October to March), hundreds of thousands of holiday makers from  each over the country descend then, making it Bangladesh’s top  sightseer destination. Cox’s Bazar City, with a population of only 250,000, has the capacity to host over 85,000  diurnal callers in accommodation ranging from cheap account motels to five- star  hospices,  substantially concentrated in a many blocks in the hostel- motel belt.  Also the vast  maturity of this crowd remains concentrated on Cox’s Bazar’s most popular  sand called Labonee.  

What does Labonee Beach look like?

This being a  relatively conservative society, I ’m not surprised by the absense of bikinis or speedos on Labonee Beach – indeed when out swimming people are completely covered. What does surprise me is the presence of a fragile but  mounting probing scene led by a modest surfing  academy called Surfing Bangladesh. Indeed more  astounding,  further than half of the surfers are girls. 

What does probing offer for original kiddies?

Surfing offers some respite from a  hard-bitten life for originalkids.With child conjugality and child labour still  current in Bangladesh, Cox’s Bazar’s little surfing  academy is offering these  youthful  maids and  sonnies some respite. Cox’s Bazar’s surfing  maids have indeed come the  motive of a recent talkie called Bangla Surf  maids which is  presently  serving the competition compass of international film carnivals.  

What may be  downsides that may  demoralize foreign callers from choosing Cox’s Bazar?

The public anticipation of dressing conservatively while out on the  sand isn't the only  downsides that may  demoralize foreign callers from choosing Cox’s Bazar for a  sand  vacation. Bangladesh is a dry country which means I can only have a beer in a couple of overpriced and  preferably gloomy  hostel bars. This only  farther increases the unlikelihood that this  haunt  city will make it onto the international  sightseer chart any time soon.

How did I get ridiculous number of selfie  queries?

When I ’m out on Labonee Beach I  detect I ’m  frequently the only westerner around and this  continually results in a ridiculous number of selfie  queries – some of them enough  pertinacious. I noway  allowed I would empathise with Hollywood  kingliness venturing into public life, but if your pride needs a  fleck of a boost  also this is the  position to  suspend out. The  attention of the crowds on Labonee Beach means there’s  plenitude of  room for beautiful,  sole  sand walks on  substantially  vacated  reaches away. While the general lack of  sightseer  installations at the  further remote  corridor of Cox’s Bazar’s bottomless  sand means you have to  set a  fleck of planning into your  sorties, this is  further than  recompensed for by the vast, pristine seascapes to enjoy.  commodity decreasingly  delicate in the world. 

What are there in the Cox’s Bazar City and beyond?

Although Cox’s Bazar’s main  delineation point is  assuredly its huge  sand, I ’m also drawn to  probing its  literal  locus and  farther amiss. The  assiduous  thoroughfares I  detect then are  swamped with colour and an admixture of  nonidentical  bowwows – from honking motorcycles and yelling  road dealers to creaking public loudspeakers broadcasting the azan and  sanctioned  adverts. As  similar, Cox’s Bazar’s  marketable  locus feels to me  veritably  analogous to those of other  metropolises and  municipalities I ’ve visited in Bangladesh.

How was Cox’s Bazar named?

First established in 1854 as a market or bazaar, Cox’s Bazar was named after the Scottish captain Hiram Cox who was a  supervisor of the British East India Company. Cox was  posted in what was  also called Palongkee and did a lot of work on the rehabilitation of Arakan deportees who were fleeing Burma’s armies that had  raided Arakan, or  present-day- day’s Rakhine State in Myanmar. It was a  boding of the Rohingyas ’ current plight, it now seems.    given away the  megacity’s  position at the seacoast, I ’m not surprised when I end up at a  assiduous fishing  harborage at the Bakkhali River. It’s  autumn and the  exertion then's more thriving than  heated now.  rustic  fishing trollers are sailing up and down the swash, original  merchandisers  show off off their  gimmick of the day, and  monumental blocks of ice are  slash up to keep the fish fresh for  exhilaration.  numerous are for import to places like Dubai, one of the dealers confides in me, while the  lower quality fish end up on the original  request.

What are other tourist attractions in Cox’s Bazar?

Cox’s Bazar is also home to a number of Buddhist  spots, not unlike the bones I  eyed in Rangamati in the Chittagong Hill Tracts  farther north along the Myanmar  rim. One of the highlights is a statue of a reclining Buddha in the  village of Ramu, around 10 kilometres from Cox’s Bazar. At 30 metres in  extent, it’s  spoke to be South Asia’s largest reclining Buddha. Easier to visit, a little hidden down but right in the  locus of  city, is the Aggameda Khyang. It’s a 19th- century Buddhist  friary of which its main sanctuary stands elevated on  forestland  lines. The abbot shows me several citation Burmese Buddha statues – some of them a couple of hundred times old he tells me – as well as a many important manuscripts. 

A Buddhist stupa in the hills of Cox’s Bazar  While these places in themselves are  intriguing enough to  transgress down from the  sand, it’s more the general air that leaves an  print on me. Unlike in Rangamati, the Buddhist community in Cox’s Bazar constitutes only a  bitsy  nonage of half a percent of the original population. I can not  support but feel that there's a  solicitude about the  goods of Myanmar’s persecution of Muslims on the Buddhist  nonage then in Bangladesh. Or to  enunciate it with the words of the abbot, “ we have  tenebrous moments ”.   It’s not that long ago, one at the end of 2012, that a mob of hundreds of people rampaged through Ramu and  devastated a number of Buddhist temples, houses and  numerous religious artefacts – an event that must still be  hanging  people’s  recollections. Yet,  given away the scale of the violence across the  rim, the fact that no retributive  events have  happened then in Cox’s Bazar seems  evidence to the  sweats of the original government and communities to  cover the peace.

What's the best time to visit Cox's Bazaar?

 During high season, from October to March, prices come  exaggerated and Labonee Beach crowded, especially in December and January.  still, the rainfall is most affable  also and indeed during this period you'll  detect  strands  farther down  vacated. Other  corridor of the time are quiet indeed on Labonee Beach, but note that June to September is the  stormy season and cyclones are  practicable from March through July and September through December – yet  invariably with  plenitude of advance  forewarning.

What are accommodation facilities in Cox's Bazaar?

There's  plenitude of accommodation in the  hostel- motel belt of  colorful  norms and prices.  still, if you want to stay  nearly more  isolated  also Mermaid Beach Resort and Mermaid Eco Resort are  fairly  precious but  veritably comfortable and  passed. They're located on Marine Drive along the longest  sand in the world, independently 14 and 15 km from the  sightseer belt, and can be  passed by tum tum or CNG (bus- gharry) within 25 minutes. 

Tags

Popular Posts

Write a paragraph on environment pollution পরিবেশ দূষণ

Write a paragraph on environment pollution (পরিবেশ দূষণ) Environment Pollution Environment pollution means the pollution of air, water, sound, odour, soil and other elements of it. We need safe and clean environment. Pollution of it has tremendous bad effects. Any sort of pollution may bring the doom of life. At present, our environment is being polluted at an alarming rate, Air, the most important element of environment is polluted by smoke from railway engines and power-houses, or the burning of coal and oil or the making of bricks. Water, another vital element is being polluted by the use of chemicals and insecticides or oil seeping from damaged super tankers or by industrial discharge. Sound pollution is caused by the use of microphones and loud speakers. All these pollutions may wipe out our existence from the earth. The destruction of forest also causes environment imbalance that makes the wild animals wipe out. So, it is our moral duty to prevent environment pollution. We must ...
Read more

HSC English First Paper English For Today Unit 3 Lesson 4

HSC English First Paper English For Today Unit 3 Lesson 4 Khona The mythical story of Khona is deeply rooted in Bangla folklore. Khona, originally named Lila, an incredible woman with a gift for predicting weather and understanding the ways of farming. Her wisdom was shared through memorable rhyming verses known as “Khona's Words" or "Khonar Bochon." These sayings, though simple and easy to remember, were filled with practical advice for farmers. Khona used her knowledge to help the peasants, but her actions often challenged the ruling class. The rulers, not pleased with her defiance, punished her cruelly by cutting out her tongue. Thus she became known as Khona, which means “someone who cannot speak." Despite this harsh punishment, her wisdom lived on through her sayings, which have been passed down for over 1500 years. There are many versions of Khona's story. One retelling goes like this: in the kingdom of Deyulnagar, there was a royal astrologer n...
Read more

HSC English First Paper English For Today Unit 1 Lesson 3

HSC English First Paper English For Today Unit 1 Lesson 3 Children in School  The New School Part-I: Reading Test  When she saw the gate of the new school, Totto-chan stopped. The gate of the school she used to go to had fine concrete pillars with the name of the school in large characters. But the gate of this new school simply consisted of two rather short posts that still had twigs and leaves on them. "This gate's growing." said Totto-chan. "It'll probably go on growing till it's taller than the telephone poles! The two "gateposts" were clearly trees with roots. When she got closer, she had to put her head to one side to read the name of the school because the wind had blown the sign askew. "To-mo-e Ga-ku-en." Totto-chan was about to ask Mother what "Tomoe" meant, when she caught a glimpse of something that made her think she must be dreaming. She squatted down and peered through the shrubbery to get a better look, and ...
Read more