Our Craft
Dwelve deeper to understand more about the heritage and our process.
Craftsmanship without compromise.
Wild Fermentation
Tabchilli is derived from the process of wild fermentation, ie Lacto fermentation; which is the process by which bacteria break down the sugars in foods and form lactic acid.
The process requires only vegetables (in our case that chili bird), salt & filtered water to kick off. All you need is the right vessel, and we chose ceramic crocks & Italian fermenting jars for it.
Fleur de Sel
Salt in fermentation encourages the growth of healthy bacteria, while at the same time killing off bad bacteria; the right amount of salt allows the fermentation to prosper.
We chose to use Fleur de sel out of all the varieties of salt available.
Why? Because it contains several nutrients, including trace amounts of magnesium, potassium, and calcium; and is the purest form of salt as it contains no gypsum or other impurities from the sea since it is the crest that is harvested.
Being hand harvested from these Phoenicians salt ponds for centuries; we wanted the heritage to blend with our fermentation, to give it its distinctive profile.
The Waiting
All our fermented jars need weeks before they are ready for the next phase of our process. We measure the temperature, and the PH and make sure all the conditions are right, for them to ferment beautifully.
We taste them every 2 weeks to make sure the flavor is building at both, the pace & taste we look for.
Olive Oil Infusion
We chose to source our Extra virgin olive oil from Solar olives, in Lebanon, which is certified organic and uses cold press techniques, while still leveraging its heritage and traditions in olive oil making.
Our infusions are another 2-3weeks process to properly allow the cross transfer of taste & texture to materialize beautifully.
Our Terracotta Spoon
Our taste notes are velvety, earthy, woody, and tangy with a slight umami finish- while our heat is steady building and not overpowering.
To maintain the perfect serve and avoid any transfer of taste, we chose to have in every package a hand-made terracotta spoon.
Each spoon has earthy tones and is individually made – keeping the handcrafting and traditions as an end-to-end process.
At the same time, they will not allow any transfer of taste, as they would if it were a metal spoon.
1% of each order supports children with juvenile arthritis.