In Central America, most restaurants and bars serving local food makes their own "Chilero" - it's pretty much a fermented hot condiment which often has more whole pieces of ingredients that aren't just chiles, such as various sliced/diced vegetables and quite often cabbage. It's something like a hot sauerkraut a lot of the time and very easy to make in a variety of spice ranges - but if it's only a little spicy, or not spicy at all (You find this closer to El Salvador), it's usually going to get called "Encurtido" and is also very good with more of a herbal flavor such as from oregano and thyme.
One time I took a girl out to a neighbourhood bar for lunch and it was filled with a bunch of older people, when we got our food and after some of the patrons actually bought us some drinks they busted out the place's special bhut jolika chilero. Haha I swear they made it just to watch whoever was new to the place burn and sweat for a laugh.
I think interestingly that the proportion of people who like spicy food vs people who don't is about the same between North and South/Central America.
In El Salvador it's called curtido, and it's very simple to make. Traditionally it's not meant to be spicy. Usually served with pupusas. Some people add jalapenos or serranos when making curtido to add some heat to it; varies from place to place, family to family.
Yeah, there's more fermented versions that use maybe only a bit of vinegar for preservation purposes for sure. It's really quite a lot of different kinds you can make, the one in that recipe is on the milder end of the curtido/chilero spectrum. One I learned in the Caribbean which you find more often in Panama is mostly just scotch bonnets, garlic, onions and lemon juice as a base which is insanely hot (The woman in this video is having a hard time with making it even, and it's pretty much just throwing things in a blender and letting it sit for a while so don't worry if you don't speak the language):
I'm a huge fan of eating ceviche with it. Any other kinds of sauce on ceviche are gross, I have no idea why people put ketchup and mayo on that stuff when there's usually great chilero to pair with it.
It's interesting to think that people might have been making some form of this much longer longer than they've been making kimchi with chilis, because chilis are originally from Central American. Wikipedia:
> Kimchi has been a staple in Korean culture, but historical versions were not a spicy dish. Early records of kimchi do not mention garlic or chili pepper. Chili peppers, now a standard ingredient in kimchi, had been unknown in Korea until the early seventeenth century due to its being a New World crop. Chili peppers, originally native to the Americas, were introduced to East Asia by Portuguese traders. The first mention of chili pepper is found in Jibong yuseol, an encyclopedia published in 1614. Sallim gyeongje, a 17‒18th century book on farm management, wrote on kimchi with chili peppers. However, it was not until the 19th century that the use of chili peppers in kimchi was widespread. The recipes from early 19th century closely resemble today's kimchi.
The recipes I'm finding in English are garbage. Try searching 'chilero receta' or 'chilera receta' and you should find something in Spanish to work off of in google translate. Even better to search is 'chilero fermentado'.
One time I took a girl out to a neighbourhood bar for lunch and it was filled with a bunch of older people, when we got our food and after some of the patrons actually bought us some drinks they busted out the place's special bhut jolika chilero. Haha I swear they made it just to watch whoever was new to the place burn and sweat for a laugh.
I think interestingly that the proportion of people who like spicy food vs people who don't is about the same between North and South/Central America.