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pH pH is a log scale - are we using too much vinegar?

Ok so checked this morning and the pH is 3.6. It also tastes really good - much better cold than when I tasted it hot. So I just brought it back up the boil and hot bottled. This is the first sauce I have ever made without adding vinegar. Who knew! I would like to check the pH of that cranberry juice - it must be pretty acidic.

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Experiment number 2 will involve oat milk!
 
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According to Alexa: "With a creamy texture and oatmeal-like flavor, oat milk is a delicious substitute for regular milk. Its pH level is below neutral at about 6.7 to 6.9. Homogenization and heat treatments such as pasteurization or ultra-high temperature treatments are used to extend the product's shelf life."

Why Oats or did you mean goats? either way should be an interesting experiment
 
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Grass Snake said:
According to Alexa: "With a creamy texture and oatmeal-like flavor, oat milk is a delicious substitute for regular milk. Its pH level is below neutral at about 6.7 to 6.9. Homogenization and heat treatments such as pasteurization or ultra-high temperature treatments are used to extend the product's shelf life."

Why Oats or did you mean goats? either way should be an interesting experiment
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Next up.... pineapple juice and orange juice....lemon juice and lime juice....

(Where is the :mouthpucker: emoji? :lol: )
 
Experiment Number 2

Some background - I have been falling down a YouTube rabbit hole watching people make plant based milks. They essentially all involve taking some kind of bean or seed, blending the snot out of it in some water and then sieving it in a very fine mesh bag. I have tried commercial oat milk in the past and found it to be the most creamy of all the plant based milks (other than coconut milk of course) so I did some extra research on it. It's so easy to make oat milk - one cup of rolled oats, 6 cups of water, half a teaspoon of salt, blend and sieve. I also read lots of stories of the milk getting slimy - this intrigued me. Apparently when you heat oat milk it goes gloopy - so to get nice runny oat milk, some of the 6 cups of water is replaced with ice - then when you blend, you keep it cold and stop it from developing the slime.

Incidentally, I made oat milk in the above post using the ice method on Saturday and today it's all gone - my daughter drank it all!

Getting the right consistency in a hot sauce it one of my continued challenges as I don't like them runny - but hearing oat milk getting slimy when cooked got me thinking that it may be a great base for a sauce. Embrace the slime! So I made another batch and started the process. A bunch of superhots:

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I added 1 litre of oat milk and about 4 tablespoons of white miso. Blended it:

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I guess the chillies and miso pulled down the pH a little but still far too high. So I put it in a pan and brought it to about 40C. I added lactic acid powder (I chose this because it's the most cheesy of the acids) until I got to a pH of 4.0. About half a teaspoon. I did taste it and it was basically raw chilli so I knew it needed a good cook.

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Brought to the boil and left to simmer for a while (while watching my son play video games). I came back and it had thickened up nicely. A taste reminded me of a very spicy and runny queso. It actually was pretty good hot - I think that without so many chillies, this may make for a good vegan queso; something that I will have to try another day. Anyway, I had a little more than a quart jar so I put the remainder in a 8oz squeezy bottle. They'll both go in the fridge once they've cooled and I'll check pH and consistency tomorrow night.

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I hope this runny enough to be a sauce - one worry is that it turns into a solid lump. I'll report back tomorrow!
 
OK, so this oat milk experiment has given me a gloopy sauce - it's like one gloopy lump that pulls away from the edges when I tilt the bottle but is easy to liquefy with a shake. This is definitely only for squeezy bottles.

I've been happily eating the small bottle and it's been sat on the shelf. The mason jar has been in the fridge so I checked pH on both today.

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So slightly higher than the fresh made pH of 4.0 but still within my comfort zone for shelf stability.

For experiment number 3, I'm going to do a conventional recipe with onions, garlic etc.
 
Siv said:
OK, so this oat milk experiment has given me a gloopy sauce - it's like one gloopy lump...
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Love the experimenting buddy, but this description caused me to have a little stomach roll, lol.

Keep up the good work!
 
Downriver said:
Love the experimenting buddy, but this description caused me to have a little stomach roll, lol.

Keep up the good work!
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Yeah, it's not a conventional texture in Western food but gelatinous gloop is quite common in East Asian cuisine. But to be frank, you can't tell when it comes out the squeezy bottle - it's just like mayonnaise.
 
Siv said:
I also read lots of stories of the milk getting slimy - this intrigued me. Apparently when you heat oat milk it goes gloopy
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Hence, oatmeal! Gloooop!
 
I have this coconut milk creamer (for coffee) that's acts pretty good as half and half. It's the So Delicious brand. When you heat it in the microwave, which I sometimes do for coffee, especially if the coffee is not super hot, is activates the coconut flavor. It's pretty neutral before, but heating it froths it a bit and it tastes like coconut, probably similar to toasting seeds for flavor. Dump it in the coffee and you get a coconut latte effect lol. If you are experimenting with coconut milk, just something to remember. Maybe heat it in a pan and froth it for a super coconutty flavor before using in a tropical sauce.
 
The Hot Pepper said:
I have this coconut milk creamer (for coffee) that's acts pretty good as half and half. It's the So Delicious brand. When you heat it in the microwave, which I sometimes do for coffee, especially if the coffee is not super hot, is activates the coconut flavor. It's pretty neutral before, but heating it froths it a bit and it tastes like coconut, probably similar to toasting seeds for flavor. Dump it in the coffee and you get a coconut latte effect lol. If you are experimenting with coconut milk, just something to remember. Maybe heat it in a pan and froth it for a super coconutty flavor before using in a tropical sauce.
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You have me thinking - coconut milk would go well in a Thai style sauce with lemon grass. Or even a south Indian curry style...
 
Massaman hot sauce! You're speaking to someone that eats Thai once a week and just bought some new curry pastes. You should check these out if you cook Thai:
Massaman is my top Thai curry because it uses aromatic Indian spices in addition to the Thai flavors. Would make a killer hot sauce!!!!!!
 
Wow - this has been a heck of an experiment. I love seeing actual science in an area so full of habit. My wife is a junior high science teacher - and I work with her as a SpEd teacher - this is the perfect way to explain the scientific method. I might steal some of these examples when it comes time to go over the pH scale. Kids are crazy obsessed with heat and flexing machismo... see the hot chip challenge that went viral for a hot second. Finding ways to tie interests into learning targets = huge.

That cranberry sauce has me thinking about a recipe of mine - a fermented ghost hot sauce with a supplement of vinegar to consistency. Blended in strawberries and fresh garlic in post ferment and pre-pasteurization. All out of peppers for the year - but best believe I'm trying that recipe subbing cranberry for vinegar.
 
Well here's the ingredients:

Filtered water, high fructose corn syrup, cranberry juice concentrate, ascorbic acid (Vitamin C), fruit and vegetable juice (for color).

Ascorbic explains some of the pH.
 
Same as vinegar 2.5! Okay you are on to something 😂
 
Siv said:
OK, so this oat milk experiment has given me a gloopy sauce - it's like one gloopy lump that pulls away from the edges when I tilt the bottle but is easy to liquefy with a shake. This is definitely only for squeezy bottles.

I've been happily eating the small bottle and it's been sat on the shelf. The mason jar has been in the fridge so I checked pH on both today.

IMG_3303.jpeg
IMG_3304.jpeg


So slightly higher than the fresh made pH of 4.0 but still within my comfort zone for shelf stability.

For experiment number 3, I'm going to do a conventional recipe with onions, garlic etc.
Click to expand...

So I thought it important to update this. Oak milk is a no no for hot sauce!

I was happily eating the sauce for the first few weeks after making it but then it got lost in the rotation and I forgot about it. The mason jar load was kept in the fridge and I opened it the other day. The "sauce" had separated - there was a clear liquid on top with gloop on the bottom. I sniffed and the liquid smelled off. I poured it down the sink - as I was pouring the gloop at the bottom smelled great but I wasn't brave enough to try it. In hindsight I should have checked the pH of the liquid - I would have imagined it stayed pretty acidic so I'm surprised that it went off. Anyway, here ends my oat milk sauce making antics!
 
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