So I've been making homemade sauces for a couple of years and I've tried to follow good sanitation processes. My question is if your sauce is going to be around 3.5 ph level or below why do you need to sanitize everything (cutting board, knives etc...)? I guess I can understand sanitizing the woozy bottles although again if the ph level is low enough I thought the nasties couldn't survive anyway. The reason I ask is when I make a sauce I cook it and put it in a mason jar overnight so I can try it the next day and tweak if necessary. That means having to sanitize everything twice which is more time and sanitizer which is not a big deal just an annoyance. I have an extra refrigerator so I store all my sauces in the fridge for long term storage so technically I guess it doesn't have to be shelf stable even though my ph is is low enough to be. So I guess to sum up, why do you need to sanitize if your sauce has a low ph?
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food-safety Sanitizing question for the expert sauce makers
- Thread starter parker49
- Start date
im sure other will correct me so here's my take. Say if you have bad garlic that has a bad bacteria and you put it in your sauce. You cook it and kill the bacteria. The dead bacteria will still be reconized by your body to be bad and will try to get it out by diarrhea(not fun). Same thing applies to everything that goes in the process of canning. Nothing bad goes in the jar. Sanitize everything! Salsa Lady will likely have a better take.
Packing a sanitary sauce into an unsanitary bottle and using unsanitary tools to make it doesn't really make any sense does it. Granted, pouring a low pH liquid at 190+F into a bottle will most likely kill any bacteria in bottle but why would you risk it? For personal use, you are the only one taking the chance of food poisoning. For commercial products, add the additional liability if someone gets sick from consuming your products. Like I said, why would you take the chance?
Yeah I completely get what you are saying I was just curious sense between the low pH and high Temps I would think it would kill the bad stuff. I know it takes pressure canning to kill botulism but still the low pH should take care of that. I'm sure you are right in your answer I just wanted to see what everyone's thoughts were.RedtailForester said:
Edit: and yeah obviously if it was for commercial use there is no question.
salsalady
Business Member
Other's have pretty much summed it up.
Just thinking about how most process, in theory, when you wash up from the first processing, you wash-rinse-sanitize. So the next day, if your kitchen isn't overrun with bugs, vermin, flies, etc...the equipment should be clean. Out in my commercial kitchen, it's well sealed up, no bugs or flies, so after washing up, the dishes just sit on the dish rack until needed. Just like a restaurant, dishes get washed, then put on a shelf until needed. They don't re-sanitize the pot before using it.
That's probably not viable in a home kitchen where tools get used for sauces and also for dinner.
I always have a bleach bucket and towel, whether it's out in the commercial kitchen or in the house. Getting ready to make dinner? Grab the bleach towel, wipe down the counter, off I go~
For your situation, if the pot/spatula/etc are clean, I'd just give them a quick swipe with a bleach towel and off-you-go~
Just thinking about how most process, in theory, when you wash up from the first processing, you wash-rinse-sanitize. So the next day, if your kitchen isn't overrun with bugs, vermin, flies, etc...the equipment should be clean. Out in my commercial kitchen, it's well sealed up, no bugs or flies, so after washing up, the dishes just sit on the dish rack until needed. Just like a restaurant, dishes get washed, then put on a shelf until needed. They don't re-sanitize the pot before using it.
That's probably not viable in a home kitchen where tools get used for sauces and also for dinner.
I always have a bleach bucket and towel, whether it's out in the commercial kitchen or in the house. Getting ready to make dinner? Grab the bleach towel, wipe down the counter, off I go~
For your situation, if the pot/spatula/etc are clean, I'd just give them a quick swipe with a bleach towel and off-you-go~
parker49 said:
Commercial or not, I would not want to expose myself or others to potentially harmful products.
salsalady
Business Member
Pretty much- Again, you have to be responsible for what's right for your situation. As I said, in my kitchen, it's all sealed up. If your cooking pot was used to brine a chicken the night before....might want to sanitize it before using it for sauce.parker49 said:
Sanitizing's not that big of a deal. A gallon or 2 of cool (not hot) water, 1 tsp per gallon unscented bleach...swish everything around then set everything out on a towel or dish rack to air dry.
Brad, I hope you didn't think I was being critical of your cleanliness or processing knowledge. That was not my intention in anyway.
I've noticed since I began making my own products (even before making it into a business) I've become quite a germaphob. Sanitizing is easy and once you are used to doing it, it just becomes second nature.
Good luck and happy cooking!!!
I've noticed since I began making my own products (even before making it into a business) I've become quite a germaphob. Sanitizing is easy and once you are used to doing it, it just becomes second nature.
Good luck and happy cooking!!!
RedtailForester said:
20 years ago when I was first sanitation certified the teacher showed us a video she'd assembled of some pretty horrific food service no no's - people dropping food and putting it back on the buffet line, fishing flies out of things with spoons but leaving the food out, hygiene habits - all nasty. That video imprinted on me and there are still some things that I have trouble eating when out at restaurants.
I thinking all cooks have what basically amounts to a hippocratic oath; when you prepare food for people you make the best safest food possible. Good sanitation just helps stack the deck in your favor. An ounce of prevention and all that.
Not at all. Like I said I have been sanitizing everything when making a sauce, I was just trying to figure out if I was being overly paranoid or not. I think I got the answer I needed and obviously you and SL have been doing this longer than me and know what you are talking about. That's what I needed to know.RedtailForester said:
Yeah I think you are right. I worked in several restaurants when I was younger. Most people do it right but it only takes 1.SmokenFire said:20 years ago when I was first sanitation certified the teacher showed us a video she'd assembled of some pretty horrific food service no no's - people dropping food and putting it back on the buffet line, fishing flies out of things with spoons but leaving the food
out, hygiene habits - all nasty. That video imp
rinted on me and there are still some things that I have trouble eating when out at restaurants.
I thinking all cooks have what basically amounts to a hippocratic oath; when you prepare food for people you make the best safest food possible. Good sanitation just helps stack the deck in your favor. An ounce of prevention and all that.
salsalady said:
On a completely unrelated note, do you know if//when you will be getting more of the jalapeno seasoning salt back in? I've gotten my wife hooked on it from the holiday box you did last year and we are almost out. Will be ordering a few other things too but i would like to wait until that is available.