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Citric Acid

Wild Man Matt

Wild Man Matt

I make small batches of sauce for personal use and to share with friends, and I like the flavor of wine vinegar. So far the batches are small enough so that I do not have to worry too much about long term shelf life, but I have been learning quite a bit here. Stories of exploding bottles have convinced me that I should be more cautious about fermentation, so I purchased some citric acid. It is in granule form, and I was wondering how to use it. Sprinkle it in? Dilute it first? I am sure nothing terrible would happen by experimenting, but I would rather get it right the fist time.

The bottle suggests a teaspoon per quart of water or juice. Since there seems to be multiple uses for this product, I was wondering how some of the Saucier's here have applied it successfully.
 
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Wild Man Matt said:
I make small batches of sauce for personal use and to share with friends, and I like the flavor of wine vinegar. So far the batches are small enough so that I do not have to worry too much about long term shelf life, but I have been learning quite a bit here. Stories of exploding bottles have convinced me that I should be more cautious about fermentation, so I purchased some citric acid. It is in granule form, and I was wondering how to use it. Sprinkle it in? Dilute it first? I am sure nothing terrible would happen by experimenting, but I would rather get it right the fist time.

The bottle suggests a teaspoon per quart of water or juice. Since there seems to be multiple uses for this product, I was wondering how some of the Saucier's here have applied it successfully.
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don't know about using it in sauces, but i use a non-food grade at work. if you want to dilute you should have no problem getting it to go into water, it will probably take a little mixing, but it'll go in.
 
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Wild Man Matt said:
I make small batches of sauce for personal use and to share with friends, and I like the flavor of wine vinegar. So far the batches are small enough so that I do not have to worry too much about long term shelf life, but I have been learning quite a bit here. Stories of exploding bottles have convinced me that I should be more cautious about fermentation, so I purchased some citric acid. It is in granule form, and I was wondering how to use it. Sprinkle it in? Dilute it first? I am sure nothing terrible would happen by experimenting, but I would rather get it right the fist time.

The bottle suggests a teaspoon per quart of water or juice. Since there seems to be multiple uses for this product, I was wondering how some of the Saucier's here have applied it successfully.
Click to expand...


I also to use red/white wine vinegar for sauces, tastes way better than the basic distilled vinergar! I think the vinegar alone might be enough to make it safe or add some salt, & like you said citric acid will also lower the PH with the vinegar.

I've never used or known of the citric acid granules, I use fresh lime juice or concentrated, much easier to use IMO since its already liquid & tastes good. lime juice could also be used w/o any vinegar for hot sauces. theres some sauces made this way.

check into buying a PH tester, I'll be doing this before next harvest season.
 
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Yes yes as an experienced bottle demolition expert....(The US military employed my skills to help blow up taliban. Just ask hippy what the protertype is like LOL) I found that lime juice works a treat. You can load your sauces up with it without really distorting the taste of the sauce. Vinegar although good for me is used minimally as it changes the taste too much. Citric acid sounds interesting though.
 
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I see, I see. OK then, I guess I will get a tester. I use both wine vinegar and a little lime juice already depending on what sauce I am making, so I may be in the clear but I seem to recall that wine vinegar has a more neutral PH than regular distilled variety.
 
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Wild Man Matt said:
I seem to recall that wine vinegar has a more neutral PH than regular distilled variety.
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the different vinegars I've used - wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, basic vinegar - all have the same acidity at 5%
only difference is taste & cost per FL OZ.
I wish wine vinegar was the same price as apple cider vinegar, cuz its far sweeter!
 
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According to Wikipedia wine vinegar tends to be less acidic, although I am not really sure how one would tell exactly without a meter. I think If I intend on storing anything I will still add a bit of the citric acid. Since my purchase, I have read that it's the same thing as 'sour salt' like on sour patch kids, so now I have a better handle on what to expect it will do to the sauce as well (flavor wise).
 
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