Adding Pasteurized Fruit Juices

[chitownpepper]

I have a question for anyone that has experience adding pasteurized fruit juices to a hot sauce.

If I were to boil my peppers and spices, pull it off the stove, and then add a small amount of pasteurized fruit juice would this negatively impact the shelf life in any way? Does shelf life mostly come down to the pH? If the final concoction with the fruit juice included is 3.7 would this be considered shelf stable? Just asking because of how I added the fruit juice at the end (not included in the boil). However it is pasteurized so it was boiled at some point. Is there anything I need to take into consideration with my process? Also just curious because the bottle of juice I have says to refrigerate after opening so i'm wondering if that means my sauce also needs to be refrigerated too (no longer shelf stable).

 

[The Hot Pepper]

You need to cook all your ingredients together whether they are pasteurized or pre-canned etc. Think about it. If you make a BBQ sauce from ketchup, molasses, and honey, these are processed but you still have to process it yourself to make yours. Or bad things can happen.

 

[salsalady]

+1 to ^^^

How long a sauce is boiled is a matter of taste (or texture as the case may be) but all ingredient on the sauce must be 180 degrees Fahrenheit when the sauce goes into the bottle. In theory, you could pull the sauce off the boil and add the juice, which would lower the temp of the sauce, but you must get it all back up to 180F+ before bottling.

 

[chitownpepper]

Thanks for the insights.

Another question based on the 180 deg bottling temp. Right now i'm working with small quantities and can get my sauce in the bottles before the temp falls below 180 deg. For people that are working with larger batches are you continuously reheating to maintain the 180+ temp? I would imagine it would be hard to manage the consistency this way (would have to keep adding more water etc.) Again i haven't worked with anything larger than a 25z batch, and the temp seems to hold fine. Maybe this isn't even a valid concern and the temp should hold just as well? It just seems like a larger pot would also have more surface area to cool with..

 

[salsalady]

A double-boiler set up helps to maintain temperature without keeping the sauce boiling/simmering and losing moisture. Also, just turning the burner off and on will maintain temp. A good thermometer is probably the first investment a saucemaker should make, then a pH meter. Thermapen is an excellent unit (with an excellent price of about $85) and there are many other good digital thermometers for ~$20. If you haven't already, check out Making Hot Sauce 101.