• If you have a question about commercial production or the hot sauce business, please post in Startup Help.

Fruit Fresh

patrick

patrick

Looking to buy some ascorbic acid, to lower the pH in sauces, all I could find at the local grocery store was Fruit Fresh. The ingredients are: Dextrose, Ascorbic Acid (vitamin C), Citric Acid, Silicon Dioxide for anti caking. Says it contains no Sulfites. Anyone ever use this stuff or see a reason why it wouldn't work?

Thanks.
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
patrick said:
Looking to buy some ascorbic acid, to lower the pH in sauces, all I could find at the local grocery store was Fruit Fresh. The ingredients are: Dextrose, Ascorbic Acid (vitamin C), Citric Acid, Silicon Dioxide for anti caking. Says it contains no Sulfites. Anyone ever use this stuff or see a reason why it wouldn't work?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Can't answer your question, but I too am interested in knowing the answer. I hadn't thought of using Vitamin C to lower the PH. I assume this would alter the flavor a lot less than vinegar?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I have not, unsure if the sulfites would alter the taste. I have used it for fresh peaches before vacuum sealing/freezing. It does a great job of keeping the fruit fresh tasting and visually appealing.

I found some key lime juice (liquid, not frozen) at Walmart that I used in my last batch. It does contain a small amount of sodium benzoate. So far I am happy with the taste - it's only been bottled a few days, though.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Compmodder, yep that's the goal. It was recommended by Nova.

No sulfites in it Cerberus.

Already have a couple of carrots in it sicman, thanks though.

I'm trying to lower the pH without adding flavor.

Think I'll try it on a small portion of sauce and see where it takes it.

Thanks for the comments folks.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
patrick said:
Compmodder, yep that's the goal. It was recommended by Nova.

No sulfites in it Cerberus.

Already have a couple of carrots in it sicman, thanks though.

I'm trying to lower the pH without adding flavor.

Think I'll try it on a small portion of sauce and see where it takes it.

Thanks for the comments folks.
Click to expand...

Awesome. Please update us with your results.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
citric acid and ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) work similar but are actually different ingredients.

Fruit Fresh will work in the sauce, I'd suggest mixing a 1/2 tsp in a cup of water, check pH of water beforehand and then add the FruitFresh. It'll drip the pH pretty good, that'll give you an idea of how much to start with in the sauce.

It might give the sauce a SLIGHT tang/sour, but depending on the other ingredients, it won't alter the taste as much as vinegar does.

I just thought of this-
maybe look into vitamin C tablets, you might be able to find tablets without other ingredients in them.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Patrick - sorry, should have read it more carefully before replying. Silicon dioxide should be inert, the other stuff common in foods. I would not think it would impart any weirdness.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Man I love the people on this site. :)

Thanks salsalady, coming from you and your background I feel pretty good about this. I really appreciate the "how to" advice too. Been wondering how to go about this.

Cerberus not to worry man, thanks for looking out for me.

Thanks to you too Greg and biscgolf. I can't tell you how many times I've used the links folks provide to get stuff.

Compmodder26 you got it man.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
OK so far so good. I took a tablespoon of sauce and set it in a small bowl. I put in about a quarter of a teaspoon of the Fruit Fresh. I realize that's quite a bit but I didn't want to pussyfoot around with a tiny bit here and a tiny bit there and take forever. I wanted to see a change! pH reading of 4.0 prior to adding it and a pH of 3.36 after. I'd say it works and works well. I did notice a slight sourish aftertaste but it didn't last very long. I'm sure there won't be much if any flavor change as long as I use it sparingly. With the meter I'm going to add a little at a time to get the pH under 3.7 and call it a day. Er um a sauce. :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
cool, Patrick, 4.0 to 3.36 is a significant change. Now you have a good benchmark to work from. Maybe when you get to the 3.7 range you won't even get any bite from the acid.

Thanks for posting as you go~
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Citric Acid = Acidifer (pH adjustment) - Also called sour salt, will impart flavor; think Sour Patch Kids.

Ascorbic Acid = Antioxidant - Little or no flavor impartment. Natural preservative (color and freshness).

The other ingredients in there you definitely don't need for sauce.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
True but neither one is going to have any negative effects on the sauce.

I'm happy to say the sauce is done. All I need to do now is bottle it. I just finished sterilizing everything and I'm getting ready to get the sauce up to a boil prior to bottling. Now I'm thinking about putting a label on it for fun. This is a very small batch as I'm just learning the process.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
This be it. Five 5 ounce bottles of chocolate Bhut Jolokia sauce.

DSC013381600x1243.jpg


This was fun. May have to do this again. Got a couple more mashes in the fridge to play with so who knows.

Thanks for the advice and help everyone.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top