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preservation How much vinegar is necessary
- Thread starter dragon49
- Start date
Necessary for what? None is necessary. Or do you mean for pH stabilization?
Dry storage or fridge? For bottling/dry storage you need the correct pH yes. This is not an amount of acid, but a measurement, so you need a tester.
salsalady
Business Member
depends .....as The Boss said....
how do you want to store the finished product, what processing means do you have...can you pressure can?
If you have a proper pressure canner (NOT a boiling water bath!) you can process the ground chiles/puree with no vinegar at all.
you can follow the measurements listed by AlabamaJack (use search function or maybe someone else can post ,,,,sorry, i'm on the tablet..) and then just refrigerate the sauce.
how do you want to store the finished product, what processing means do you have...can you pressure can?
If you have a proper pressure canner (NOT a boiling water bath!) you can process the ground chiles/puree with no vinegar at all.
you can follow the measurements listed by AlabamaJack (use search function or maybe someone else can post ,,,,sorry, i'm on the tablet..) and then just refrigerate the sauce.
In the fridge it will be safe, just like if you made pasta sauce, or any other sauce.
For now, if you like vinegar, add some for flavor. Don't worry about pH yet. If you plan to bottle it, yes. Test strips are cheap. A tester is a little more but not too much.
salsalady
Business Member
If you plan on refering the sauce, then use the measurements listed by AlabamaJack. I believe it's 100 grams chiles, 60 ml vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon salt and agaveif desired.
The puree is cooked, and then just throw it in a jar and refer it.
edit- if you just grind up the chiles with nothing else, they will go bad in a few days. Just like any green pepper or other vegetable you keep in your fridge, it will spoil in a week or so.
The puree is cooked, and then just throw it in a jar and refer it.
edit- if you just grind up the chiles with nothing else, they will go bad in a few days. Just like any green pepper or other vegetable you keep in your fridge, it will spoil in a week or so.
Yes, it's good as a preservative so the product lasts longer in the fridge. For this you cal ballpark measurements. Go with the post above, or to taste. Taste is more important at this point.
salsalady
Business Member
it may complicate thing further, but if you plan to regfrigerate the blend, you could do a simple pickle recipe.
chiles, vinegar water salt.... but follow an approved pickle recipe. Once I'm back on the laptop, I'll try to link.
that would be a no-cook option. It would be a brined cold pack pickled recipe. If you just want chiles and minimal else, use the cooked chiles/vinegar/salt recipe and then refrigrate or pressure cooker can.
chiles, vinegar water salt.... but follow an approved pickle recipe. Once I'm back on the laptop, I'll try to link.
that would be a no-cook option. It would be a brined cold pack pickled recipe. If you just want chiles and minimal else, use the cooked chiles/vinegar/salt recipe and then refrigrate or pressure cooker can.
My thoughts on hot sauce making are... don't worry about shelf-stability, preservation, or FDA regs etc. until you have to! Just MAKE A KILLER SAUCE. Then, if you go commercial, see if your recipe needs changes. If you worry about those things now you may miss out on just making a killer sauce.
Think of concept cars. They always look sleek and killer and when they get to production they have all the safety features that change the look etc. But you still have to start with the concept. If you don't and just start with a production car you could end up with lame-o. You know?
Make a killer sauce. That's all that matters right now. If you have to change the recipe later for production, you will then have the knowledge to be able to change it without compromising the integrity.
Think of concept cars. They always look sleek and killer and when they get to production they have all the safety features that change the look etc. But you still have to start with the concept. If you don't and just start with a production car you could end up with lame-o. You know?
Make a killer sauce. That's all that matters right now. If you have to change the recipe later for production, you will then have the knowledge to be able to change it without compromising the integrity.
For years, my grandfather put Tabascos in his homemade ACV in coke bottles and corked it, put in top of their icebox. Now, may not be the intelligent way but was the mountain-man way: it worked. I use a little rice vinegar and some lime juice following Alabama Jack's conversions but I generally use about a pound of peppers for hab (mild) sauces so, a cup of rice vinegar or lime juice or lemon juice mixed, up the sea salt. Again, go for flavor, as others have said, as you likely already have, if you're storing in refrigerator. I pressure can, but don't do many straight-up purees because I don't want to mess with "fixing" it when grilling/cooking, just want it ready to go. I generally do a pint of puree per pepper, let it go at that and pressure can. But again if using vinegar, I prefer rice vinegar. Just my .02. Thanks and hope you have fun!
Thanks for all the advice regarding puree. See my hot sauce thread:
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/35240-my-first-hot-sauce/
I decided to add stuff and it came out pretty well. Either tomorrow or Tuesday, I will get the PH tester in the mail and will see if it is below 4.0.
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/35240-my-first-hot-sauce/
I decided to add stuff and it came out pretty well. Either tomorrow or Tuesday, I will get the PH tester in the mail and will see if it is below 4.0.