tutorial Making Hot Sauce 101

[coheed196]

Thanks for posting this, I wanted to make my first sauce this year and even after reading all the different posts, I was still a little confused but this has cleared it up for me. Thanks again. Even the links on where to buy the woozies, just awesome

 

[salsalady]

re-posting info about the chilling info ctpepperchef shared-


edit- there've been a couple questions about the cooling time/temps ctpepperchef posted.

Those temps are for un-bottled sauces, and also apply to pots of stew, chili, soup etc. It is critical for large amounts of food to be chilled quickly. Nasties can explode when food is in the danger zone of 41F-141F for too long.

Another check point for proper cooling is 2" or less. Soup/stew/baked beans etc should be put into pans so the product is 2" or less to facilitate quick cooling. And large pieces of meat are supposed to be cut into chunks 2" thick or less. These are commercial restaurant/food service standards. I didn't get into all this in the first post as the intent was to make it understandable and user-friendly for people with no food service back ground but it doesn't hurt to have the details available for everyone.


Once a sauce is properly bottled and inverted, a vacuum is created and there is no need to worry about how long it takes a bottle to cool down. Bottles in their cardboard case boxes will retain the heat for several hours, but that's OK, as there is a vacuum. Hope this helps~

 

[Stone-OK]

Great info!!! Thank you so much.

 

[midwestchilehead]

Thanks Ann. Great thread.

 

[coheed196]

I have a question on pH, do you measure the pH while the sauce is cooking? Or after the sauce is cooked and right before you put it into bottles?

 

[The Hot Pepper]

I have a question on pH, do you measure the pH while the sauce is cooking?

How else are you going to adjust?

Or after the sauce is cooked and right before you put it into bottles?

Yes

 

[coheed196]

Ok, well I didn't think about having to adjust it, so that makes sense. Thanks

 

[The Hot Pepper]

May/may not but that's the point of measuring it.

 

[salsalady]

When using a pH meter with heated sauces, make sure the pH meter will work with the high temp sauce (some meters will work with heated products, others work with cooler sauces). If using a meter that only works with cooler sauces, put a small bowl in the freezer, then put a tablespoon of sauce in the cold dish, and that will quickly cool the sauce so it can be tested.

 

[coheed196]

Thank you for all the info, very helpful to me.

 

[cowboycjn]

Very good info and thanks for the writing time putting this together for all to see.
Should be MANDATORY reading for all interested in doing their own thing. Thanks.

 

[RocketMan]

Cowboy, You can lead a horse to water.....

 

[Scarecrw]

Thank you for all the info. With a box of peppers on it's way from bakers I should be making some this weekend. Happy birthday to me

 

[BillKowalski]

Some great advice and tips...Thanks!

 

[wolfie]

Thanks salsa lady. One company you mentioned gives free samples.

 

[CHEEKYchilli]

man I never knew making hot sauce would be so complicated!

but I'm going to give it ago, with some home grown cayennes!

great detail btw, its helps loads!

 

[lancefiles]

Very informative .........................Thanx

 

[arsoniztonfyre]

Thanks for the primer!

 

[MisterNo]

Great info, a lot of valuable stuff is here

I have one question though. What about uncooked sauces? There is no info on that subject
I personally like them for their fresh taste, but are they safe to eat if vinegar was used in 1:10 ratio, with a little salt and sugar?

IE, today I made Purrira mango sauce, with 6 purrira peppers, 1/4 of a medium size mango, 1 little onion, 2 tbs of vinegar, 1 tbs lime.
Without cooking the taste is excellent. Can I just put it in a jar without cooking?

 

[Justaguy]