Guar gum.
Xanthan gum.
Xanthan gum.
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If you have a question about commercial production or the hot sauce business, please post in The Food Biz.
tutorial Making Hot Sauce 101
- Thread starter salsalady
- Start date
Agreed. Don't know why you wouldn't want to use any gums, but it really is your best option, and they are harmless. Xanthan gum is in soooo many things you buy... and a tiny bit will go a long way to stop separation.
Why? Gums are natural.
sunnydaze said:
7 pounds of fruit and chiles to 5 cups of liquid and cooking for 20 minutes?
Is this a joke question?
salsalady
Business Member
Wlecome, Sunnydaze,
All sauces will darken over time due to exposure to light (especially sunlight), heat and oxygen. Store your unopened bottles in a cool dark place, and keep your opened bottles in the fridge or at least in the cupboard (if it doesn't say "refrigerate after opening" on the label).
For the clogged neck issue, are you referring to some sauce getting stuck up in the neck of the bottle, then the bottle gets capped and the next time there a bit of dried sauce stuck in the neck of the bottle? If that's the case, when you're done using the bottle, cap it and give it a good smack down on the counter or the heel of your hand to jar all the pulp back down into the bottle. Or you could store the bottles upside down so all the liquid is in the neck and nothing will dry out.
For the consistency, in addition to the comments others have said, apples contain a lot of natural pectin and can help thicken a sauce. Also, cook your sauce really well (low and slow, cover to keep the moisture in), then blender the snot out of it to get a more homogenous mixture.
Have Fun!
SL
All sauces will darken over time due to exposure to light (especially sunlight), heat and oxygen. Store your unopened bottles in a cool dark place, and keep your opened bottles in the fridge or at least in the cupboard (if it doesn't say "refrigerate after opening" on the label).
For the clogged neck issue, are you referring to some sauce getting stuck up in the neck of the bottle, then the bottle gets capped and the next time there a bit of dried sauce stuck in the neck of the bottle? If that's the case, when you're done using the bottle, cap it and give it a good smack down on the counter or the heel of your hand to jar all the pulp back down into the bottle. Or you could store the bottles upside down so all the liquid is in the neck and nothing will dry out.
For the consistency, in addition to the comments others have said, apples contain a lot of natural pectin and can help thicken a sauce. Also, cook your sauce really well (low and slow, cover to keep the moisture in), then blender the snot out of it to get a more homogenous mixture.
Have Fun!
SL
texas blues said:
Depends how much water is in said fruits. You can cook down 7 pounds of tomatoes to a sauce with ZERO added liquid.
Or do you mean the cook time? Yeah, that's awful short to break all that down.
This may be blended and then cooked.
I don't think it's a joke. But needs tweaking.
Hey Ann, why low and slow?salsalady said:
1. The longer it cooks the more things break down.
2. With the lid on, the moisture will not escape. It won't cook down and you will keep the same amount of sauce. If you want it to cook down, remove lid.
3. Because high heat for that long with the lid on, it will just burn. Also lower temps allow more melding.
2. With the lid on, the moisture will not escape. It won't cook down and you will keep the same amount of sauce. If you want it to cook down, remove lid.
3. Because high heat for that long with the lid on, it will just burn. Also lower temps allow more melding.
salsalady
Business Member
Clarification- the "things" The Boss is referring to is the pulp etc of the fruits and peppers. If a sauce isn't cooked for very long and it's just blendered and bottled, it can have rough bits of skin, seed, etc and not have a smooth mouth feel. Longer cooking softens the skins and the sauce blends up smoother.
Also, cook at whatever temp suits the situation. Higher heat as long as the pot is attended and stirred is fine. Low and slow simmer in a thick pot works also. There's no set rules other than the safety precautions regarding pH and processing.
Also, cook at whatever temp suits the situation. Higher heat as long as the pot is attended and stirred is fine. Low and slow simmer in a thick pot works also. There's no set rules other than the safety precautions regarding pH and processing.
I would like to point out one thing that I didn't see mentioned in a later post on cooling foods.
After you've cooked a food and are going to refrigerate it, you have 6 hours total time to cool it to below 40°. You have 2 hours to cool the food to 70° or lower and 4 hours to get it to 40° or lower, for a total of 6 hours.
Now, if the food cools to 70° or lower in an hour, you now have 5 hours to get it the rest of the way.
I'm a ServSafe instructor and this is what is taught and generally nationally accepted. Some health departments may differ but most now agree with ServSafe.
Another tool to be used, that I didn't see mentioned, is an Ice Paddle. They can be found at just about every restaurant equipment store. They're excellent for cooling large batches of liquid and can be used in conjunction with other methods. Or if you don't have the space to separate your batch into smaller batches.
After you've cooked a food and are going to refrigerate it, you have 6 hours total time to cool it to below 40°. You have 2 hours to cool the food to 70° or lower and 4 hours to get it to 40° or lower, for a total of 6 hours.
Now, if the food cools to 70° or lower in an hour, you now have 5 hours to get it the rest of the way.
I'm a ServSafe instructor and this is what is taught and generally nationally accepted. Some health departments may differ but most now agree with ServSafe.
Another tool to be used, that I didn't see mentioned, is an Ice Paddle. They can be found at just about every restaurant equipment store. They're excellent for cooling large batches of liquid and can be used in conjunction with other methods. Or if you don't have the space to separate your batch into smaller batches.
salsalady
Business Member
Thanks for the suggestion on the Ice Paddle. It's another great tool to know about.
As this thread was created for home hobby saucers, I went with the 4 hours/40 degrees numbers to keep it simple and easy for folks to remember. Having the extra time/temp margins of the ServSafe numbers gives people a margin of error. Knowing most don't have accurate thermometers, blast chillers and ss pans, if they shoot for 4hrs/40F with product 2" deep, it should be all good for them.
Some of the more advanced sauce makers may use the ServeSafe numbers, though. Again, Thanks for sharing.
As this thread was created for home hobby saucers, I went with the 4 hours/40 degrees numbers to keep it simple and easy for folks to remember. Having the extra time/temp margins of the ServSafe numbers gives people a margin of error. Knowing most don't have accurate thermometers, blast chillers and ss pans, if they shoot for 4hrs/40F with product 2" deep, it should be all good for them.
Some of the more advanced sauce makers may use the ServeSafe numbers, though. Again, Thanks for sharing.
wow, finally read every post...I think I just lost my fear of making hot sauce... I will be doing some ingredient/equipment research now to get started soon. Thank you all who took the time to contribute to this blog, specially SL... Great deal of information. I will keep you all posted about my future creations.
Im new to making this stuff, and i only had made a jar of hot sauce before (turned out unique, nasal clensing) and i want to have a hot sauce that actually tastes great. These are the 3 things i want in it:
Habeneros
Cayenne powder
Vinegar
I like the taste of tabasco, and vinegar. Just looking for stuff that should be available at a grocery store. Thanks if your able to help
Habeneros
Cayenne powder
Vinegar
I like the taste of tabasco, and vinegar. Just looking for stuff that should be available at a grocery store. Thanks if your able to help
Great post. I will definately be coming back to this when I am making my sauces this year. What is your thoughts on using a juicer? I want to use a food processor as well, but, I've been wondering if using a juicer to extract just the juice from my peppers would help fuse and create a unique flavor quicker.
salsalady
Business Member
Zack~ -welcome to THP-
if you juice your peppers, you will be leaving a lot of pulp/bulk of the peppers behind. The sauce will taste fine, depending on what else you use for ingredients, but why would you want to discard all that material? Consistency?
if you don't want the seeds, those can be cleaned out before cooking or with a food mill.
If the sauce consistency you want is watery like tabasco, then yes, a juicer may help your operation. Get some flavor and heat of whatever the chile is with no pulp. If you want something with a little more body like La Victoria, then I'd suggest just cooking everything and using a food mill to get out all the seeds and large bits.
It all depends on the consistency you want.
Have Fun!
if you juice your peppers, you will be leaving a lot of pulp/bulk of the peppers behind. The sauce will taste fine, depending on what else you use for ingredients, but why would you want to discard all that material? Consistency?
if you don't want the seeds, those can be cleaned out before cooking or with a food mill.
If the sauce consistency you want is watery like tabasco, then yes, a juicer may help your operation. Get some flavor and heat of whatever the chile is with no pulp. If you want something with a little more body like La Victoria, then I'd suggest just cooking everything and using a food mill to get out all the seeds and large bits.
It all depends on the consistency you want.
Have Fun!
One of the things I do sometimes is I put my fermented mash in a chinoise after fermentation ( http://www.amazon.com/Fox-Run-3-Piece-Stainless-Steel-Chinois/dp/B0000VLPMQ/ref=sr_1_13?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1393162966&sr=1-13&keywords=sieve ). It's pretty good at getting all the juices out of it and keeping the seeds out. Then I take the pulp and seeds left behind, put it in my dehydrator and make powder with it.