co-packer My Co-Packer Experience -- Need Your Help/Advice!

Hey all,
 
So I made the jump to go with a co-packer (local guy, does 32 gallon minimums, easy to work with, very solid business overall) but I was less than impressed with the samples I received. Their versions were much thicker and the flavor just wasn't there. Flavor can be tweaked accordingly, as I am going to work with them in person on the next test batch to see if there was something amiss in the recipe or process. It is the consistency that concerns me most -- we're in stores and restaurants and I can't very well show up with a completely different sauce that hardly comes out of the bottle.
 
Previously we've been producing with a Vitamix, which blends everything, including seeds, to a nice puree. Then we do the boiling and bottling, and all three of our sauces are thin enough that we have to use reducer caps. What we received from the co-packer was much chunkier, almost like a relish. I talked to the guy and he said they use a large immersion blender which will never blend the seeds down like a Vitamix. Ok fine, I'm ok with the seeds. But I need it to be more pourable, I was literally hitting the bottles to get the test sauce out. 
 
I have some of my own ideas, which may work as shortcuts, but want to get some expert opinions or opinions from people who have gone through similar issues.
 
1. We use carrots -- I was thinking a switch to carrot juice would help. Same thing with pineapple, substituting juice for the chunk fruit. We also use onions and garlic -- perhaps substituting minced garlic instead of cloves? Not much to do about the peppers -- can't make any changes there. They are orange habs, red jalapenos and green serranos.
 
2. We could tweak recipes to add more fruit juice or even water, don't really want to add more vinegar. Ph has never been an issue.
 
3. We could have them cook it longer and just blend the crap out of it with their immersion blender.
 
We will be working with them to figure out a solution, but I figured I would hit the board first and see what people might offer for strategies/suggestions. I kind of hope some combination of the above will make it work. 
 
Thoughts? Ideas? Thanks in advance!
 
 
 
One thing to consider...  if you alter your recipe you probably have to have your process reevaluated.  Swapping carrot for carrot juice isn't a 1:1 swap.  Adding fruit juice, new ingredient which alters the recipe you already have approved.
 
I had/have a similar issue with my copacker.  The color and consistency of the product was not perfect.  For me it was more of an issue with the process as opposed to the ingredients.  I use a blender, they used a buffalo chopper.  The result, different consistency.  The copackers batch separates a but where mine stays homogeneous.  The extend to which I blend it and whip some air into it yields a better result.  The copacker also didn't constantly stir the kettle during bottling.  The result, the first cases to roll out had a nice thickness but as the bottling continued the cases bottled later are more watery.
 
What the hell am I saying?  Be on site and work with them on the process, it might mean less head aches in the end.
 
Thanks Husker, good points.
 
We had our process approved and nutritional analysis done when we were doing it ourselves, but part of this co-packer's service includes getting the process authority and nutritional info done -- so if there are changes, it will be on them to complete those tasks. 
 
Re-formulating is a good idea. Keep in mind that carrot juice is much sweeter than carrot.

Some of the suggestions you've made may work, however you're dramatically changing your recipe - which is what you said you did not want to do since you're already providing restaurants with sauce.

The root problem is that your copacker lacks the equipment you need for the kind of sauce you want to make. What you need is a copacker with a screen grinder.

Good luck. :cheers:
 
The consistency is the problem, so don't change the ingredients.  "Someone" will need to invest in the proper equipment.  Whether is a huge-a$$ vita-mix on steroids or a food mill or screen grinder,...
 
You may need to consider altering the steps of the cooking process.  Such as... cook just the chiles in some liquid, run it through a food mill or Vitamix to deal with the seeds either by removing the seeds or blendering the snot out of them, then add in the rest of the ingredients, cook, and hopefully the immersion blender is enough to get the consistency of your original product.  This way you may be batch blending up a couple gallons of stuff instead of the whole 50 gallon batch.
 
DavezFoodz had problems with a batch from one co-packer.  He put a different label on it and sold it as a separate product, and I think he knocked $1 off the price to move it quickly.  It was VEEEERRRRY close to Sweet Spicy Girl, but not exactly.  It was still a great sauce, no reason to pitch it out. 
 
Good Luck, keep us posted what you come up with.
 
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