misc Preserving with Acids

Hitman

Hitman

I've recently found this site, and it seems to be a bountiful source of information on all things hot sauce. I am thrilled to have such a wonderful resource available.

With that said, I've been making sauces for the past 2 years and have seen such a huge demand for these sauces that I intend on bringing them to market in the near future. It seems that I have a lot to learn before being able to do that safely (avoiding the risk of others getting sick), efficiently (cost effective), etc.

My question is in regards to shelf life/preserving with the use of vinegar (acids). Currently, I've been making my sauces without cooking them. I blend all the ingredients together until they reach the desired consistency that will come out of the 5oz woozy with an orifice reducer in place. For a 4-5 Cup batch I will use from 1-2 Cups of distilled white vinegar to keep the sauce from spoiling. Then I make sure to sterilize the bottles in boiling water for 10 minutes and pour the mix into the hot, drained bottles. I immediately cap them and invert them for storing. .......This process has seemed to be quite effective. For the most part I don't refrigerate my sauces that I keep at home, and they tend to last approx 2-3 months (they usually get used prior to that, though). Also, using this same method, I recently opened a bottle that was stored in the cupboard for a year unopened and the sauce was still good (had not yet soured or otherwise gone bad).

I'm wondering if there is any other information on preserving sauces with the use of acids, in lieu of cooking the sauce before bottling? Do AHJ's generally accept this type of bottling for commercial sale? Also, does heating the sauce negate the effects of the capsicum oil in the sauce (in other words, if I'm heating the sauce should I use more peppers in my recipes)?

Thanks again for all the wonderful information on this site; I look forward to learning more and more each day.
 
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Hitman, you can go to your other post and delete all the text except something to read like "double post" or similar. Otherwise, you will be getting responses on both threads. You can also use "advanced edit" on the other thread to change the thread title.




For your uncooked sauces, I would strongly suggest you work with OSU or your local AHJ. You have not posted any pH's, which are critical ESPECIALLY for uncooked sauces, and if the sauces haven't been tested, then it's hard to pass judgment if they are safe or not based on vinegar content.

If you want to approach this as a business venture, then start from the beginning and operate as a business. While there are tons of recipes on the internet, you cannot open a restaurant without the proper health authority permits and inspections... and for food processors...without proper process reviews.

Start with your county and work you way through. Call the health district, tell them what you want to do and if they are not the AHJ, they will refer you to the state or the next AHJ.

In the county I live in in Washington, there are 2 permits, one for RETAIL which is handled at the county health district level and another for WHOLESALE which is handled at the state level. Not so for other areas! You have to find out for your area.


If you intend to sell the product, don't forget about local and state business licenses, product liability insurance, licensed processing facilities....


There's a lot of hoops to jump through, or look at a co-packer. It can be done safely and simply, but please take care to do it properly to protect yourself and your customers.


Welcome to the forum!
 
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One of the main reasons for cooking and pHing is to prevent botulism. You have to realize that botulism bacteria are tasteless and odourless, and they could be deadly
 
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Salsalady - thanks for the warm welcome. I appreciate your attention to detail and in giving me a lot to start with. I'm not familiar with testing the pH (where can I get more info about this? Why is it done? How does it affect the sauce?). Also, what is a co-packer?

Thanks all for your replies. Pardon my seeming ignorance while I get up to speed with all the terms/tricks of the trade, so to speak. I do understand the importance of putting a safe product out there for others to enjoy, and it's not something that I will take lightly. Thanks again for your feedback....I'm really loving the site thus far.
 
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pH is the acidity of the product which helps prevent botulism and other nasties. Heres some basic info
http://www.fiery-foods.com/howto/67-manufacturing/1042-hot-sauce-playing-it-safe
 
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A co-packer is a licensed processing facility, you take your recipe to them and they process and pack it for you. It's a way for folks who do not have access to or means of putting in their own commercial facility to get a recipe done legally and safely and the product can then be marketed legally.



oh, and about capsaisin and cooking,-
cooking does not affect the heat level of the sauce. However hot it is cold, is the same heat level it will be after it's cooked. And it might actually be hotter after it is cooked if the sauce reduces at all, which in effect is concentrating the ingredients.
 
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