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Question IRT powdering an existing sauce

Sam & Oliver

Sam & Oliver

I have a question for powder makers / people who create mixed flavor powder packets of hot spices...
 
One day I cracked open an old hot sauce bottle and the crusties around the threads at the top of the bottle ended up on a nice white counter.  As I was wiping it up, it dawned on me... can I take an existing sauce of mine, dry it out somehow and crumble it into a powder?
 
Is there a FDA rule on powdering?  If it's a shelf stable product, does that matter?  Is this not possible to create a commercially viable powder pouch of any sauce by simply dehydrating it, or is there a method to the madness?
 
It looked like simple dehydration that evaporated the vinegar and dried the sauce up into crusties.
 
I'd love to speak to someone who powders things about this, or other methods of creating a powder packet of a specific flavor.
 
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I do not know anything about anything but just a HUGE assumption...some things evaporate while some dehydrate. I would not imagine a powder tasting the same as the sauce for that reason alone. I think it would be a waste of very good sauce. :) having said that, what about prior to making the sauce you dehydrate all the ingredients and bag those? 
 
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I was thinking of that.  I ate one of the crumbs and it was very hot.  I guess I could dehydrate each ingredient that has water in it and omit any vinegar/water and see how the mix comes out.  I'm curious if it can be doen both ways though
 
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I would also be interested in this answer. I have a dehydrator and a plentiful supply of sauces that would fit the bill? Just not sure exactly hot to go about doing it? pour it in a shallow pan? It just seems to me like it would take a lot of effort out of it.
 
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A very interesting idea. Some dehydrators come with a fruit leather attachment that might work. I guess it depends on how fluid the sauce is. Either way it seems like it would take a long time to dry but still might be worth the effort for small batches at least. I think if you dry the ingredients before blending would be different than drying the blended sauce. Hmmm, now you got me thinking too. I'm curious to see what other people have to say about this.
 
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chiefmanywrenches said:
I would also be interested in this answer. I have a dehydrator and a plentiful supply of sauces that would fit the bill? Just not sure exactly hot to go about doing it? pour it in a shallow pan? It just seems to me like it would take a lot of effort out of it.
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Hawaiianero has it right - you'll need to use the fruit leather trays for your dehydrator.  I do the exact same things with the tailings of my ferments and sauce mashes - the resulting pulp that comes out and gets ground down into powder is delicious.  
 
I'd never go through the whole process of making a sauce just to dehydrate it and turn it into a powder, but I get all geeked out on zero waste cycles.   :)
 
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Sam & Oliver said:
I was thinking of that.  I ate one of the crumbs and it was very hot.  I guess I could dehydrate each ingredient that has water in it and omit any vinegar/water and see how the mix comes out.  I'm curious if it can be doen both ways though
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Thats exactly what Im doing today, in fact not exactly because I dont use the same proportion as my hot sauce but I try to have the same ingredient to have a taste that remind the sauce. I use the skin and seed that came from processing the pepper with a food mill so I have no waste!
 
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One of the ways I make "very fine" powder is to turn to sauce first. Not not always with things like vinegar in it. And then dehydrate, and grind again. It makes it so you can have a very fine consistent powder, and also easily add flavors. I just make a fairly thick sauce, pour it onto a sheet of parchment paper, and stick it in my dehydrator.
 
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Sam & Oliver said:
Can you resell it?  Are there FDA requirements on powders?
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I have no clue on the laws of selling the powders. I mostly do it with my own home grown peppers. And have yet to try to get into selling sauces, or powders.
 
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Sam & Oliver said:
Can you resell it?  Are there FDA requirements on powders?
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It's up to your AHJ.
 
there's concerns with the drying times/temps, but in the end, its up to the AHJ and how they would want it processes.  I think it CAN work, but have to follow protocol. 
 
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Here are some tailings from a batch of Trinidads.  I dried them like SmokenFire explained. 
I haven't tried making powder out of them though.  Anyone that opens it to get a whiff of the aroma, ends up in a sneezing fit and blowing their nose.
 
I like it on pizza, just try not to get too much in the air.
 
IMAG0207.jpg
 
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