misc Shelf Life

D

Denny Chimes

I see a lot of jars of sauce on the shelves these days that have butter in them, especially wing sauces. They aren't refrigerated either. What kind of shelf life does a sauce with butter have?

I was just hoping some of you professionals out there would know. I was thinking about cooking some sauce ahead of time for parties and just storing it in the cupboard. How far in advance can I do that if I can it correctly?
 
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The shelf life can vary widely. If the butter is clarified, it'll have a longer shelf life, and a very long refrigerated life. If the butter is not clarified, it's just the opposite. Normally, any sauce with butter in it is/should be hot bottled. Hot bottling kind of automatically clarifies the butter, due to the temperatures being used. Our sauces, for instance, have clarified butter in them, the shelf life out of the fridge is only about a month or 2, especially after opening. This is a very conservative estimate, which in my opinion is the only way to look at these things. I have friends who have had our sauces in the fridge for well over a year to a year and a half with no problems.
 
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Glad to be of service. When dealing with a butter sauce, you kind of put yourself into a class away from 99.9% of the other hot sauces out there. Most sauces are made with ingredients that have a pretty long shelf life, if not until the next ice age. When you are using dairy product, you really have to make sure you bottle it correctly, to avoid the microbe block party from occuring. There is a good amount of information out there regarding this, especially the FDA's site. Problem with the FDA's site is, you had better be an insomniac before attempting to read it in depth, even then you may suffer from strange narcoleptic tendencies due to the legal writing style.
 
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Denny, if you have enough vinegar in your sauce, chances are it won't matter. The vinegar (or rather the acidity) is there to prevent the growth of botulism.

Whether or not the oil (or in this case, the butter) will turn, is yet another question altogether.

T
 
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can anyone sum up the "right" way to bottle? I have heard you can drop the full, closed jars into a boiling pot of water for 5 minutes or so. I know some folks this has worked for and seals the top of the jar.
 
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Hmmm, you are talking about a Bain Marie (sp?) system. When we bottled our own first we would sterilize the bottles, and then fill them with sauce that had been heated to around 195 degrees. Once you cap it at that temperature, it'll form its own vacuum as well.
 
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We use the Bain Marie system.

The hot fill, as John pointed out is sufficient IF you have a high enough vinegar content or preservative content.

It depends a lot on your ingredients.

The FDA has guidelines that will pertain specifically to what is in your sauce.

We have local Government departments that are set up to help us bring products to market, they help us with our labels, with our processes, with funding, etc.

You might want to see if you have some department available to you that will help you. Being the US, you may not have such options, but if you do, take full advantage of them.

T
 
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I don't think that there is only one right way.

We hot fill our bottles, then drop them into boiling water for a period of time.

I know for a fact a lot of our colleagues don't use the bain marie system at all but that's often because they have a large amount of vinegar in their jars.

The right way is to ensure that the FDA guidelines for your particular product are followed.

I'm sorry if that doesn't help much.

T
 
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We know our sauces are fine ph wise. We use a ph meter to verify each batch is acidic enough. We are using the 5oz woozy bottles and heating the sauce up to boiling then packaging. But unlike canning jars, you cannot BWB these to provide a vacuum. So my question is how do you prevent mold from growing on a sauce that contains fruit juice? If you cannot have adequate shelf life, how do you market this product? Those of you using the Bain-marie method, are you using canning jars or just the sauce bottles with plastic lids?
 
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Why is it you cannot get a natural vacuum when you fill it while it's near boiling??? When we were bottling it hot, we got a great vacuum on every bottle. After you bottle it hot, put it right into the fridge, this may help the vacuum. Also, do the caps you are using have a seal on the inside of them (like a little piece of waxed cardboard or anything)? If not, get them.
 
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