• If you have a question about commercial production or the hot sauce business, please post in Startup Help.

Shelf stability and pressure canning (new guy)

Hey folks, as you may have garnered from my post count, I'm the new guy :scared:
 
I am a life long chili head.  I discovered the dried cayenne pepper flakes on my pizza when out to dinner with my folks, some 35yrs ago, and never looked back :dance:
 
I have some Bhut's I am wanting to make a hotsauce with tonight (need to use them before they go bad, and I don't want to freeze them) and I figured I would ask here about shelf stability.  I am a gardener with experience in pressure canning, (I actually have 4 of them) so I am familiar with their use.  My question is this,...do I need to be concerned with ph values if I am pressure canning the sauce??  I would like to be able to can it, and simply place it in the pantry with the rest of this year's goods.
 
If I am correct in my thinking that pressure canning will make it shelf stable,..my next question would be how much time and pressure??
 
ingredients are:
 
hot peppers (Duh)
onion
garlic
white vinegar
olive oil (for carmelizing before the processor)
 
In this thread , Salsa lady says the pH should be below 4.6 to be shelf stable. But anything I have ever made is always somewhere in the 3's by the time I am done adding vinegar or lemon juice.

Down in the 3's you don't need to pressure can either; just hot water bath.
 
If you have the ability to pressure can, that is the best and safest option for shelf stability without having to worry about pH and such. 
 
Also, think about making and canning a "base" sauce which could be used for other sauces later on.  Or make AlabamaJack's puree recipe which can be used for many different things.  I'll find the link for that recipe.
 
:welcome:
 
salsalady

Here you go! 
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/32602-making-some-puree-todaywill-post-pics-of-the-processits-easy/page-7?hl=puree#entry863835
 
Have Fun~
 
Back
Top