So Ive been making my own all natural hot sauce for a while now. However I just pulled some out that I made about 6 weeks ago and about half of the bottles had small white specs scattered thru it that i could see on thru the bottle. If I shake it it of course disappears but now Im concerned as to what it is. Never happened before. They smell fine. They were in a cabinet at room temp...maybe a little above room temp due the past summer. Its a vinager based sauce with blanched red peppers , salt , sugar , fresh onion and garlic , water and few other dried spices. I have about 30 bottles and about half have the specs. I give them to friends and use it daily. Anyone know what has happened with these? Should I toss them all?
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white mold spots?
- Thread starter iremain69
- Start date
Others could speak to this better than I, however, I've read people talking about a yeast that grows on top, white in color,looks like mold, that is harmless to you, but alters the taste.
Hold out for Salsalady, or LDHS, or Katrina, or someone who knows more than me... I'm really just a novice thats read enough to make me dangerous
Hold out for Salsalady, or LDHS, or Katrina, or someone who knows more than me... I'm really just a novice thats read enough to make me dangerous
iremain69 It sounds like you have some Kham yeast in there. If it smells good and white specs, usually a good sign that that is what it is. Mold usually will present with dark or black growth. Pics would help alot to id it but please don't crack it open to take them. You want to preserve the CO[sub]2[/sub] layer that's developed between the mash and the lid. It's that layer that helps prevent things like mold growth. Take a look in the Fermentation 101 thread around page 10 I think and you'll see an example of some. If you do crack the lid add some salt water to the top and recap it.
Edit: This is a common occurance in Lacto fermentations and nothing to be conerned about. When you process the sauce you can either remove it or just shake it up and dump it all in and cook it up.
Edit: This is a common occurance in Lacto fermentations and nothing to be conerned about. When you process the sauce you can either remove it or just shake it up and dump it all in and cook it up.
OH, this is in a finished sauce..........
How did you process it? I saw that you blanched the peppers but what beyond that?
My usual process is:
15 minute boil followed by 45 minute simmer
first blender run
30 minute simmer
second blender run
Heat to 195 degrees F +
Bottle
invert bottles for min 15 minutes
put on seals
Or, is the sauce mostly a blended raw sauce?
How did you process it? I saw that you blanched the peppers but what beyond that?
My usual process is:
15 minute boil followed by 45 minute simmer
first blender run
30 minute simmer
second blender run
Heat to 195 degrees F +
Bottle
invert bottles for min 15 minutes
put on seals
Or, is the sauce mostly a blended raw sauce?
salsalady
eXtreme Business
Hello, iremain69. Welcome to THP.
Disclaimer- I'm not a process authority, just a licensed sauce maker. This is just my opinion.
Based on the information you've provided, there are a few red flags I see. The biggest is that the fresh vegetables are not all cooked. It looks like the peppers and garlic were blanched, but not the fresh onion? Raw veggies of any sort are low acid items and either need to be (1) fully cooked and used in a fairly acidic sauce, (2) pressure canned, or (3) if left raw, the acid/pH of the sauce needs to be really low to prevent nasties from growing.
Without knowing the exact proportions of your recipe, it's hard to make an educated guess as to the pH. Having "made the sauce this way for the last 2 years and not had a problem" could just mean you got lucky before. The natural pH of the chiles can change from year to year, from different sources, and from variety to variety. The chiles may have had just been just low enough pH so your sauce was previously OK.
Also, since this is a homemade sauce, I'm guessing you didn't weigh the ingredients and follow the exact same proportions. Something like ...the size of the onion....can be enough of a variable to change the sauce. If you used a slightly larger onion this time than what you'd used before, that could of added just enough pulp to the mix that the pH was no longer as low as it was previously, and therefore not low enough pH to keep the nasties from growing.
Without knowing the exact proportions of the ingredients, not knowing the pH, and knowing the sauce was not thoroughly cooked and hot packed....I'm sorry to say, but I'd pitch it.
it's a lot of work and $ down the drain, but is it worth it? Hopefully, at this time of the season, you can get some more chiles and make another batch. On the bright side, you can re-use the bottles with a fresh lid. Have you seen the Making Hot Sauce 101 thread? It talks about re-using bottles and caps, and how to do it safely.
once again, just my opinion-
salsalady
Disclaimer- I'm not a process authority, just a licensed sauce maker. This is just my opinion.
Based on the information you've provided, there are a few red flags I see. The biggest is that the fresh vegetables are not all cooked. It looks like the peppers and garlic were blanched, but not the fresh onion? Raw veggies of any sort are low acid items and either need to be (1) fully cooked and used in a fairly acidic sauce, (2) pressure canned, or (3) if left raw, the acid/pH of the sauce needs to be really low to prevent nasties from growing.
Without knowing the exact proportions of your recipe, it's hard to make an educated guess as to the pH. Having "made the sauce this way for the last 2 years and not had a problem" could just mean you got lucky before. The natural pH of the chiles can change from year to year, from different sources, and from variety to variety. The chiles may have had just been just low enough pH so your sauce was previously OK.
Also, since this is a homemade sauce, I'm guessing you didn't weigh the ingredients and follow the exact same proportions. Something like ...the size of the onion....can be enough of a variable to change the sauce. If you used a slightly larger onion this time than what you'd used before, that could of added just enough pulp to the mix that the pH was no longer as low as it was previously, and therefore not low enough pH to keep the nasties from growing.
Without knowing the exact proportions of the ingredients, not knowing the pH, and knowing the sauce was not thoroughly cooked and hot packed....I'm sorry to say, but I'd pitch it.
it's a lot of work and $ down the drain, but is it worth it? Hopefully, at this time of the season, you can get some more chiles and make another batch. On the bright side, you can re-use the bottles with a fresh lid. Have you seen the Making Hot Sauce 101 thread? It talks about re-using bottles and caps, and how to do it safely.once again, just my opinion-
salsalady