Question about cold storing hot sauce


 

Don Reed

TVWBB Pro
so I've been doing a lot of reading about making and storing hot sauce and all of the canning and preserving process involved, so much that it makes me blury eyed sometimes, but they all seem to be involved with really long term storage like a year or longer so I was wondering if I want to keep my sauce in the fridge for a few months after processing do I still need to hot water bath it? Here is a quick over view of what I have going, this is 2 different batches and I'm waiting for my Thai chilis to finish ripening before I do them.

Batch 1

1lb red habaneros, 1/2lb carrots, 1 1/2 med. onionion, 1 whole head of garlic, 1tblspn black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder,qnd 3 tblspn kosher salt, 1 cup red wine vinegar, 1/2 cup white vinegar, 1 fresh lime squeezed.

Batch 2

The only difference is the peppers and salt, 1/2lb red habaneros and 1/2lb red jalepenos 1/4 cup kosher salt ( I think this is to much because it has a really salty taste,can I reduce the salt taste some how?)


Sliced and diced the onions, garlic and carrot and tossed them into a skillet with some olive oil until everything was soft, the onion had started to carmelize a little, reduced the heat a little then de-stemed and split the peppers and tossed them into the skillet for just a couple of minutes (didn't want to fill the kitchen with pepper fumes) with the onion,garlic and pepper gave it all a good stir then into a food processor to which I added the vinegar and lime juice while it processed. I had already sanitized 2 quart Ball jars and the lids and had them waiting. When I had finished processing I poured the mash into the jar, wiped off the lip and placed the lid on screwed down just lightly tight.let the jars cool a little before I placed them in the fridge. The jars are filled to about 1/2 inch of the top. I want to let the mash sit in the fridge for a week or two before I run it through a blender which does a pretty good job of making it into a smoothy the maybe add a little dis-stilled wated to thin a little more then place back into the Ball jars after they've been cleaned and sanitized.

Now I need to know if this sounds safe (a little late I know because of how far I've gone) what you'd change or improve on. By the way I just did this Fri. 3-3-2013 so the mash has only been in the fridge a few days. Any and all imput is greatly appreciated.

Batch 1 on the Left batch 2 on the Right

The Thai chilis I'm waiting on to ripen

My 1st batch of orange hab sauce, or whats left of it really small batch I had 3 bottles

Sorry about the poor color quality, our camera bit the big one so these were taken with a cheesy small cell phone,I'm to dumb for a smart phone. :roll:
 
You're a step ahead of me (you've already done it once). I'm reading/picking the recipe I want for the first attempt. I was also wondering about that but came to this conclusion:

The vinegar is a great preservative and keeping that mix in the fridge for 2-3-4 mo will not be an issue.
 
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If I understand correctly you are sauteeing all of the 'vegetable' ingredients (kill step), pureeing them with added vingear and lime juice (acids), then filling and refrigerating?

You're good to go judging by the amount of vinegar you're adding. If you want peace of mind, have it tested for pH. Under 4.2 and you're good to go at refrigeration temps.
 
You could actually store at room temp - safety-wise. But quality will suffer over time. The vinegar and lime juice thwart bacteria. The salt does too.

You can also freeze. Vacuum packing is best if going this route.

I never can or otherwise heat-process sauces like this, preferring refrigeration or freezing.

(If Batch 2 is too salty cut back on the salt.)
 
Thanks to all of you for replying, I just wanted to make sure I didn't make anyone sick. I'll get some pics posted of the finished product here soon, I have 3-1qt jars one of which I strained what little pulp was left after the blender and 2 pint jars of a Thai pepper blend which I added some dried red peppers to, between the green chilis and red pepper flakes it looks like pond water :D, so that gives me a gallon of hot sauce total, now to take some to the shop and see how the test panel there likes it. Hopefully I'll get a bunch of peppers from the guys at the shop as well as what I can grow and that will definately reduce my cost compared to what I spend on store bought sauce.
 
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Well batch 2 is done, the color quality really sucks I need a better cam and editing program


The color of the single jar is pretty much the way they all look.
 

 

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