storage of sauce

blugill,

I'll defer to the pros, but all I know is that all my life after opening a bottle of vinegar or ketchup I've been told to refrigerate them. Now mustard they say doesnt need to be, but I refrigerate that too.

I buy all my Sweet Baby Ray's in the gallon botles and keep them opened and unopened in my garage. I dont refrigerate after opening and Ive never had a problem with them yet. We will use up a gallon of regular AND the spicy in less than a year!

bob

hmm, you learn something new everyday!

It just shows to go ya how our minds can be programmed on certain things from our childhood days. I thought it was an "open and shut case" that refrigeration was required, and never would have considered any other way.

Maybe I will try it so I can make room for a few more cans of delicious Miller Lite!

Thanks for bringing the topic up bluegill!

bluegill,
we waterbath can all of our sauces in mason jars.
your recipe looks like it uses the same basic ingredients as ours.
technique is pretty ez.
just boil enough water to cover the jars by an inch.
put your jars in and let the water come to a boil again. at that point set a timer for 20 mins.
when done take them out and listen for the pinging noise as they seal up.

after they are sealed we just put them in the cabinet.

never have had one go bad and i do the same thing for my habanero peppers

by the way this is for home use only.

hope this helps some
jack
ps. "Q" you are right it really frees up the reefer for beer

How long you can keep your sauce depends on the acidity of the sauce. If your making your own and want to store it for long periods, you should do a ph test to see the acidity level.
Do a google search on canning or bottling to find sites that will show the "safe" ph levels and what you can add to adjust the ph levels

once you open a sauce or anything else you should refrigerate it.

We bottle and sell our sauce.

MN dept of Ag required us to test it for ph.

Todd is right, according to our inspecor.

With liquid smoke, vinegar, fruit, etc; our ph is 3.4.

No refrigeration is required at that level.

We sent ours to MVTL lab and had it tested for, along with Lactobacilli for around $25.

Call them at 800 782 3557 in New Ulm, MN for more info. Ask your Dept of Ag what level is safe.

Good Luck! Roger

So if you were to know the ph you may not have to refrigerate it after opening? Normally of course with bottled saue you buy you won't know the PH.
Prisonchef, do you can the sauce for personal use? I have lots of tomatoes and peppers right now and wanted to can some sauce for Presents for friends.Would you be willing to give me a recipe and put it on the Recipe section?All your advice is so good I figure you would make a mean sauce.I have some smoked tomatoes,peppers and Vidalias in the freezer for making the gazpacho but would borrow some to use for a good Sauce recipe.Pretty Please?

So, the PH makes sense, but some stuff can be stored in the open, some has to be in the fridge and some stuff will last forever (in the fridge or in the open).

I get sauces all the time, and I really don't want to start a collection of open bottles in my fridge if they won't last in the fridge.

Appreciate the thread, always wanting to learn something new.

Russ

I bought some ph test strips at the hobby store in the wine/beer making section. Unfortunatly they all turn out the same color after dipping into sauce, tomato red.

How would a person test the PH of their sauce at home? Is there a home testing kit of some sort or do you have to send it away to be tested like the message above stated? I have a sauce recipe that I wouldn't mind testing. I'd probably be willing to pay to have it done but it would be easier just to do it at home.

Here's a link to a PH tester.

It is a little over 1/2 way down the page. It uses a replacable electrode. Its only $39.95

Thanks GeiserQ. I'm going to consider picking that up. It looks like after shipping it'll come to $46 and some change so that's not bad.....