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.Storage Tips for Hot Sauces

Source of Recipe

From "Hot Sauce!" by Jennifer Trainer Thompson


Recipe Introduction

If you're making a sauce and plan to consume it quickly, it doesn't need to be cooked - unless the recipe calls for it to be cooked. A sauce generally can keep for up to a month refrigerated, depending on the ingredients and the amount of vinegar. Exceptions to this are noted in individual recipes. ...

If you'd like to keep your sauce for a few months but don't intend to sell it or can it, you can cook it (bringing the temperature up to 190° F for 5 minutes), then pour it into sterilized bottles.

Sterilize clean bottles by submerging them in boiling water for 15 minutes or putting them into a 200° F oven for 10 minutes. Jar size is flexible — you can use anything from a 5-ounce bottle to a quart-size jar. Pour the sauce while it's still hot into the hot jar and seal. Keep at room temperature until you open it, then refrigerate.

If you want to put up sauce, preserve it, give it away as gifts, or sell it, then you should put it in a water bath. Cook the sauce (bringing the temperature up to 190° F for 5 minutes), then pour it while it is still hot into sterilized bottles or jars. Seal with the cap, then plunge into a water bath, which is a canning kettle filled with water that has been brought to a boil. Make sure the jars are fully submerged under the boiling water. Boil pint jars for 15 to 20 minutes; boil quart jars for 30 to 40 minutes. Depending on the size of your kettle, you can boil multiple jars at the same time.

Sealed, your bottles will keep for a year. Once opened and refrigerated, a sauce can keep for up to 6 months, depending on the sauce and its vinegar content. (You'll know when it's bad; it will change color, smell bad, and might be moldy.)

The longer a sauce sits, the hotter it will become!