Re: [CH] Non-vinegar sauce
Kristofer Blennow (kristofer@blennow.se)
Sun, 7 Mar 1999 11:26:18 +0100
On 5 Mar 99, N5ODJ@aol.com wrote:
> Looking for a very hot sauce (not salsa) that is not vinegar based. All
> the ones in the grocery store are vinegar based. I love the heat, but not
> the acidy taste. I can keep it refrigerated. Heck, even better would be
> a recipe, but I'll buy sauce if need be.
Vinegar is used in sauces for (1) flavour and (2) as a preservative.
By keeping the pH below say 4.5, a lot of malicious microorganisms
can't grow. Refridgeration alone is not really safe enough if the
sauce is too high in pH.
I guess you can make your own hot sauce, and just put less vinegar in
it to suit your taste. Recipes for that are surely available from the
more experienced chileheads on the list. However, it will not be
shelf stable, so you will have to either (1) accept that or (2) deep
freeze it (why not as "hot ice cubes"... easy to drop a few in the
stew) or (3) add some chemical preservative such as sodium benzoate.
Another option is to make a lactic acid bacteria fermentation. It
will make the pH low enough, but lactic acid is much milder in taste
than acetic acid (vinegar). Will not elaborate on that here, I am
sure the list members are tired of my hobby.... :) Email me if
you want to experiment with it.
All the best,
Kristofer