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