RE: [CH] is it possible to extract vinegar
Richard W. Stevens (richstev@erols.com)
Sat, 20 Nov 1999 12:48:14 -0500
Unfortunately this method won't work. The boiling point of acetic acid is
118.5 C. All you will accomplish is to make the sauce more vinegary. In
addition, you will probably lose some of the more volatile oils in the
sauce, probably altering the taste and possibly reducing the heat level.
As another note suggested you could use sodium bicarbonate or sodium
hydroxide, although I'm not sure if the resulting sodium acetate has any
inherent flavor and the sodium bicarbonate will leave you with a carbonated
solution. In addition, the sodium hydroxide is fairly reactive and may
interact with other hot sauce components. It tends to break any fat-like
compounds into soap, among other things.
:{ Rich in Va.
http://www.erols.com/richstev ICQ 2269905
Photo Trend Enterprises- A Restaurant Service Company
Robert A Reed wrote:
> One of the most common ingredients in hot sauce is vinegar . Unfortunatly
> it's an ingredient that I don't care to much for. And as I buy and use
> large quantities of many varities of hot sauce I would like to know if
> anyone has come up with a way to redice the amount of vinegar in
> comercially available hot sauces
>
I think that the only way that you could use without a chem laboratory is to
carefully heat the sauce to just below boiling. The water and vinegar in
the
sauce will evaporate, leaving a steadily pasty mix. Add the fluid of your
choice (I'd use lime juice) as the sauce dries to keep it sauce-like and
taste frequently to determine the level of vinegar reduction. I've never
tried this; I like vinegar. But if I were goint to attempt to extract the
vinegar, that's how I'd do it. Use a cheap sauce to experiment on, might
want to use a double-boiler to stabilize the temperature.
NutCaseBob