Hot Sauce bottling
We make a famous hot sauce, but we are having a problem properly sealing the bottles for shipping. We tried to shipped the sauce to friends and family, but after a 3 to 4 day trip, the sauce gets to them and explodes, with half the sauce bursting out as soon as bottle is open. Any advice on how to keep my hot sauce from expanding during travel and exploding out of the bottle?
Best Answer
The sauce is fermenting.
Fermenting things give off CO2. That might not be bad for a hot sauce. But as long as it is going on the flavor is going to be changing. Also as regards exploding, Co2 in a sealed space will build up pressure.
You can kill your hot sauce before you seal the bottle. I would can them in a hot water bath - traditional canning. Then they will stop fermenting. They will be safe to seal up and ship.
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How do you preserve hot sauce in a bottle?
Vinegar and sugar make good preservatives. Provided you use sterilised containers - place them in boiling water for twenty minutes, add the sauce, seal, then boil again for ten minutes - you should be fine. Store the bottles/jars in a cool place out of direct sunlight.Should you heat hot sauce before bottling?
You can include fresh ingredients (herbs, vegetables, fruit) but blend them into your sauce without cooking them first. It is critical that you pasteurize the sauce by boiling before bottling if you want your sauce to last for a length of time.How do you preserve hot sauce at home?
Homemade hot sauce should be tightly sealed and stored in the refrigerator. So long as the hot sauce has a low enough pH, it can be canned in a hot water bath. Properly sterilized and canned jars of hot sauce should be shelf stable for up to a year, if kept in a cool, dark location (or in the refrigerator).Can you put hot sauce in a plastic bottle?
Chili/chilli is acidic and will also dissolve plastic, into hot sauce - many of which have a 2 year shelf life. Although a plastic like BPA has been deemed 'safe' for the general population, a Harvard study found that baby girls exposed before birth may exhibit behavioural problems by age 3.Processing and Bottling Hot Sauce
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Answer 2
Add vinegar and if you do, maybe put your bottles in the refrigerator until time to mail them. Maybe that will help.
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