I've been working on a few. I will follow up with recipes later today.

I just bumped your recipe thread up, judo. With my own from last wkd.

I have a basic hot sauce recipe.
The core ingredients are HOT red peppers and sweet RED bell peppers(as filler).
Bring to boil in low heat in water-vinegar. (1 part water , 3 parts vinegar)
Then using a stick blender I bend it ;
Then strain it true a rice strainer to get the pulps out.
Add some salt and sugar (to taste)
Add couple of spoons lemon/lime juice after cooling.
I might add some paprika to thicken it.

I know people have a lot of hot sauce recipes but I cant find one that people say is safe for canning. I want to can Mine and I need to know that's is safe to can. Not just eat real fast.

If you are looking for a "shelf stable" sauce they say that the pH has to be 4.6 or less. I shoot for 4.0, to be safe. You still need to be especially careful that everything that touches the raw product is sterile. Bottles should be ladled full of boiling sauce and capped and inverted (they say for a minimum of 3 minutes, I just leave them until they're cool). These can be stored on the shelf until ready for use.

If you're looking to "can" (in mason-type jars) the usual canning rules apply, so it should go into a water bath (if that's what you're using) for ~10 mins.

That's just the info I got says. As always, people disagree, but this appears to be the common belief.

Thanks how do I test for pH. I was hoping someone already did this with a recipe that's what I meant by known safe recipe. Is there any easy cheap way to test for the pH? Or does someone have a recipe that they know is in the safe pH requirements?

The Ball Home Book of Canning, has a decent recipe for
canning hot sauce....

Thanks

Household vinegar ( 5% acetic acid ) has a pH of about 2.2 so is the lemon and lime juices.

pH is a logarithmic scale. This means when your household vinegar has a pH of 2.2, if you take one part vinegar and add 9 parts distilled water(neutral) to it, its pH will be 3.2 . and now if you take some of that and add distilled water to it until its volume is increase 10 times, its pH will become 4.2. That is even more sour than tomato. and more sour than required for canning.
CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG !
P.S.
Same is true in soil pH. Say soil "A" has a pH of 5 and soil "B" has a pH of 6. Then soil "A" is ten time as sour as soil "B".
That is why it is not recommended to raise soil pH from 5 to 6 in one year.

This is just to demonstrate how pH can be altered.

What affect would the garlic, salt, sugar, fruit or what ever else is added to the sauce have on the ph? Maybe this is how I should have started the thread instead of asking for a recipe. When pickling peppers or canning, everyone is so cautious and warns you of the great dangers of not having the correct pH. And they warn that you need to follow a known recipe that is safe or else. They say that itâÂÂs not the heat but the acidity that kills the botulism spores. However, when it comes to hot sauce everyone just mixes whatever they want together heats it up and assumes its safe I donâÂÂt understand this seems like such a contradiction what am I missing?

people who just mix whatever often store their sauces in the fridge. the rules for canning apply to storing a sauce at room temperature.

also, I replied to your email. if it didn't go through to your inbox, you may want to check your spam folder.

You're exactly right JP, all of the ingredients have their own pH. I was under the understanding that hot peppers have a naturally lower pH. You're diluting the acid of vinegar, but not with pH neutral ingredients.

When in doubt, put it in the fridge. Testing is quite easy, you can get litmus paper off Amazon for under $2. I went crazy on gadgets a few years back, and got an electronic tester. You can find an electronic pH tester for under $10 on Amazon (even cheaper on eBay).

I shoot for 4 as a pH for shelf stable sauce. If it comes in above, I add a TB of vinegar at a time until it gets where I want it.

On a side note JP-I roasted a bunch of bhuts over oak coals this wkd and made your roasted ghost sauce. It was mind blowing! You have to find a way to sell that s$&t.

a friend of a friend is a chef at a local restaurant. he tried some of the stuff I gave a my buddy, and now wants to buy it. I've revised the recipe a bit, it's even better now. I'll post the revised recipe when I get a chance. gonna be grilling up some steak tonight, I might roast a few more bhuts while I'm at it, and make another batch (I've got about 12 sitting in the fridge).