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I've made hot sauce for my family using the following ingredients:

  • peppers
  • onions
  • garlic
  • tomatoes
  • salt

And I would like to try canning it. What can I use instead of vinegar to preserve it. I really don’t like vinegar in my hot sauce at all.

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  • We'll need an example recipe to answer this.
    – FuzzyChef
    Aug 6, 2018 at 21:51
  • I use peppers, onions, garlic, tomatoes, and salt. Aug 6, 2018 at 21:54
  • Without vinegar (or lime juice, or citric acid, etc.) your hot sauce may have a pH too high for normal canning. You could pressure can it, or find an acid you like better. Aug 6, 2018 at 22:12
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    Welcome to Seasoned Advice. ;-) Please don't answer requests for clarifications in the comment section, but edit your question to include important information so that the problem solvers here don't have to read through a slew of comments but your question is self-sufficient. 0:-) Also, please edit your question to add which kind of canning methodology you'd like to try; if you have anything against using chemicals and then leave a comment @Fabby
    – Fabby
    Aug 7, 2018 at 1:13

1 Answer 1

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With just those four ingredients (plus maybe some seasonings), your hot sauce will be a "low-acid food" which means that to be shelf-stable, it needs to be canned at 240F/115C. This means that you will need to use pressure canning to seal it (pictoral guide). If properly pressure canned, it should be shelf-stable for months to years.

This has two drawbacks for you: first, it requires getting a pressure canner (or using a pressure cooker and really small batches). Second, it does mean that you're going to be cooking the hot sauce at 240F, which may lead to it being more "cooked" than you necessarily want it to be. If you have a pressure cooker around, I suggest trying that with one jar and seeing how it tastes.

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