Wondering “does hot sauce need to be refrigerated?” Find your answer to this and other burning hot sauce questions here!
Your New Year’s Resolution was to get more creative in the kitchen. Everyone knows that baby steps are the way to go when making a change, so why not start by adding complexity and heat to some favorite meals with a good shake of hot sauce? It’s an easy place to start your journey into master chef territory, and hot sauce actually boasts some real health benefits.
Read on to learn more and get answers to important questions like “does hot sauce need to be refrigerated?”
Want some truly delicious fermented hot sauces that will bring life to your kitchen (and your gut microbiome)? Check out the Hosta Hill Shop and try one of our offerings!
Hosta Hill is committed to producing high-quality, probiotic-rich hot sauce, packaged by hand and sold raw and unpasteurized.
Getting to know your hot sauce
It might seem like there’s not much to know about hot sauce. But there are so many kinds, and they range in flavor and spiciness. You might want something with a tangy zing or a deep, generous smokiness. The ingredients make a big difference of course, but so does the processing that goes into making your hot sauce. Before you go clear out the grocery store of all the commercial brands, you should know that fermented hot sauces have more going on than meets the eye - and it’s all to your benefit.
Why do we think fermented hot sauce is special? Fermentation adds depth of flavor to the peppers, leading to hot sauces with a more complex flavor that continues to develop over time. Its flavor is alive! Many of the big-name hot sauces, like Tobasco and Sriracha, are fermented. But there are always benefits to shopping local and supporting small farms and farmers.
At Hosta Hill, the unique and creative flavors in our cultured vegetables develop slowly through wild fermentation, a natural preservation process that enhances the nutrient availability and probiotic content of the vegetables we work with. Lacto-fermentation is a slow and continually giving process. Your hot sauce flavor continues to evolve, becoming subtler, more complex, and sometimes taking on an interesting new tanginess. Is your mouth watering yet?
So, does hot sauce need to be refrigerated?
Ok, we promise to get to the burning question at hand about whether hot sauce needs refrigeration. But first, we had to share a little information about hot sauce and your body chemistry, because it is just so cool!
When your tongue is touched by a blast of yummy heat from hot sauce, your nervous system thinks you are literally on fire. So to compensate for the burn, your system is flooded with endorphins, which make you feel great. The hot sauce not only makes your kitchen magic a little more magical, but it also improves your mood! Call it happy sauce. You can read more in this NPR story.
Ok, circling back. Most hot sauces do not need to be refrigerated. In some cases, the high vinegar and salt content preserves the sauce so it can last in the pantry. But in many commercial brands, that has a lot to do with added preservatives.
Hosta Hill’s Original Hot Sauce is made from organic red ripened Jalapeños, garlic, and sea salt. Fermented to perfection with no preservatives, we recommend you do refrigerate this hot sauce so it will last a long time in its best condition.
So, does hot sauce need to be refrigerated? It depends on your hot sauce. We think ours is definitely worth the small bit of fridge real-estate in needs. Give our original or smokey hot sauce a try and kick your new year up a notch!
Photo by kevin turcios on Unsplash