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Canning Hot Sauce

You may choose to preserve your hot sauce using standard canning methods, however, it must be properly heat processed in order to ensure safety and shelf life. The pH or acidity of your sauce will determine the canning method to use. Fresh peppers and most tomatoes are considered low acid foods, meaning they would need to be preserved using the pressure canning method.

There are tools available to determine the pH or acidity of your hot sauce. The pH meter is a quick, practical way of measuring pH.  Another tool you can use is pH test strips. Although not as accurate as a pH meter, they can give you an idea if your sauce is within a certain pH range adequate for water bath processing.  You may be able to adjust your low acid sauce by adding an acidic ingredient such as vinegar, lemon or lime juice in order to increase acidity.  Again, you will need a tool to measure pH.

If you are bottling your hot sauce in 5 oz. Woozy bottles, you must use the water bath method of canning to make it shelf stable as the bottles will not withstand the pressure canning method.

To hot pack your hot sauce in Woozy bottles, follow the instructions for Hot Sauce Bottling.