Customers ask us often about hot sauce shelf life: how to know if it's bad, what if the date on the bottle has come and gone, and should it be refrigerated or not? If you've ever wondered any of these things, well, keep reading and find out!
How Long Does Hot Sauce Last?
In short, a pretty darn long time. To go more in-depth, you have to consider a few things...
Have you opened it yet?
If that baby is still sealed, you've got all the time in the world. Not to speak for other companies, but we use a three-year best by date that should make you feel pretty comfortable about that sauce you forgot was tucked in the cabinet behind the bag of dried lentils (perfect hiding place!) for months. We believe our hot sauce shelf life is fairly standard in the industry but always check to make sure.
It was opened, now what?
We suggest storing hot sauce in the fridge. Sure, it will probably be fine in your pantry but it will definitely last longer in your fridge. Depending on the sauce, we find, even opened, a sauce is great for at least a year and probably longer. Although, if you haven't touched it in a year, you probably weren't a huge fan of it to begin with.
Remember, a great way to keep sauces fresher longer is to A) Never dip anything into the bottle and B) Wipe the rim before you screw the cap back on. The fewer routes outside pathogens have to that sweet sanctuary inside the bottle, the better.
The fewer routes outside pathogens have to that sweet sanctuary inside the bottle, the better.
It's past its expiration date, better throw it away...
No! Don't you dare! We don't have expiration dates on our sauces, just best by dates. The pH of our sauces allows them to stay safe for a long time so they do not, technically, expire. However they do lose their potency and flavor over time, hence why we recommend using them by a certain date.
You're probably a pretty smart cookie (you did buy a TorchBearer sauce, didn't you?) so just take a look, smell it, shake it around. If it looks suspect, smells funky, or looks fuzzy and/or strange, get rid of it. Otherwise, you are probably safe. We won't fault you for being cautious if you choose to chuck it anyway, we just don't want you to be afraid of trying sauces past their best by date!
I dipped gooey mozzarella sticks straight into my bottle and left it open out in the July sun last Tuesday. Is it cool if I have some more?
Sweet zombie Jesus! How have you lived this long??
There you go! A quick little guide to getting the most out of your sauces! Is there something we missed? Do you have a fun story about long lost sauce or violent food poisoning? Tell us at info@torchbearersauces.com and we'll enjoy reading it (well...maybe not the food poisoning one). Now get back to holiday prepping, it's coming fast.
