Does Hot Sauce Get Weaker With Age? An FAQ & Walk Through
Hot sauce is a beloved condiment for many people who love the intense heat (much like us here at Mikey V's), but just like other condiments, they may sit in your fridge or pantry for quite some time.
Which begs the question... does hot sauce get weaker with age? If you're like us and many others asking that question, you've come to the right place!
Today we're going to explore that simple question and get right down to it!
Does Hot Sauce Lose or Gain Heat Over Time
To answer the question simply, it depends. Sorry if that is not the answer you we're hoping for, but it's the truth! You can definitely say that all hot sauces either lose or gain heat a certain level of heat over time but it all depends on a number of factors.
These include things such as:
The ingredients
how it was stored
How long it has been sitting
So with that in mind, let's take a look at each of these contributing factors.
Examining the Ingredients: What Components Make up Hot Sauce and How Do They Contribute to Its Longevity?
Hot sauce is a condiment made up of various components that contribute to its heat and flavor. Most hot sauces contain some combination of vinegar (acid), peppers, spices, and other aromatics.
The vinegar in the hot sauce helps preserve it and also adds to its tanginess. The peppers are usually the main source of heat in hot sauces and can range from mild to extremely spicy depending on how much capsaicin the pepper contains. For those of you who may not know, capsaicin is the component that makes chile peppers hot).
Now, with capsaicin in the back of your head, know that there is also capsaicin extract, which is just an extremely strong and pure concentration of it. If the hot sauce was made with extract, then it's unlikely the hot sauce will get hotter over time, because i