Badia Chili Pepper Sauce

[veremchuka]

I have a bottle of this that I bought in Feb. 2008, the expiration date is 4/2010. I have kept it in the fridge from day one and never opened it. I've eaten salad dressings (Ken's 1000 Island is one) that were 18 months maybe 2 years beyond the expiration date when I opened it and Cain's Mayo that was a year beyond the expiration date when I opened it. I'm uncertain about the Pepper sauce being over 2 years beyond but the 1000 Island and mayo, while kept in the fridge once I opened them, had contents that I think are much more likely to spoil than this sauce. This is not a frugal issue, the cost is minor but I'm not sure the store sells this today, it's a store I went to only 1 or 2 times. I want to try it (it has habaneros in it ) so....

What do you think, eat it or toss it?

 

[FUEGO]

We have had srirachi hot sauce (rooster hot sauce) open and stored in the fridge for a few years. I just noticed it is past the expiration date by a year or two but it still tastes fine. I imagine the acidity of the spices plus the salt content and preservatives prevent any bad microbes to grow in it. A good rule of thumb is to smell and taste it and if it is ok, go for it.

 

[kumquat]

Just try it and report back.

 

[MooreBonds]

I believe that every manufacturer is required by law to post 'dates' on packaging, and I think the longest shelf-life they will put is 2 or 3 years, irrespective of the ability of the contents to last longer. However, I'm sure there are also legal issues with extended dates, because you'll get someone who will leave it in a garage or some other hot place, and get sick from eating it because it sat in a hot environment for 5 years, creating a massive class action lawsuit for everyone who ever bought canned peas or pineapple.

Go ahead and dab a tiny drop on your finger and give it a taste. I'd say that as long as there weren't any metals touching the sauce, and just plastic and glass, I wouldn't be too worried if it was kept in the fridge the whole time.

I've certainly had food past the official date (just finished up some name brand Olive Oil may that was 6 months past the date, and it was fine, among other occasional expiration extensions).

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Toss it. Plenty of habanero sauces out. Or live dangerously and laugh in the face of danger.

 

[NW-Bound]

I have a bottle of this that I bought in Feb. 2008, the expiration date is 4/2010. I have kept it in the fridge from day one and never opened it.

Kept cold and never opened. That's important to know.

I would give it a taste, then if it does not taste funny, I would eat it.

But that's just me. If you do, please post soon and often so we'll know you are all right.

 

[Idnar7]

At our lake cabin we found an unopened bottle of Tabasco in the back of a cupboard. The box said 1973. Opening the bottle the smell was obviously Tabasco. The color was brown. Tasted ok, but we tossed.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Eat it, you'll be fine. We had some Jamaican jerk sauce we bought straight off the cooker from some folks in Boston Beach on the east coast of Jamaica back in 2008 I think, or maybe even earlier. I use a spoonful of it every now and then, but Lord is it hot. Anything with that much acid isn't going to go all that bad.
But I'm the person who will tell you mayo doesn't require refrigeration as long as a clean utensil is all that ever touches it. And neither do eggs, if they've never been refrigerated. Lessons learned in a small boat with no reefer.

 

[MichaelB]

Go ahead and use it. Between the vinegar and the habanero bad bacteria don't have a chance. Worst case it may lose a little flavor. Just don't get any on your fingers.

 

[rescueme]

Just try it and report back.

If you don't report back, we'll know the answer ...

 

[GalaxyBoy]

If it were me, I'd taste it and not worry about it if it seemed good.

OTOH, just because it has habanero chiles doesn't mean it's preserved. I once had a newly-purchased bottle of habenero sauce fizz up on me and it was RANK; obviously there was some sort of fermentation going on. I tossed it, as well as the bowl of chili that was under the bottle when I opened it.

Ahh... habeneros! Or is it ?

 

[veremchuka]

Just about everyone stated what I felt and would have said to someone asking this question. I'll open it tonight and give it a smell and a taste and report back.

I was chopping up some fatalii peppers the other day I just picked. Touching your fingers with hot peppers isn't such a big deal it's where you put those fingers afterwards! There are a few painful places but the top of the list is eyes!

 

[Sarah in SC]

Just about everyone stated what I felt and would have said to someone asking this question. I'll open it tonight and give it a smell and a taste and report back.

I was chopping up some fatalii peppers the other day I just picked. Touching your fingers with hot peppers isn't such a big deal it's where you put those fingers afterwards! There are a few painful places but the top of the list is eyes!

Spoken like a person who has never put them in what is actually the worst and most painful place!
True story--my mother pickling scotch bonnets (habaneros) and taking a short break to ahem, "powder her nose". Not something you'd want to try!

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Funny how those pepper oils stick on your hands. Not that I would know anything about that.

 

[MichaelB]

Spoken like a person who has never put them in what is actually the worst and most painful place!
True story--my mother pickling scotch bonnets (habaneros) and taking a short break to ahem, "powder her nose". Not something you'd want to try!

+1

Habanero: you eat it once but it burns twice...

 

[veremchuka]

I forgot to update this. I opened the hot sauce, it looked and smelled ok so I tasted it and it seemed ok so I have been using it. It's pretty hot but not as hot as I expected since it has habaneros in it. I have peppers in my garden that would make it a lot hotter. It has a nice flavor, a bit sweet.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

veremchuka, you are my kind of Dr. Manhattan! (I am de-cloaking to chime in.) Scotch bonnet/habanero sauce is only for those who appreciate it.

'Shelf life' is based on ambient temperature. Refrigerating significantly reduces the rate of all chemical reactions, including life (read: bacterial growth).

MooreBonds is absolutely correct. Even distilled water must have a shelf life on it, which is nuts. (Unless you live in outside the US, like me for the nonce, in which case don't trust anything. Everything is a lie.) (I am beginning to wonder about the US now, too.)

Having some experience with this myself, if the sauce is brown (or even slightly off-color), ditch it. Even in the 'fridge, after a while, an open bottle of hot sauce will go bad. My father had a bottle of Tabasco that was older than I was. Eew.

It would be a great shame to waste good habanero sauce. (I long to return to Belize and get some good stuff--fresh--again.)

(I am distressed that this thread did not show up originally when I ticked 'New Posts'. I have missed other threads this way.)

 

[mickeyd]

Go ahead use the stuff. It's mostly vinegar anyway isn't it? I don't think vinegar ever goes south.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

I have been wondering about what capsaicin is sensitive to, as it seems to be very delicate. I suspect that it is sensitive to oxidation by air. In the course of cooking with cayenne pepper, it seems to me that it is also very sensitive to temperature. Further research is required.

Lalo el Fuego

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Actually, vinegar can go bad. There are bugs that can and do grow in it.

Fresh is always better.

 

[mickeyd]

From a safety standpoint, commercially produced vinegar has a virtually indefinite shelf life, says the Vinegar Institute

You don't ever want to question the VI.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

At our lake cabin we found an unopened bottle of Tabasco in the back of a cupboard. The box said 1973. Opening the bottle the smell was obviously Tabasco. The color was brown. Tasted ok, but we tossed.

You smelled the vinegar.

I used to frequent an Indian fast-food place that had what they called 'lime pickle', which was cayenne pepper in lime juice, and it was very good. It was also not lime pickle, but it was really good. Vinegar is a cheap substitute for an edible organic acid in this particular food product. When I make stuff, I use lemon or lime juice now. Vinegar is only for putting on cooked spinach (for taste and, it turns out, 'regularity') and 'freedom' fries, in Canadistan.