How to Keep Barbecue Sauce Fresh
Along with getting asked a number of questions about our sauces, many people ask about simple preservation methods. Meaning, how long can you actually keep a barbecue sauce in the refrigerator before it spoils? Jake's sauces are good for 18 months on the shelf, unopened. But of course how long can they keep when opened? Typically, a good sauce constructed out of quality ingredients can keep in a cool dry place with a 40 degree temperature for about 5 months after opening and before you can begin to notice some taste changes.
A really simple way to get 3 more months of life out of that sauce is to simply seal the lid snug then turn the jar upside down in the fridge. What does this do? Turning it upside down causes the natural weight of the contents to force downward on the lid increasing the barrier that blocks air from getting into the container. No air, no spoilage. In fact, try this with a container of sour cream, turn it upside down and see just how much longer it will last saving you money on replacement cost.
Keeping Barbecue Sauce Fresh a Personal Journey
I use the upside down method more times than I care to mention. It just works. I've told folks how to do it over and over again. It's always odd to me to think that people have some issue with turning a jar or container upside down. But overall the re-positioning just works saving you money.
My team and I were talking other other methods for keeping Barbecue Sauce fresh or at least keeping for longer than the Best Buy date. One mentioned just putting it in the freezer for about a day then placing it in the standard section of the refrigerator. I thought yes you could do that but wouldn't the oils and water separate requiring you to have to shake the jar each time you wanted to use it. Also I don't know too many people that like barbecue sauce cold so that would mean you'd have to leave it sit on the counter for a while until it reaches room temperature. Personally I think that action would actually speed up the spoilage process from freezing and thawing the sauce for use.
One mentioned storing the sauce in their cellar or what used to be called a root cellar. Not many people have root cellars these days but I guess that would help stay the spoilage process. The sauce would be kept in a cool, dry, dark place so the effects of light might not affect the sauce that much. Maybe if you kept it there along with turning it upside down could mean that you'd have the sauce for years as opposed to 1 year or so.
One thought about keeping the sauce in the attic which effectively was the same as the root cellar. Of course the only problem with the attic is the extreme changes in temperature being cold in the winter and warm in the summer months.
One of the others mentioned keeping deep in the cabinets near the floor. Basically this is the same idea as the root cellar just that the sauce is actually inside the house and not below ground.
I think that with proper management of heat, and light you can keep the sauce for many, many months. I have sauce that is at least 5 years old and I use it sparingly but I do use it and it's always as close to fresh as it can get. I keep it in the back of my fridge turned upside down and I keep as much light off the sauce as I possibly can. For some open containers I keep in my cabinet about head height with the door closed about 75 percent of the time at least until I need to access something near the jars.
Try your best method of keeping barbecue sauce fresh for months and let us know which works for you. If you'd like we'd add that to our post.
This product was added to our catalog on Thursday 21 September, 2017.