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The ABC's of Hot Sauce Pungency Adjustment
by Marlin Bensinger
Anyone reading Fiery Foods Magazine can tell from the increasing number of product names listed that the production of hot sauces and salsas has reached epidemic proportions in the United States. Acceptance of fiery foods by nearly all sectors of the population has been surprising and delightfully encouraging for a uniquely American growth industry. Companies ranging in size from the Mom & Pop garage operations to food giants like Campbell's Soup and McIllhenny have benefitted from the crave for heat. As the industry matures, standards for consistency and product quality control, including heat levels, will be instituted by most companies.
Establishing the pungency of hot sauces and salsas by means of either gas or liquid chromatographic methods will give the manufacturer a starting value of pungency (also known as Scoville Heat Level) for the product. Now, if the pungency of your product needs to be adjusted you have several tools at your disposal.
Lowering Pungency
This, seemingly, is the easiest and least costly adjustment to make. Use of non-pungent or low pungency ingredients that are compatible with the goals of your recipe are acceptable. These include tomatoes, fruits, onions, low heat/no heat chiles, or diluents like water, emulsifiers, sugars, or thickeners.
Raising Pungency
Raising the pungency of your product can be accomplished by several methods, but requires a conscious decision regarding the selection of the variable ingredients. It must be understood that in order to raise the pungency of your product, you must choose a material for the adjustment that is 10 to 100 times more pungent than the starting point pungency of the product itself.
Dry Ground Chiles
Dried/ground chilies having a high heat content like habaneros, Scotch bonnets, Thai, and cayenne chiles are good candidates. Used in small quantities, these ground chilies can make modest adjustments to the pungency of the product and even adjust the flavor/aroma profile if desired. Also, additions of dry ground chiles are usually made on a simple stepwise incremental basis that is easily controlled and understood. No special equipment is required.
A down side with ground chiles is that if they are used in significant quantity, they can change properties like thickness, aroma, and taste of the final product. As with all ground products, the buyer must be aware of the bacteria and mold count and insect fragment content in addition to the pungency assay. The pungency of the ground chiles will decrease with time during storage. Refrigerated storage reduces the rate of degradation, but does not eliminate it. To avoid problems, try to buy only that quantity of ground chiles that will be used within a maximum of three or four months' time.
Another point of concern in the use of dried/ground chiles is the effect of processing and drying techniques on the resultant aroma/flavor profile of your product. Although each chile variety has its own distinct flavor and aroma, these characteristics are fragile and can easily be damaged. Fresh chiles left standing in the bin box for extended periods of time can degrade with enzymatic and fermentation reactions, which produce a really foul tasting and smelling product.
The Elements of Drying
The process of drying contributes a multitude of problems to the resultant quality of dried chiles. To understand this better, you have to understand how chiles are dried. Some farmers use very basic technology in drying the peppers. Sun drying followed by the use of a wood-fire-heated drying oven reduces the water content of the chilies. The water content is usually "estimated" by the "feel" in the hand: if the chile feels "leathery" it is too wet; if it is "crispy" it is too dry. The concept of drying over the old wood fire is picturesque and makes a heck of a story on the side of the bottle, but does little for product quality and consistency unless done correctly. The typical wood-fired drying oven lacks temperature uniformity and generally mixes smoke from the fire with air in contact with the chiles. The result is a mix of chiles--some over-dried and burned, some under-dried and susceptible to bacterial growth and mold. All of these chiles will have the aroma of the smoke from the oven fire, which is fine if that is part of your product recipe.
The more sophisticated farmer today uses tray, tunnel, or belt dryers, which remove water faster and with more control than the "basic" system described previously. In this process, chiles fresh from the field are quickly washed, graded, sliced (if desired) and placed on drying trays. The trays are loaded onto trolleys or racks where the chiles are brought to controlled elevated temperatures while their moisture content is monitored. The faster drying time minimizes (doesn't eliminate) the problem of bacteria, mold, insect fragments, and off flavors and aromas, and these types of drying processes are becoming the method of choice for even small growers who are conscientious about quality.
Oleoresins
The use of oleoresins for standardizing the pungency and flavor of hot sauces and salsas is rapidly gaining acceptance for several reasons:
A. The pungency and flavor in the oleoresins are very concentrated. Just a small quantity added to the product mix goes a long way, which allows the flavor/pungency levels to be adjusted without reformulation. Space required to store a significant quantity of additive is very small compared to the additive equivalent of dry material.
B. Oleoresins are easy to add accurately to the product mix. An adjustable metering pump or syringe feeder can add just the desired amount of oleoresin to the product container at the end of the packing line. A single packing line could be modified to sequentially or simultaneously make products of differing pungency/flavor levels from a single mash formula.
C. Oleoresins are free of mold, bacteria and insect fragments due to the nature of the manufacturing process. Because oleoresins are concentrated, the space needed to store a reasonable supply of additive is very small compared to dry ground materials.
D. Oleoresins are very stable. If held at 40-50º F, oleoresins can be stored for several years without significant degradation. If nitrogen atmosphere is added, this storage time can be increased.
E. Oleoresins are available in convenient forms and strengths. There are two basic forms: oil soluble and water soluble. The water soluble formula is generally the product of choice for hot sauce and salsa manufacturers since it will blend freely and disperse well in the product base. Dilution is achieved through the use of a carrier or vehicle which is generally an emulsifier of some type like Polysorbate 80 (Tween 80), Propylene Glycol, or another similar material. The end user chooses the desired strength of the oleoresin based on formulation and/or method of addition.
Problems With Oleoresins
Although oleoresins have significant advantages over dry ground materials, they are not without their own unique problems. The end user should be aware of these problems and weigh them against the advantages for the specific application. Typical oleoresin problems to be aware of are as follows:
A. Oleoresins begin with dried chiles, and all the aroma/flavor problems pertaining to them, as discussed earlier, are present in oleoresins, and amplified by a factor of 10 or more. This amplification is due to the concentration of the essence of the chile in the extraction process.
B. If the chiles from which the oleoresin was extracted had a fungus problem, the chemical by-products of the fungus (called mycotoxins) could be extracted and concentrated in the oleoresin. This could be a serious problem.
C. Some oleoresins have very bad aromas due to impurities in the extraction solvent, or errors in processing techniques. The smell or taste of burnt rubber is a common complaint with oleoresins.
D. Presently, the only high pungency oleoresins available in large quantity for commercial food use originate in India, Africa or China. Although basically pungent, the compounds that make up the "pungent principle" of these oleoresins are in different proportions than the corresponding compounds in tabasco, jalapeño, cayenne, Scotch bonnet and habanero chiles which are predominately used in the United States for making hot sauces and salsas. Research has shown that each of the five major capsaicinoids has a different physiological pungency response and is sensed in a different area of the mouth. Therefore, the pungency response created by adding "standard" oleoresin capsicum to a mash formulation will not be exactly the same as that obtained from a comparable addition of an oleoresin similar to habanero or Scotch bonnet.
Unfortunately, oleoresins of habanero, cayenne, and Scotch bonnet chiles are not available in large quantities yet. However, I am sure that the supply of these oleoresins will increase as the market demands are heard.
Marlin Bensinger has been running CHROMTEC since 1982, providing analytical laboratory services and training to the food and spice industry, as well as consulting services for spice extraction plant design and construction. His special field of interest is in the area of chile extraction and analysis. He has co-authored many papers pertaining to pungency analysis of chiles, and is currently a consultant to the Defense Spray Manufacturers Association.
CHROMTEC
115 Lakeshore Dr., #1146
N. Palm Beach, FL 33408-3644
PH: (561) 625-8901
FAX: (561) 624-1687
e-mail: chromtec@aol.com
