Canning Question and Spicy Wonton Sauce Recipe

[jmorriso]

I don't know if you guys have ever had the fried wontons at Cheesecake Factory, but they are delicious. The best part is the dipping sauce, its spicy and has a vinegar "whang" to it that is delicious. Anyway, I found the recipe for it online and made some and it was great. My dad loved it. For Christmas I'm making him a pack of his favorite spicy foods and would love to can this and give him several jars for the year. However, I'm not sure what I need to do to can it since its not a canning recipe. I've heard that if your ph is under 4.2 then you should be good to hot water process and be fine. I've ordered some ph testing strips that test from 2.8 to 4.5 ph levels. Anyone know if that will be a sufficient judge? Here is the recipe if that helps:

Sweet and Spicy Wonton Sauce
Ingredients
3 tablespoons hot ground chili paste
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
2/3 cup water
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons cornstarch
4 tablespoons chopped cilantro
Directions
Combine everything, except cilantro, in a small sauce pan and mix.
Once blended, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in cliantro

 

[AhBee01]

I don't think ph is the only factor to determine it it is safe to can I would not risk it. You could always freeze it. Not as pretty in a basket, but at least you will be safe!
No thickener can be canned.

 

[peeplessinNC]

I think I would put it in a little jar, keep refrigerated, then add the jar to the basket when you give it - with a note and a verbal reminder that the jar needs to go in the fridge. If your Dad lives close by or you see him at regular intervals, you can always make him another jar of fresh sauce. Besides, the cilantro flavor would be lost if you canned it (and cooked the cilantro).

BTW, you might want to do a trial run of the sauce to see how long it will keep fresh. With the fresh cilantro I wouldn't think that it would last as long as a sauce without the fresh chopped herb.

Can't wait to try this sauce for pot stickers! Thanks!

 

[jmorriso]

Thats what I was afraid everyone would say. I'll try freezing some and see how it works. I can always give him a fresh jar and the rest frozen. I might try the ball blue book to see if I can find something similar to try later.

 

[bigmike&nan]

This dressing is what I make for my tomato/cucumber/mint salads (recipe here on the site). If you double the amount of Mae Ploy sweet and hot sauce you would find this also great for dipping for potstickers, won tons and even egg rolls. I would suggest you give him just a jar of it, and make sure the label you make says keep refrigerated.

Dressing:
2 Tbls Honey
2 Tbls Mae Ploy
1 Tsp Seasoning Salt
1/2 Tsp dry tarragon
3 Tbls Rice Wine Vinegar
2 Tbls Sesame Oil
3 Tbls Peanut Oil
1 Tsp. Soy Sauce

Dressing Preparation:
Drizzle honey, Mae Ploy, dry tarragon and seasoning salt in a mixing bowl. Combine well with a whisk. Next add rice wine vinegar and mix well with whisk. Then drizzle in sesame oil while whisking, then peanut oil. Taste and adjust with rice wine vinegar to your taste. This dressing is scary good over fish, chicken or sticky rice.

I use a cd labeling program to make labels for my jars when I roast coffee beans. The one I used is called Discus, you can add your own photos, text and the like. There's more to it than just cd labels - we do gift cards, business cards and lots of other projects with it. You simply make a cd label and carefully apply it. Really makes a good impression.

 

[jmorriso]

I ended up canning this and then tell him to keep it refrigerated. I had some 1/2 pint jars that I wanted to put it in, so I went ahead and hot water bathed them and after cooling stuck them in the fridge. I don't think they'll last long enough to go bad even if he didn't put them in the fridge, but no reason to risk it.

 

[jmorriso]

This is a really old post, but I checked out "Ball's Complete Book of Home Preserving" from my library and while thumbing through some of the recipes I came across one very similar to the wonton sauce recipe I was originally asking about. I made up a batch last night since I had all the ingredients on hand. I used my own dehydrated chili peppers from last year's garden to make the pepper flakes. Here is the recipe: