On Feb 23, 11:20*am, Melba's Jammin' >
wrote:
> In article
> >,
>
> *AndyHancock > wrote:
> > So I was boiling up some chicken soup using cooked chunks of chicken
> > meat. *I stuck a spoon into the boiling stew, then without thinking,
> > used the same spoon to dig into a jar of chili/garlic sauce and plop
> > it into the stew. *Then I realized that it was a bad idea since that
> > jar of chili/garlic sauce could last for months. *I debated whether to
> > toss the jar. *What a waste of yummy sauce.
>
> > Any thoughts? *Would the hotness of the chili sauce prevent any
> > contamination from turning into food poisoning? *The chicken stew sure
> > tasted hot (and hence, good).
>
> Personally I wouldn't worry about it unless you'd first put the "chicken
> spoon" in your mouth. *You've got a better chance of encouraging
> spoilage that way than by just using the same spoon in two places. *And
> if the chili sauce is a tomato-based sauce with some vinegar in it, I
> *really* wouldn't worry about it and I surely wouldn't toss it.
>
> Don't confuse spicy heat with pH level as far as discouraging the growth
> of nasties. *The former won't help preservation if the pH is too high.

Thanks for the warning. I just assumed that both were caustic, and
hence would deter nasties. However, your response indicates
otherwise. So I pulled out the bottle to look for acidic
ingredients. The product is actually black bean chili sauce: Soybean
oil, salted black bean, garlic, salted chili pepper, dried chili
pepper, fermented soybean paste (water, salt, soybean wheat), shallot,
white vinegar, yeast extract, MSG, spice, disodium inosinate and
guanylate, etc..

The white vinegar is quite far down the list, but salt is up there.