"Burning" Questions

A living sauce is an honest sauce.

We've been fermenting for 15 years. We've never made anything else.

Lactic Acid Bacteria (LABs) spent months making your sauce.

Lactic Acid Bacteria are essential for gut functioning. These bacteria exist naturally on all our fruits and vegetables unless they were processed by disinfection, radiation, or pasteurization. These processes kill the harmful microbes and the good microbes (including LABs).

Instead, Jiracha uses time, salt, and acid to create an environment where the LABs ferment our vegetables and "win" the fight against harmful microbes (unwanted bacteria, mold, and yeasts.)

Jiracha does not use a hot-bottling "kill phase" like most hot sauces. We use cold-bottling to keep the LABs alive and avoid any changes in flavor from heat-processing.

Fermentation is one natural process that helps humans eat every day even when daily harvests are unrealistic. Salt, time, and fresh produce are all it takes to preserve healthy food for years.

Our ancestors knew this. 
Fermentation is about survival.
Always has been.

Yes, Jiracha Fermented Hot Sauces will ferment at room temperature. Technically, it is fermenting very slowly even in the fridge! We recommend that your Jiracha lives in the fridge to maintain the original flavor, color, and heat level. 

Even with slow fermentation in the fridge, CO₂ gas pressure can build inside the bottle. Outside of the fridge, the CO₂ production can be large and fast. If there's too much pressure, there could be a little mess! Taken to the extreme, you could end up with a carbonated hot sauce.
A warm car is the worst place you could keep a salty, acidic liquid that likes to build pressure.

To prevent all of that drama, we ship with ice packs and use priority shipping. 

For thousands of years, live-fermented foods have been safely made by humans. 
But where are the live-fermented foods at your grocery store? They're in the refrigerated section.

Why? 

1) Kaboom! "Live" Lactic Acid ferments are indeed alive and they exhale CO2.  Without an air-lock or valve in the lid, there is a risk that the gas pressure will build to the point of making a massive mess when you open the bottle. 

2) Flavor Lock. Refrigeration slows down the fermentation process to keep the flavor consistent. Time changes our sauces just like live-fermented sauerkraut or kimchi: more fermentation time = a deeper, tangier flavor.

3) Color Lock. Fermentation at room temperature can cause a cloudy appearance. This is similar to the clouding you see in live vinegars. For example, if Cuyahoga Gold Sauce is left to ferment long-term, it will shift colors from a bright orange to a soft creamsicle-orange. 

Take a deep breath, you're ok. 

That's just the capsaicin from the peppers binding to your temperature-sensing nerves. Your body is tricked! It feels like you're being burned but you're completely safe. The pain will fade away. You got this!

Water does not help.

You need something cold and rich like a glass of cold milk.
Sour cream or ranch dressing work even better.
A milkshake or frozen fruit with yogurt is instant relief. 

This is what we use for professional-level pain management:
Maple Ice Cream Mouth Rescue
1 scoop vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt
drizzle of maple syrup or honey

mix and apply to the inside of the mouth. Let it sit there and swallow as it melts.
(The cold dairy fats of the ice cream help the burning and the maple syrup or honey helps the melted ice cream coat your mouth and throat.)

If your entire bottle of hot sauce feels too hot, you can dilute them:
Srirachas
"spicy Lechon Kawali dipping sauce"
3 parts white vinegar to 1 part sauce in a sealed jar. Shake hard.

Cuyahoga Gold / Reaper
"66% less heat"
Mix 1 part Cuyahoga Gold or Cuyahoga Reaper with 1 part Ketchup, and 1 part Mustard. Stir.