Topic: Storing the Base Sauce

[Troy]

I was wondering if anyone has ever attempted long-term storage of a curry base without freezing it?  I'm interested in using a pressure canner to save large quantities of the base sauce in mason jars.

Next year I'm going to have a very large garden plot and will be growing an abundance of the base ingredients: onions, carrots, peppers, garlic, tomatoes, potatoes, etc.  I've canned lots of pasta sauce before, but it has high acidity.  I'm afraid that the acidity will be too low in the curry base, but normally with pressure canners the acidity can be  lower than with a water-bath canner.

Anyway.... Thoughts?  Comments? Ideas?

[PaulP]

Hi Troy,

I found this:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070911234733AAswzJD

Since the base contains many things including garlic (usually) and oil I would be careful!

Maybe it can be done without preservatives but I don't know.

PaulP.

[Troy]

Good info, Thanks.

I've done a bit more research, and it seems that the problem would mostly come from the amount of oil used.  Oil will trap and actually preserve the bacteria common in garlic.  Even using a pressure canner, too much oil is a bad thing.  I looked back at some of the recipes for soups that I've canned, and they all contain very small amounts of oil and garlic.  As the link states, garlic is a perfect vessel for botulism.

I also considered dehydrating since I've dehydrated pasta sauce before, but too much oil in a dehydrated sauce can go rancid.  And the curry base probably just wouldn't be the same re-hydrated.

So. my only option is to buy a new deep freeze.  Probably not a bad thing though, its rather easy to fill up a freezer.   

[Cory Ander]

Hi Troy,

Interesting idea and one that I have no experience of.  I suppose you would get a fair indication of what might be required for this method by looking at the labels on existing commercial jars and cans of curry pastes, sauces, etc, to see what stabilisers, regulators, preservatives, etc, they put in them?  It seems to me that they have to add so much junk that it ruins them.

[chef2323]

Just a thought,
Could you not say freeze everything individually:
Onions wizz up in food processor and freeze in bags
Carrots, blanch and then freeze
Peppers slice and deseed and freeze

Then when you want to cook curry you can get the individual items out, by this method if you are cooking something other than curry and you need onions , you will have them in the freezer.

I am not too sure how potato freezes, I can imagine it may go to a mush when thawed out, but could be used to thicken a sauce.