Does Sweet And Sour Sauce Go Bad?

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The sweet and sour sauce combines different tangy flavored juices like pineapple or orange juices, tomato or banana ketchup, cornstarch, and water. It is originated from China, and you can find many Chinese cuisines that go well with this sweet and sour sauce.

It has a flavor just like its name suggests, sweet but at the same time sour. It is widely used in Asian cuisines and can be used along with roasted chicken, dumplings, chicken wontons, and many other dishes, but it can go bad if it is not carefully handled.

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How To Store Sweet And Sour Sauce

Like other sauces, it has a pretty long shelf life, and you can be at ease if you have leftover sweet and sour sauce because it will remain good and useful for about a year.

If you want to store it, then it is not difficult at all, what you have to follow the proper methods of storing it, and it will remain flavorful and delicious for a long time. You can use it for dipping or marinating or as an ingredient in your cuisines.

Following are the methods you can use to store your sweet and sour sauce, and this way, your sauce will remain stable for a long time.

Storing Canned Sauce

If you have bought canned sweet and sour sauce, it is more stable than homemade sauce because it contains preservatives that prevent it from getting spoiled early.

You can store the can at your kitchen spice rack or in a cool and dry place; try to cover the lid of its container appropriately to prevent it from moisture, and this way, you can use it for a couple of months without spoilage.

Storing Homemade Sauce

The sweet and sour sauce is something that you can easily make at your home. You can add your desired ingredients to it like some people use orange juice to make it more savory. Still, the homemade sauce does not contain preservatives in it, which makes it vulnerable to getting mold, or it can easily get spoiled, so it is better to refrigerate your sauce to make its life span longer. You can also add vinegar into your sauce; it will also prevent it from early spoilage.

Refrigerate it

If you have leftover sweet and sour sauce, it is better to keep it refrigerated, and it will increase its lifespan for a couple of months.

Can You Freeze Sweet and Sour Sauce

All sauces, including sweet and sour sauce, remain stable for a very long time and freezing is the best option to store your sauces. After freezing, it remains good for about two years, provided that it is stored properly.

You can put the can of your sauce into a freezer and cover its lid properly to avoid exposure to moisture. If you have homemade sweet and sour sauce, it is either in an airtight jar or into the zip-lock plastic bags and then stored.

This way, your sauce will remain flavorful and when you need to use it, take it out of the freezer half hour before to de-freeze it.

How Long Does Sweet and Sour Sauce Last

The sweet and sour sauce has a long life span, and it will remain flavorful throughout the year, but it depends on how well it is stored and how it is made. For instance, if you have bought commercially made sweet and sour sauce, it will probably remain good even after its best by date, and that is approximately 1-2 years.

In homemade sauce, it has a relatively short life span compared to the readymade sauce because it does not have preservatives added in it; it remains good for half of the year.

You can also add vinegar in your sauce to make it last longer and try to keep it refrigerated most of the time; when you want to use it, take it out of the fridge for a while and put it back immediately. This way, its temperature will remain uniform, and it will prevent it from getting spoiled.

How To Tell If Sweet and Sour Sauce Is Bad

You can tell the difference between bad and good sweet and sour sauce by looking at it because it undergoes some apparent changes that you can easily detect.

Some changes that you can look for are listed down below.

Dark Coloration: If your sauce has changed its color from light to dark, it shows spoilage in it.
Off Odor: If your sauce has a bad odor coming out of it, it probably has gone bad, and you should not use it.
Mold Growth: If you notice white spots are appearing over the surface of your sweet and sour sauce, it shows fungal growth, and it is very harmful to use such type of sauce in cuisines.