# Can Tabasco sauce go bad?



## dagger (Feb 4, 2005)

I have several bottles of McIlhenny green Tabasco sauce in my closet which must be close or over 10 years, does it go bad? Got one in the fridge which still burned my lips, use it on pizza.


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## oldschool1982 (Jun 27, 2006)

Not really. It may darken to a more brown shade of red. I once had a gallon bottle for the house and it too me something like 12 years to use it up. It had a great flavor and I even spiked some of it with dried Chipotles. That really kicked it up some!. Today, that gallon would last about a year. Tabasco get put on just about everything especially that smartfood light white cheddar popcorn...Mmm, good stuff! Never kept it in the fridge either.


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## mikelm (Dec 23, 2000)

Well after all- they start Tabasco out by grinding the peppers and the vinegar into a mash, fill oak barrels, and set these barrels out in the Gulf Coast weather for three years. If it had any tendency to spoil, it woulda spoiled by then! Then they mix the aged mash with salt, bottle it, and it's off to the four corners of the world.

We visited the plant on Avery Island LA some years ago: they took us out behind the plant, and the barrels seemed to stretch to the horizon! I recently saw a TV documentary about it, and they said the plant filled more than a million bottles per day.

I'm pretty confident there's going to be enough for all of us.

MIke

Actually, I just use it for cooking of late- I find I like something a little more nuanced for my food. If you like it nuanced - but HOT - you should try the Marie Sharp's brand habanero-based sauces from Belize ( easily available on the web at about $4 for a three-ounce bottle.) Each of her flavors has ten to fourteen ingredients, as opposed to Tabasco's (and TJ's) three. If you can get past the heat, you will find that there actually are discernable flavors to each of the various sauces.


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## dagger (Feb 4, 2005)

I site said just keep the stuff that builds around the cap off the bottle and it will be ok.


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## pete (Oct 7, 2001)

After considerable time the color will start to fade and get brownish.  I also have found that it starts to lose some of its heat and some of its flavors (except for the vinegar).  So after some time it is no longer the greatest product, but I've never heard of it "going bad."


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