Shelf Life
The shelf life of barbecue sauce depends upon many factors, but the major ones are its storage conditions and “best by” date. The better your storage conditions, the longer your sauce will last. If unopened, barbecue sauce can last for one year. If the barbecue sauce is opened and refrigerated, it will last for a year and a half. However, it’s not refrigerated; it might go bad before the due date. You can tell if the sauce has spoiled by looking at its color and consistency. Usually, the color gets darker, and it gets thicker than normal.
Purchasing Barbecue Sauce:
Purchasing barbecue sauce doesn’t require a lot of brainstorming. You must only keep in mind your purpose for using and the type of preservatives added in the sauce. You can find the preservative names on the list of ingredients located on the back label adhered to the product. The preservatives used should be safe from a health standpoint. Try to get the product that is from the freshest batch. It would buy you more time to use it. Moreover, it would increase its shelf life as well.
Storage
Sauces must all be taken care of very well. As they are liquid in nature, it makes them more susceptible to microbial attack. This usually occurs if the sauce is kept outside the refrigerator once opened. The best way to store it is in cool and dry place. Microbes usually don’t attack at lower temperatures, and the odds are slim when they are refrigerated at lower temperatures. Once refrigerated, the consistency shouldn’t change nor should there be any changes in its regular aroma.
Handling
Handling barbecue sauce isn’t as complicated. If it is refrigerated, the sauce only needs to return to room temperature. You must never use direct heat to thaw your sauce. Microwave ovens or any other sources of direct heat would spoil your sauce and makes it unfit for use. It consists of molasses and other ingredients that deteriorate rapidly, hence making the sauce spoil faster. In its liquid state, barbecue sauce can be quite sticky. However, the bottles in which they are packaged are quite handy, and other utensils are not needed for handling. Just turn the bottle upside down, squeeze it, add it to the food of your choice, and off you go with your scrumptious meal.
Cooking with Barbecue Sauce
Barbecue sauce might prove to be a savior at the eleventh hour. It can be used as both the dressing sauce as well as the cooking sauce. Like the name itself implies, it’s usually added to foods to give that smoky barbecue flavor. Barbecue sauce can be used on chicken or beef, mutton or fish, prawns or lobsters. You name it and barbecue sauce will add that indelible flavor to it. Its sweet and tangy touch perks up your food in no time.